PROCRUSTES (Gr. for " the stretcher ")  , also called PoLYPEMON Or DAMASTES, in Greek legend, a robber dwelling in the neighbourhood of Eleusis, who was slain by Theseus . He had two bedsteads (according to some, only one), the one very long, the other very short . When a stranger claimed his hospitality, Procrustes compelled him, if he was tall, to lie down on the short bed, and then cut off his extremities to make him fit . If on the other hand he was short, he was placed on the long bedstead and his limbs pulled out until he died from exhaustion . The " bed of Procrustes " has become proverbial . Diod . Sic. iv . 59;, Hyginus, lab . 38; Plutarch, Theseus, I1; Pausanias i . 38, 5 .