I'm in the early stages of writing a novel based on the Labyrinth and Minotaur myths. Right now, Theseus is travelling to Athens. He is about to meet Sinis, the Pine Bender. Several of the versions of this myth that I've read state that Sinis coerces people to help him bend and hold down two pine trees, then he ties them to the trees and waits for fatique and nature to take their course. I need to come up with a realistic rationale for him to be bending pine trees. If you have any ideas, please share. My other option, from another version, is that he's very strong and bends one pine tree on his own, tying a person to it, then letting go to fling the person away for a deadly landing. I'm stuck on which version to use, to sound plausible.

Thanks,
Seisa