This excerpt refers to a story "Cruel Tribute" from James Baldwin's collection of stories based on Greek mythology.
Basically, story goes as this; King of Crete's son was killed by Athenians. Now the King faced them with a choice: either he will destroy the Athens or Athenians will send him 7 men and 7 women each year as a tribute to Minotaur, a monster that lives in a labyrinth in Crete.
After many years, Theseus grew up and volunteered to sail to Crete as one of the 7 men with the goal to kill the beast and end this cruel tradition.
