{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_37881/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_37881","id":"gutenberg_37881","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37881","summary":null,"tags":["Argonauts (Greek mythology) -- Juvenile literature","Category: Adventure","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","Mythology, Greek -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"[Illustration]\n\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                             Jason and Medea\n\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n                            The Golden Fleece\n                            and the Heroes Who\n                          Lived before Achilles\n\n\n                             By Padraig Colum\n                      Illustrations by Willy Pogany\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                                   1921\n                     The Macmillan Company, New York\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                                    to\n                             the children of\n                        Susan and Llewellyn Jones\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nPart I. The Voyage to Colchis\n   I. The Youth Jason\n   II. King Pelias\n   III. The Golden Fleece\n   IV. The Assembling of the Heroes and the Building of the Ship\n   V. The _Argo_\n      The Beginning of Things\n   VI. Polydeuces\u2019 Victory and Heracles\u2019 Loss\n   VII. King Phineus\n   VIII. King Phineus\u2019s Counsel; The Landing in Lemnos\n   IX. The Lemnian Maidens\n      Demeter and Persephone\n      Atalanta\u2019s Race\n   X. The Departure from Lemnos\n      The Golden Maid\n   XI. The Passage of the Symplegades\n   XII. The Mountain Caucasus\n      Prometheus\nPart II. The Return to Greece\n   I. King \u00c6etes\n   II. Medea the Sorceress\n   III. The Winning of the Golden Fleece\n   IV. The Slaying of Apsyrtus\n   V. Medea Comes to Circe\n   VI. In the Land of the Ph\u00e6acians\n   VII. They Come to the Desert Land\n   VIII. The Carrying of the Argo\n      The Story of Perseus\n   IX. Near to Iolcus Again\nPart III. The Heroes of the Quest\n   I. Atalanta the Huntress\n   II. Peleus and His Bride from the Sea\n   III. Theseus and the Minotaur\n   IV. The Life and Labors of Heracles\n      The Battle of the Frogs and Mice\n   V. Admetus\n   VI. How Orpheus the Minstrel Went Down to the World of the Dead\n   VII. Jason and Medea\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\nJason and Medea\nthe _Argo_\nHylas\nPersephone and Aidoneus\nAtalanta\u2019s Last Race\nPrometheus\nThe Field of the Dragon\u2019s Teeth\nPerseus and Andromeda\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPART I. THE VOYAGE TO COLCHIS\n\n\n\n\nI. The Youth Jason\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_A_ MAN in the garb of a slave went up the side of that mountain that is\nall covered with forest, the Mountain Pelion. He carried in his arms a\nlittle child.\n\n  When it was full noon the slave came into a clearing of the forest so\nsilent that it seemed empty of all life. He laid the child down on the\nsoft moss, and then, trembling with the fear of what might come before\nhim, he raised a horn to his lips and blew three blasts upon it.\n\n  Then he waited. The blue sky was above him, the great trees stood away\nfrom him, and the little child lay at his feet. He waited, and then he\nheard the thud-thud of great hooves. And then from between the trees he\nsaw coming toward him the strangest of all beings, one who was half man\nand half horse; this was Chiron the centaur.\n\n  Chiron came toward the trembling slave. Greater than any horse was\nChiron, taller than any man. The hair of his head flowed back into his\nhorse\u2019s mane, his great beard flowed over his horse\u2019s chest; in his man\u2019s\nhand he held a great spear.\n\n  Not swiftly he came, but the slave could see that in those great limbs\nof his there was speed like to the wind\u2019s. The slave fell upon his knees.\nAnd with eyes that were full of majesty and wisdom and limbs that were\nfull of strength and speed, the king-centaur stood above him. \u201cO my lord,\u201d\nthe slave said, \u201cI have come before thee sent by \u00c6son, my master, who told\nme where to come and what blasts to blow upon the horn. And \u00c6son, once\nKing of Iolcus, bade me say to thee that if thou dost remember his ancient\nfriendship with thee thou wilt, perchance, take this child and guard and\nfoster him, and, as he grows, instruct him with thy wisdom.\u201d\n\n  \u201cFor \u00c6son\u2019s sake I will rear and foster this child,\u201d said Chiron the\nking-centaur in a deep voice.\n\n  The child lying on the moss had been looking up at the four-footed and\ntwo-handed centaur. Now the slave lifted him up and placed him in the\ncentaur\u2019s arms. He said:\n\n  \u201c\u00c6son bade me tell thee that the child\u2019s name is Jason. He bade me give\nthee this ring with the great ruby in it that thou mayst give it to the\nchild when he is grown. By this ring with its ruby and the images engraved\non it \u00c6son may know his son when they meet after many years and many\nchanges. And another thing \u00c6son bade me say to thee, O my lord Chiron: not\npresumptuous is he, but he knows that this child has the regard of the\nimmortal Goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus.\u201d\n\n  Chiron held \u00c6son\u2019s son in his arms, and the little child put hands into\nhis great beard. Then the centaur said, \u201cLet \u00c6son know that his son will\nbe reared and fostered by me, and that, when they meet again, there will\nbe ways by which they will be known to each other.\u201d\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Saying this Chiron the centaur, holding the child in his arms, went\nswiftly toward the forest arches; then the slave took up the horn and went\ndown the side of the Mountain Pelion. He came to where a horse was hidden,\nand he mounted and rode, first to a city, and then to a village that was\nbeyond the city.\n\n\n\n  All this was before the famous walls of Troy were built; before King\nPriam had come to the throne of his father and while he was still known,\nnot as Priam, but as Podarces. And the beginning of all these happenings\nwas in Iolcus, a city in Thessaly.\n\n  Cretheus founded the city and had ruled over it in days before King\nPriam was born. He left two sons, \u00c6son and Pelias. \u00c6son succeeded his\nfather. And because he was a mild and gentle man the men of war did not\nlove \u00c6son; they wanted a hard king who would lead them to conquests.\n\n  Pelias, the brother of \u00c6son, was ever with the men of war; he knew what\nmind they had toward \u00c6son and he plotted with them to overthrow his\nbrother. This they did, and they brought Pelias to reign as king in\nIolcus.\n\n  The people loved \u00c6son and they feared Pelias. And because the people\nloved him and would be maddened by his slaying, Pelias and the men of war\nleft him living. With his wife, Alcimide, and his infant son, \u00c6son went\nfrom the city, and in a village that was at a distance from Iolcus he\nfound a hidden house and went to dwell in it.\n\n  \u00c6son would have lived content there were it not that he was fearful for\nJason, his infant son. Jason, he knew, would grow into a strong and a bold\nyouth, and Pelias, the king, would be made uneasy on his account. Pelias\nwould slay the son, and perhaps would slay the father for the son\u2019s sake\nwhen his memory would come to be less loved by the people. \u00c6son thought of\nsuch things in his hidden house, and he pondered on ways to have his son\nreared away from Iolcus and the dread and the power of King Pelias.\n\n  He had for a friend one who was the wisest of all creatures\u2014Chiron the\ncentaur; Chiron who was half man and half horse; Chiron who had lived and\nwas yet to live measureless years. Chiron had fostered Heracles, and it\nmight be that he would not refuse to foster Jason, \u00c6son\u2019s child.\n\n  Away in the fastnesses of Mount Pelion Chiron dwelt; once \u00c6son had been\nwith him and had seen the centaur hunt with his great bow and his great\nspears. And \u00c6son knew a way that one might come to him; Chiron himself had\ntold him of the way.\n\n  Now there was a slave in his house who had been a huntsman and who knew\nall the ways of the Mountain Pelion. \u00c6son talked with this slave one day,\nand after he had talked with him he sat for a long time over the cradle of\nhis sleeping infant. And then he spoke to Alcimide, his wife, telling her\nof a parting that made her weep. That evening the slave came in and \u00c6son\ntook the child from the arms of the mournful-eyed mother and put him in\nthe slave\u2019s arms. Also he gave him a horn and a ring with a great ruby in\nit and mystic images engraved on its gold. Then when the ways were dark\nthe slave mounted a horse, and, with the child in his arms, rode through\nthe city that King Pelias ruled over. In the morning he came to that\nmountain that is all covered with forest, the Mountain Pelion. And that\nevening he came back to the village and to \u00c6son\u2019s hidden house, and he\ntold his master how he had prospered.\n\n  \u00c6son was content thereafter although he was lonely and although his wife\nwas lonely in their childlessness. But the time came when they rejoiced\nthat their child had been sent into an unreachable place. For messengers\nfrom King Pelias came inquiring about the boy. They told the king\u2019s\nmessengers that the child had strayed off from his nurse, and that whether\nhe had been slain by a wild beast or had been drowned in the swift River\nAnaurus they did not know.\n\n  The years went by and Pelias felt secure upon the throne he had taken\nfrom his brother. Once he sent to the oracle of the gods to ask of it\nwhether he should be fearful of anything. What the oracle answered was\nthis: that King Pelias had but one thing to dread\u2014the coming of a\nhalf-shod man.\n\n  The centaur nourished the child Jason on roots and fruits and honey; for\nshelter they had a great cave that Chiron had lived in for numberless\nyears. When he had grown big enough to leave the cave Chiron would let\nJason mount on his back; with the child holding on to his great mane he\nwould trot gently through the ways of the forest.\n\n  Jason began to know the creatures of the forest and their haunts.\nSometimes Chiron would bring his great bow with him; then Jason, on his\nback, would hold the quiver and would hand him the arrows. The centaur\nwould let the boy see him kill with a single arrow the bear, the boar, or\nthe deer. And soon Jason, running beside him, hunted too.\n\n  No heroes were ever better trained than those whose childhood and youth\nhad been spent with Chiron the king-centaur. He made them more swift of\nfoot than any other of the children of men. He made them stronger and more\nready with the spear and bow. Jason was trained by Chiron as Heracles just\nbefore him had been trained, and as Achilles was to be trained afterward.\n\n  Moreover, Chiron taught him the knowledge of the stars and the wisdom\nthat had to do with the ways of the gods.\n\n  Once, when they were hunting together, Jason saw a form at the end of an\nalley of trees\u2014the form of a woman it was\u2014of a woman who had on her head a\nshining crown. Never had Jason dreamt of seeing a form so wondrous. Not\nvery near did he come, but he thought he knew that the woman smiled upon\nhim. She was seen no more, and Jason knew that he had looked upon one of\nthe immortal goddesses.\n\n  All day Jason was filled with thought of her whom he had seen. At night,\nwhen the stars were out, and when they were seated outside the cave,\nChiron and Jason talked together, and Chiron told the youth that she whom\nhe had seen was none other than Hera, the wife of Zeus, who had for his\nfather \u00c6son and for himself an especial friendliness.\n\n  So Jason grew up upon the mountain and in the forest fastnesses. When he\nhad reached his full height and had shown himself swift in the hunt and\nstrong with the spear and bow, Chiron told him that the time had come when\nhe should go back to the world of men and make his name famous by the\ndoing of great deeds.\n\n  And when Chiron told him about his father \u00c6son\u2014about how he had been\nthrust out of the kingship by Pelias, his uncle\u2014a great longing came upon\nJason to see his father and a fierce anger grew up in his heart against\nPelias.\n\n  Then the time came when he bade good-by to Chiron his great instructor;\nthe time came when he went from the centaur\u2019s cave for the last time, and\nwent through the wooded ways and down the side of the Mountain Pelion. He\ncame to the river, to the swift Anaurus, and he found it high in flood.\nThe stones by which one might cross were almost all washed over; far apart\ndid they seem in the flood.\n\n  Now as he stood there pondering on what he might do there came up to him\nan old woman who had on her back a load of brushwood. \u201cWouldst thou\ncross?\u201d asked the old woman. \u201cWouldst thou cross and get thee to the city\nof Iolcus, Jason, where so many things await thee?\u201d\n\n  Greatly was the youth astonished to hear his name spoken by this old\nwoman, and to hear her give the name of the city he was bound for.\n\u201cWouldst thou cross the Anaurus?\u201d she asked again. \u201cThen mount upon my\nback, holding on to the wood I carry, and I will bear thee over the\nriver.\u201d\n\n  Jason smiled. How foolish this old woman was to think that she could\nbear him across the flooded river! She came near him and she took him in\nher arms and lifted him up on her shoulders. Then, before he knew what she\nwas about to do, she had stepped into the water.\n\n  From stone to stepping-stone she went, Jason holding on to the wood that\nshe had drawn to her shoulders. She left him down upon the bank. As she\nwas lifting him down one of his feet touched the water; the swift current\nswept away a sandal.\n\n  He stood on the bank knowing that she who had carried him across the\nflooded river had strength from the gods. He looked upon her, and behold!\nshe was transformed. Instead of an old woman there stood before him one\nwho had on a golden robe and a shining crown. Around her was a wondrous\nlight\u2014the light of the sun when it is most golden. Then Jason knew that\nshe who had carried him across the broad Anaurus was the goddess whom he\nhad seen in the ways of the forest\u2014Hera, great Zeus\u2019s wife.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  \u201cGo into Iolcus, Jason,\u201d said great Hera to him, \u201cgo into Iolcus, and in\nwhatever chance doth befall thee act as one who has the eyes of the\nimmortals upon him.\u201d\n\n  She spoke and she was seen no more. Then Jason went on his way to the\ncity that Cretheus, his grandfather, had founded and that his father \u00c6son\nhad once ruled over. He came into that city, a tall, great-limbed, unknown\nyouth, dressed in a strange fashion, and having but one sandal on.\n\n\n\n\nII. King Pelias\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HAT day King Pelias, walking through the streets of his city, saw\ncoming toward him a youth who was half shod. He remembered the words of\nthe oracle that bade him beware of a half-shod man, and straightway he\ngave orders to his guards to lay hands upon the youth.\n\n  But the guards wavered when they went toward him, for there was\nsomething about the youth that put them in awe of him. He came with the\nguards, however, and he stood before the king\u2019s judgment seat.\n\n  Fearfully did Pelias look upon him. But not fearfully did the youth look\nupon the king. With head lifted high he cried out, \u201cThou art Pelias, but I\ndo not salute thee as king. Know that I am Jason, the son of \u00c6son from\nwhom thou hast taken the throne and scepter that were rightfully his.\u201d\n\n  King Pelias looked to his guards. He would have given them a sign to\ndestroy the youth\u2019s life with their spears, but behind his guards he saw a\nthreatening multitude\u2014the dwellers of the city of Iolcus; they gathered\naround, and Pelias knew that he had become more and more hated by them.\nAnd from the multitude a cry went up, \u201c\u00c6son, \u00c6son! May \u00c6son come back to\nus! Jason, son of \u00c6son! May nothing evil befall thee, brave youth!\u201d\n\n  Then Pelias knew that the youth might not be slain. He bent his head\nwhile he plotted against him in his heart. Then he raised his eyes, and\nlooking upon Jason he said, \u201cO goodly youth, it well may be that thou art\nthe son of \u00c6son, my brother. I am well pleased to see thee here. I have\nhad hopes that I might be friends with \u00c6son, and thy coming here may be\nthe means to the renewal of our friendship. We two brothers may come\ntogether again. I will send for thy father now, and he will be brought to\nmeet thee in my royal palace. Go with my guards and with this rejoicing\npeople, and in a little while thou and I and thy father \u00c6son will sit at a\nfeast of friends.\u201d\n\n  So Pelias said, and Jason went with the guards and the crowd of people,\nand he came to the palace of the king and he was brought within. The maids\nled him to the bath and gave him new robes to wear. Dressed in these Jason\nlooked a prince indeed.\n\n  But all that while King Pelias remained on his judgment seat with his\ncrowned head bent down. When he raised his head his dark brows were\ngathered together and his thin lips were very close. He looked to the\nswords and spears of his guards, and he made a sign to the men to stand\nclose to him. Then he left the judgment seat and he went to the palace.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nIII. The Golden Fleece\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HEY brought Jason into a hall where \u00c6son, his father, waited. Very\nstrange did this old and grave-looking man appear to him. But when \u00c6son\nspoke, Jason remembered the tone of his father\u2019s voice and he clasped him\nto him. And his father knew him even without the sight of the ruby ring\nwhich Jason had upon his finger.\n\n  Then the young man began to tell of the centaur and of his life upon the\nMountain Pelion. As they were speaking together Pelias came to where they\nstood, Pelias in the purple robe of a king and with the crown upon his\nhead. \u00c6son tightly clasped Jason as if he had become fearful for his son.\nPelias smilingly took the hand of the young man and the hand of his\nbrother, and he bade them both welcome to his palace.\n\n  Then, walking between them, the king brought the two into the feasting\nhall. The youth who had known only the forest and the mountainside had to\nwonder at the beauty and the magnificence of all he saw around him. On the\nwalls were bright pictures; the tables were of polished wood, and they had\nvessels of gold and dishes of silver set upon them; along the walls were\nvases of lovely shapes and colors, and everywhere there were baskets\nheaped with roses white and red.\n\n  The king\u2019s guests were already in the hall, young men and elders, and\nmaidens went amongst them carrying roses which they strung into wreaths\nfor the guests to put upon their heads. A soft-handed maiden gave Jason a\nwreath of roses and he put it on his head as he sat down at the king\u2019s\ntable. When he looked at all the rich and lovely things in that hall, and\nwhen he saw the guests looking at him with friendly eyes, Jason felt that\nhe was indeed far away from the dim spaces of the mountain forest and from\nthe darkness of the centaur\u2019s cave.\n\n  Rich food and wine such as he had never dreamt of tasting were brought\nto the tables. He ate and drank, and his eyes followed the fair maidens\nwho went through the hall. He thought how glorious it was to be a king. He\nheard Pelias speak to \u00c6son, his father, telling him that he was old and\nthat he was weary of ruling; that he longed to make friends, and that he\nwould let no enmity now be between him and his brother. And he heard the\nking say that he, Jason, was young and courageous, and that he would call\nupon him to help to rule the land, and that, in a while, Jason would bear\nfull sway over the kingdom that Cretheus had founded.\n\n  So Pelias spoke to \u00c6son as they both sat together at the king\u2019s high\ntable. But Jason, looking on them both, saw that the eyes that his father\nturned on him were full of warnings and mistrust.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  After they had eaten King Pelias made a sign, and a cup-bearer bringing\na richly wrought cup came and stood before the king. The king stood up,\nholding the cup in his hands, and all in the hall waited silently. Then\nPelias put the cup into Jason\u2019s hands and he cried out in a voice that was\nheard all through the hall, \u201cDrink from this cup, O nephew Jason! Drink\nfrom this cup, O man who will soon come to rule over the kingdom that\nCretheus founded!\u201d\n\n  All in the hall stood up and shouted with delight at that speech. But\nthe king was not delighted with their delight, Jason saw. He took the cup\nand he drank the rich wine; pride grew in him; he looked down the hall and\nhe saw faces all friendly to him; he felt as a king might feel, secure and\ntriumphant. And then he heard King Pelias speaking once more.\n\n  \u201cThis is my nephew Jason, reared and fostered in the centaur\u2019s cave. He\nwill tell you of his life in the forest and the mountains\u2014his life that\nwas like to the life of the half gods.\u201d\n\n  Then Jason spoke to them, telling them of his life on the Mountain\nPelion. When he had spoken, Pelias said:\n\n  \u201cI was bidden by the oracle to beware of the man whom I should see\ncoming toward me half shod. But, as you all see, I have brought the\nhalf-shod man to my palace and my feasting hall, so little do I dread the\nanger of the gods.\n\n  \u201cAnd I dread it little because I am blameless. This youth, the son of my\nbrother, is strong and courageous, and I rejoice in his strength and\ncourage, for I would have him take my place and reign over you. Ah, that I\nwere as young as he is now! Ah, that I had been reared and fostered as he\nwas reared and fostered by the wise centaur and under the eyes of the\nimmortals! Then would I do that which in my youth I often dreamed of\ndoing! Then would I perform a deed that would make my name and the name of\nmy city famous throughout all Greece! Then would I bring from far Colchis\nthe famous Fleece of Gold that King \u00c6etes keeps guard over!\u201d\n\n  He finished speaking, and all in the hall shouted out, \u201cThe Golden\nFleece, the Golden Fleece from Colchis!\u201d Jason stood up, and his father\u2019s\nhand gripped him. But he did not heed the hold of his father\u2019s hand, for\n\u201cThe Golden Fleece, the Golden Fleece!\u201d rang in his ears, and before his\neyes were the faces of those who were all eager for the sight of the\nwonder that King \u00c6etes kept guard over.\n\n  Then said Jason, \u201cThou hast spoken well, O King Pelias! Know, and know\nall here assembled, that I have heard of the Golden Fleece and of the\ndangers that await on any one who should strive to win it from King\n\u00c6etes\u2019s care. But know, too, that I would strive to win the Fleece and\nbring it to Iolcus, winning fame both for myself and for the city.\u201d\n\n  When he had spoken he saw his father\u2019s stricken eyes; they were fixed\nupon him. But he looked from them to the shining eyes of the young men who\nwere even then pressing around where he stood. \u201cJason, Jason!\u201d they\nshouted. \u201cThe Golden Fleece for Iolcus!\u201d\n\n  \u201cKing Pelias knows that the winning of the Golden Fleece is a feat most\ndifficult,\u201d said Jason. \u201cBut if he will have built for me a ship that can\nmake the voyage to far Colchis, and if he will send throughout all Greece\nthe word of my adventuring so that all the heroes who would win fame might\ncome with me, and if ye, young heroes of Iolcus, will come with me, I will\nperil my life to win the wonder that King \u00c6etes keeps guard over.\u201d\n\n  He spoke and those in the hall shouted again and made clamor around him.\nBut still his father sat gazing at him with stricken eyes.\n\n  King Pelias stood up in the hall and holding up his scepter he said, \u201cO\nmy nephew Jason, and O friends assembled here, I promise that I will have\nbuilt for the voyage the best ship that ever sailed from a harbor in\nGreece. And I promise that I will send throughout all Greece a word\ntelling of Jason\u2019s voyage so that all heroes desirous of winning fame may\ncome to help him and to help all of you who may go with him to win from\nthe keeping of King \u00c6etes the famous Fleece of Gold.\u201d\n\n  So King Pelias said, but Jason, looking to the king from his father\u2019s\nstricken eyes, saw that he had been led by the king into the acceptance of\nthe voyage so that he might fare far from Iolcus, and perhaps lose his\nlife in striving to gain the wonder that King \u00c6etes kept guarded. By the\nglitter in Pelias\u2019s eyes he knew the truth. Nevertheless Jason would not\ntake back one word that he had spoken; his heart was strong within him,\nand he thought that with the help of the bright-eyed youths around and\nwith the help of those who would come to him at the word of the voyage, he\nwould bring the Golden Fleece to Iolcus and make famous for all time his\nown name.\n\n\n\n\nIV. The Assembling of the Heroes and the Building of the Ship\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_F_IRST there came the youths CASTOR and POLYDEUCES. They came riding on\nwhite horses, two noble-looking brothers. From Sparta they came, and their\nmother was Leda, who, after the twin brothers, had another child born to\nher\u2014Helen, for whose sake the sons of many of Jason\u2019s friends were to wage\nwar against the great city of Troy. These were the first heroes who came\nto Iolcus after the word had gone forth through Greece of Jason\u2019s\nadventuring in quest of the Golden Fleece.\n\n  And then there came one who had both welcome and reverence from Jason;\nthis one came without spear or bow, bearing in his hands a lyre only. He\nwas ORPHEUS, and he knew all the ways of the gods and all the stories of\nthe gods; when he sang to his lyre the trees would listen and the beasts\nwould follow him. It was Chiron who had counseled Orpheus to go with\nJason; Chiron the centaur had met him as he was wandering through the\nforests on the Mountain Pelion and had sent him down into Iolcus.\n\n  Then there came two men well skilled in the handling of ships\u2014TIPHYS and\nNAUPLIUS. Tiphys knew all about the sun and winds and stars, and all about\nthe signs by which a ship might be steered, and Nauplius had the love of\nPoseidon, the god of the sea.\n\n  Afterward there came, one after the other, two who were famous for their\nhunting. No two could be more different than these two were. The first was\nARCAS. He was dressed in the skin of a bear; he had red hair and\nsavage-looking eyes, and for arms he carried a mighty bow with\nbronze-tipped arrows. The folk were watching an eagle as he came into the\ncity\u2014an eagle that was winging its way far, far up in the sky. Arcas drew\nhis bow, and with one arrow he brought the eagle down.\n\n  The other hunter was a girl, ATALANTA. Tall and bright-haired was\nAtalanta, swift and good with the bow. She had dedicated herself to\nArtemis, the guardian of the wild things, and she had vowed that she would\nremain unwedded. All the heroes welcomed Atalanta as a comrade, and the\nmaiden did all the things that the young men did.\n\n  There came a hero who was less youthful than Castor or Polydeuces; he\nwas a man good in council named NESTOR. Afterward Nestor went to the war\nagainst Troy, and then he was the oldest of the heroes in the camp of\nAgamemnon.\n\n  Two brothers came who were to be special friends of Jason\u2019s\u2014PELEUS and\nTELAMON. Both were still youthful and neither had yet achieved any notable\ndeed. Afterward they were to be famous, but their sons were to be even\nmore famous, for the son of Telamon was strong Aias, and the son of Peleus\nwas great Achilles.\n\n  Another who came was ADMETUS; afterward he became a famous king. The God\nApollo once made himself a shepherd and he kept the flocks of King\nAdmetus.\n\n  And there came two brothers, twins, who were a wonder to all who beheld\nthem. ZETES and CALAIS they were named; their mother was Oreithyia, the\ndaughter of Erechtheus, King of Athens, and their father was Boreas, the\nNorth Wind. These two brothers had on their ankles wings that gleamed with\ngolden scales; their black hair was thick upon their shoulders, and it was\nalways being shaken by the wind.\n\n  With Zetes and Calais there came a youth armed with a great sword whose\nname was THESEUS. Theseus\u2019s father was an unknown king; he had bidden the\nmother show their son where his sword was hidden. Under a great stone the\nking had hidden it before Theseus was born. Before he had grown out of his\nboyhood Theseus had been able to raise the stone and draw forth his\nfather\u2019s sword. As yet he had done no great deed, but he was resolved to\nwin fame and to find his unknown father.\n\n\n\n  On the day that the messengers had set out to bring through Greece the\nword of Jason\u2019s going forth in quest of the Golden Fleece the woodcutters\nmade their way up into the forests of Mount Pelion; they began to fell\ntrees for the timbers of the ship that was to make the voyage to far\nColchis.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Great timbers were cut and brought down to Pagas\u00e6, the harbor of Iolcus.\nOn the night of the day he had helped to bring them down Jason had a\ndream. He dreamt that She whom he had seen in the forest ways and\nafterward by the River Anaurus appeared to him. And in his dream the\ngoddess bade him rise early in the morning and welcome a man whom he would\nmeet at the city\u2019s gate\u2014a tall and gray-haired man who would have on his\nshoulders tools for the building of a ship.\n\n  He went to the city\u2019s gate and he met such a man. ARGUS was his name. He\ntold Jason that a dream had sent him to the city of Iolcus. Jason welcomed\nhim and lodged him in the king\u2019s palace, and that day the word went\nthrough the city that the building of the great ship would soon be begun.\n\n  But not with the timbers brought from Mount Pelion did Argus begin.\nWalking through the palace with Jason he noted a great beam in the roof.\nThat beam, he said, had been shown him in his dream; it was from an oak\ntree in Dodona, the grove of Zeus. A sacred power was in the beam, and\nfrom it the prow of the ship should be fashioned. Jason had them take the\nbeam from the roof of the palace; it was brought to where the timbers\nwere, and that day the building of the great ship was begun.\n\n  Then all along the waterside came the noise of hammering; in the street\nwhere the metalworkers were came the noise of beating upon metals as the\nsmiths fashioned out of bronze armor for the heroes and swords and spears.\nEvery day, under the eyes of Argus the master, the ship that had in it the\nbeam from Zeus\u2019s grove was built higher and wider. And those who were\nbuilding the ship often felt going through it tremors as of a living\ncreature.\n\n\n\n  When the ship was built and made ready for the voyage a name was given\nto it\u2014the ARGO it was called. And naming themselves from the ship the\nheroes called themselves the ARGONAUTS. All was ready for the voyage, and\nnow Jason went with his friends to view the ship before she was brought\ninto the water.\n\n  Argus the master was on the ship, seeing to it that the last things were\nbeing done before _Argo_ was launched. Very grave and wise looked\nArgus\u2014Argus the builder of the ship. And wonderful to the heroes the ship\nlooked now that Argus, for their viewing, had set up the mast with the\nsails and had even put the oars in their places. Wonderful to the heroes\n_Argo_ looked with her long oars and her high sails, with her timbers\npainted red and gold and blue, and with a marvelous figure carved upon her\nprow. All over the ship Jason\u2019s eyes went. He saw a figure standing by the\nmast; for a moment he looked on it, and then the figure became shadowy.\nBut Jason knew that he had looked upon the goddess whom he had seen in the\nways of the forest and had seen afterward by the rough Anaurus.\n\n  Then mast and sails were taken down and the oars were left in the ship,\nand the _Argo_ was launched into the water. The heroes went back to the\npalace of King Pelias to feast with the king\u2019s guests before they took\ntheir places on the ship, setting out on the voyage to far Colchis.\n\n  When they came into the palace they saw that another hero had arrived.\nHis shield was hung in the hall; the heroes all gathered around, amazed at\nthe size and the beauty of it. The shield shone all over with gold. In its\ncenter was the figure of Fear\u2014of Fear that stared backward with eyes\nburning as with fire. The mouth was open and the teeth were shown. And\nother figures were wrought around the figure of Fear\u2014Strife and Pursuit\nand Flight; Tumult and Panic and Slaughter. The figure of Fate was there\ndragging a dead man by the feet; on her shoulders Fate had a garment that\nwas red with the blood of men.\n\n  Around these figures were heads of snakes, heads with black jaws and\nglittering eyes, twelve heads such as might affright any man. And on other\nparts of the shield were shown the horses of Ares, the grim god of war.\nThe figure of Ares himself was shown also. He held a spear in his hand,\nand he was urging the warriors on.\n\n  Around the inner rim of the shield the sea was shown, wrought in white\nmetal. Dolphins swam in the sea, fishing for little fishes that were shown\nthere in bronze. Around the rim chariots were racing along with wheels\nrunning close together; there were men fighting and women watching from\nhigh towers. The awful figure of the Darkness of Death was shown there,\ntoo, with mournful eyes and the dust of battles upon her shoulders. The\nouter rim of the shield showed the Stream of Ocean, the stream that\nencircles the world; swans were soaring above and swimming on its surface.\n\n  All in wonder the heroes gazed on the great shield, telling each other\nthat only one man in all the world could carry it\u2014Heracles the son of\nZeus. Could it be that Heracles had come amongst them? They went into the\nfeasting hall and they saw one there who was tall as a pine tree, with\nunshorn tresses of hair upon his head. Heracles indeed it was! He turned\nto them a smiling face with smiling eyes. Heracles! They all gathered\naround the strongest hero in the world, and he took the hand of each in\nhis mighty hand.\n\n\n\n\nV. The _Argo_\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HE heroes went the next day through the streets of Iolcus down to where\nthe ship lay. The ways they went through were crowded; the heroes were\nsplendid in their appearance, and Jason amongst them shone like a star.\n\n  The people praised him, and one told the other that it would not be long\nuntil they would win back to Iolcus, for this band of heroes was strong\nenough, they said, to take King \u00c6etes\u2019s city and force him to give up to\nthem the famous Fleece of Gold. Many of the bright-eyed youths of Iolcus\nwent with the heroes who had come from the different parts of Greece.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                                the _Argo_\n\n\n  As they marched past a temple a priestess came forth to speak to Jason;\nIphias was her name. She had a prophecy to utter about the voyage. But\nIphias was very old, and she stammered in her speech to Jason. What she\nsaid was not heard by him. The heroes went on, and ancient Iphias was left\nstanding there as the old are left by the young.\n\n  The heroes went aboard the _Argo_. They took their seats as at an\nassembly. Then Jason faced them and spoke to them all.\n\n  \u201cHeroes of the quest,\u201d said Jason, \u201cwe have come aboard the great ship\nthat Argus has built, and all that a ship needs is in its place or is\nready to our hands. All that we wait for now is the coming of the\nmorning\u2019s breeze that will set us on our way for far Colchis.\n\n  \u201cOne thing we have first to do\u2014that is, to choose a leader who will\ndirect us all, one who will settle disputes amongst ourselves and who will\nmake treaties between us and the strangers that we come amongst. We must\nchoose such a leader now.\u201d\n\n  Jason spoke, and some looked to him and some looked to Heracles. But\nHeracles stood up, and, stretching out his hand, said:\n\n  \u201cArgonauts! Let no one amongst you offer the leadership to me. I will\nnot take it. The hero who brought us together and made all things ready\nfor our going\u2014it is he and no one else who should be our leader in this\nvoyage.\u201d\n\n  So Heracles said, and the Argonauts all stood up and raised a cry for\nJason. Then Jason stepped forward, and he took the hand of each Argonaut\nin his hand, and he swore that he would lead them with all the mind and\nall the courage that he possessed. And he prayed the gods that it would be\ngiven to him to lead them back safely with the Golden Fleece glittering on\nthe mast of the _Argo_.\n\n  They drew lots for the benches they would sit at; they took the places\nthat for the length of the voyage they would have on the ship. They made\nsacrifice to the gods and they waited for the breeze of the morning that\nwould help them away from Iolcus.\n\n\n\n  And while they waited \u00c6son, the father of Jason, sat at his own hearth,\nbowed and silent in his grief. Alcimide, his wife, sat near him, but she\nwas not silent; she lamented to the women of Iolcus who were gathered\naround her. \u201cI did not go down to the ship,\u201d she said, \u201cfor with my grief\nI would not be a bird of ill omen for the voyage. By this hearth my son\ntook farewell of me\u2014the only son I ever bore. From the doorway I watched\nhim go down the street of the city, and I heard the people shout as he\nwent amongst them, they glorying in my son\u2019s splendid appearance. Ah, that\nI might live to see his return and to hear the shout that will go up when\nthe people look on Jason again! But I know that my life will not be spared\nso long; I will not look on my son when he comes back from the dangers he\nwill run in the quest of the Golden Fleece.\u201d\n\n  Then the women of Iolcus asked her to tell them of the Golden Fleece,\nand Alcimide told them of it and of the sorrows that were upon the race of\n\u00c6olus.\n\n  Cretheus, the father of \u00c6son and Pelias, was of the race of \u00c6olus, and\nof the race of \u00c6olus, too, was Athamas, the king who ruled in Thebes at\nthe same time that Cretheus ruled in Iolcus. And the first children of\nAthamas were Phrixus and Helle.\n\n  \u201cAh, Phrixus and ah, Helle,\u201d Alcimide lamented, \u201cwhat griefs you have\nbrought on the race of \u00c6olus! And what griefs you yourselves suffered! The\nevil that Athamas, your father, did you lives to be a curse to the line of\n\u00c6olus!\n\n  \u201cAthamas was wedded first to Nephele, the mother of Phrixus and Helle,\nthe youth and maiden. But Athamas married again while the mother of these\nchildren was still living, and Ino, the new queen, drove Nephele and her\nchildren out of the king\u2019s palace.\n\n  \u201cAnd now was Nephele most unhappy. She had to live as a servant, and her\nchildren were servants to the servants of the palace. They were clad in\nrags and had little to eat, and they were beaten often by the servants who\nwished to win the favor of the new queen.\n\n  \u201cBut although they wore rags and had menial tasks to do, Phrixus and\nHelle looked the children of a queen. The boy was tall, and in his eyes\nthere often came the flash of power, and the girl looked as if she would\ngrow into a lovely maiden. And when Athamas, their father, would meet them\nby chance he would sigh, and Queen Ino would know by that sigh that he had\nstill some love for them in his heart. Afterward she would have to use all\nthe power she possessed to win the king back from thinking upon his\nchildren.\n\n  \u201cAnd now Queen Ino had children of her own. She knew that the people\nreverenced the children of Nephele and cared nothing for her children. And\nbecause she knew this she feared that when Athamas died Phrixus and Helle,\nthe children of Nephele, would be brought to rule in Thebes. Then she and\nher children would be made to change places with them.\n\n  \u201cThis made Queen Ino think on ways by which she could make Phrixus and\nHelle lose their lives. She thought long upon this, and at last a\ndesperate plan came into her mind.\n\n  \u201cWhen it was winter she went amongst the women of the countryside, and\nshe gave them jewels and clothes for presents. Then she asked them to do\nsecretly an unheard-of thing. She asked the women to roast over their\nfires the grains that had been left for seed. This the women did. Then\nspring came on, and the men sowed in the fields the grain that had been\nroasted over the fires. No shoots grew up as the spring went by. In summer\nthere was no waving greenness in the fields. Autumn came, and there was no\ngrain for the reaping. Then the men, not knowing what had happened, went\nto King Athamas and told him that there would be famine in the land.\n\n  \u201cThe king sent to the temple of Artemis to ask how the people might be\nsaved from the famine. And the guardians of the temple, having taken gold\nfrom Queen Ino, told them that there would be worse and worse famine and\nthat all the people of Thebes would die of hunger unless the king was\nwilling to make a great sacrifice.\n\n  \u201cWhen the king asked what sacrifice he should make he was told by the\nguardians of the temple that he must sacrifice to the goddess his two\nchildren, Phrixus and Helle. Those who were around the king, to save\nthemselves from famine after famine, clamored to have the children\nsacrificed. Athamas, to save his people, consented to the sacrifice.\n\n  \u201cThey went toward the king\u2019s palace. They found Helle by the bank of the\nriver washing clothes. They took her and bound her. They found Phrixus,\nhalf naked, digging in a field, and they took him, too, and bound him.\nThat night they left brother and sister in the same prison. Helle wept\nover Phrixus, and Phrixus wept to think that he was not able to do\nanything to save his sister.\n\n  \u201cThe servants of the palace went to Nephele, and they mocked at her,\ntelling her that her children would be sacrificed on the morrow. Nephele\nnearly went wild in her grief. And then, suddenly, there came into her\nmind the thought of a creature that might be a helper to her and to her\nchildren.\n\n  \u201cThis creature was a ram that had wings and a wonderful fleece of gold.\nThe god of the sea, Poseidon, had sent this wonderful ram to Athamas and\nNephele as a marriage gift. And the ram had since been kept in a special\nfold.\n\n  \u201cTo that fold Nephele went. She spent the night beside the ram praying\nfor its help. The morning came and the children were taken from their\nprison and dressed in white, and wreaths were put upon their heads to mark\nthem as things for sacrifice. They were led in a procession to the temple\nof Artemis. Behind that procession King Athamas walked, his head bowed in\nshame.\n\n  \u201cBut Queen Ino\u2019s head was not bowed; rather she carried it high, for her\nthought was all upon her triumph. Soon Phrixus and Helle would be dead,\nand then, whatever happened, her own children would reign after Athamas in\nThebes.\n\n  \u201cPhrixus and Helle, thinking they were taking their last look at the\nsun, went on. And even then Nephele, holding the horns of the golden ram,\nwas making her last prayer. The sun rose and as it did the ram spread out\nits great wings and flew through the air. It flew to the temple of\nArtemis. Down beside the altar came the golden ram, and it stood with its\nhorns threatening those who came. All stopped in surprise. Still the ram\nstood with threatening head and great golden wings spread out. Then\nPhrixus ran from those who were holding him and laid his hands upon the\nram. He called to Helle and she, too, came to the golden creature. Phrixus\nmounted on the ram and he pulled Helle up beside him. Then the golden ram\nflew upward. Up, up, it went, and with the children upon its back it\nbecame like a star in the day-lit sky.\n\n  \u201cThen Queen Ino, seeing the children saved by the golden ram, shrieked\nand fled away from that place. Athamas ran after her. As she ran and as he\nfollowed hatred for her grew up within him. Ino ran on and on until she\ncame to the cliffs that rose over the sea. Fearing Athamas who came behind\nher she plunged down. But as she fell she was changed by Poseidon, the god\nof the sea. She became a seagull. Athamas, who followed her, was changed\nalso; he became the sea eagle that, with beak and talons ever ready to\nstrike, flies above the sea.\n\n  \u201cAnd the golden ram with wings outspread flew on and on. Over the sea it\nflew while the wind whistled around the children. On and on they went, and\nthe children saw only the blue sea beneath them. Then poor Helle, looking\ndownward, grew dizzy. She fell off the golden ram before her brother could\ntake hold of her. Down she fell, and still the ram flew on and on. She was\ndrowned in that sea. The people afterward named it in memory of her,\ncalling it \u2018Hellespont\u2019\u2014\u2018Helle\u2019s Sea.\u2019\n\n  \u201cOn and on the ram flew. Over a wild and barren country it flew and\ntoward a river. Upon that river a white city was built. Down the ram flew,\nand alighting on the ground, stood before the gate of that city. It was\nthe city of Aea, in the land of Colchis.\n\n  \u201cThe king was in the street of the city, and he joined with the crowd\nthat gathered around the strange golden creature that had a youth upon its\nback. The ram folded its wings and then the youth stood beside it. He\nspoke to the people, and then the king\u2014\u00c6etes was his name\u2014spoke to him,\nasking him from what place he had come, and what was the strange creature\nupon whose back he had flown.\n\n  \u201cTo the king and to the people Phrixus told his story, weeping to tell\nof Helle and her fall. Then King \u00c6etes brought him into the city, and he\ngave him a place in the palace, and for the golden ram he had a special\nfold made.\n\n  \u201cSoon after the ram died, and then King \u00c6etes took its golden fleece and\nhung it upon an oak tree that was in a place dedicated to Ares, the god of\nwar. Phrixus wed one of the daughters of the king, and men say that\nafterward he went back to Thebes, his own land.\n\n  \u201cAnd as for the Golden Fleece it became the greatest of King \u00c6etes\u2019s\ntreasures. Well indeed does he guard it, and not with armed men only, but\nwith magic powers. Very strong and very cunning is King \u00c6etes, and a\nterrible task awaits those who would take away from him that Fleece of\nGold.\u201d\n\n\n\n  So Alcimide spoke, sorrowfully telling to the women the story of the\nGolden Fleece that her son Jason was going in quest of. So she spoke, and\nthe night waned, and the morning of the sailing of the _Argo_ came on.\n\n  And when the Argonauts beheld the dawn upon the high peaks of Pelion\nthey arose and poured out wine in offering to Zeus, the highest of the\ngods. Then _Argo_ herself gave forth a strange cry, for the beam from\nDodona that had been formed into her prow had endued her with life. She\nuttered a strange cry, and as she did the heroes took their places at the\nbenches, one after the other, as had been arranged by lot, and Tiphys, the\nhelmsman, went to the steering place. To the sound of Orpheus\u2019s lyre they\nsmote with oars the rushing sea water, and the surge broke over the oar\nblades. The sails were let out and the breeze came into them, piping\nshrilly, and the fishes came darting through the green sea, great and\nsmall, and followed them, gamboling along the watery paths. And Chiron,\nthe king-centaur, came down from the Mountain Pelion, and standing with\nhis feet in the foam cried out, \u201cGood speed, O Argonauts, good speed, and\na sorrowless return.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe Beginning of Things\n\n\n  Orpheus sang to his lyre, Orpheus the minstrel, who knew the ways and\nthe stories of the gods; out in the open sea on the first morning of the\nvoyage Orpheus sang to them of the beginning of things.\n\n  He sang how at first Earth and Heaven and Sea were all mixed and mingled\ntogether. There was neither Light nor Darkness then, but only a Dimness.\nThis was Chaos. And from Chaos came forth Night and Erebus. From Night was\nborn \u00c6ther, the Upper Air, and from Night and Erebus wedded there was born\nDay.\n\n  And out of Chaos came Earth, and out of Earth came the starry Heaven.\nAnd from Heaven and Earth wedded there were born the Titan gods and\ngoddesses\u2014Oceanus, C\u0153us, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus; Theia, Rhea, Themis,\nMnemosyne, gold-crowned Ph\u0153be, and lovely Tethys. And then Heaven and\nEarth had for their child Cronos, the most cunning of all.\n\n  Cronos wedded Rhea, and from Cronos and Rhea were born the gods who were\ndifferent from the Titan gods.\n\n  But Heaven and Earth had other children\u2014Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes.\nThese were giants, each with fifty heads and a hundred arms. And Heaven\ngrew fearful when he looked on these giant children, and he hid them away\nin the deep places of the Earth.\n\n  Cronos hated Heaven, his father. He drove Heaven, his father, and Earth,\nhis mother, far apart. And far apart they stay, for they have never been\nable to come near each other since. And Cronos married to Rhea had for\nchildren Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Aidoneus, and Poseidon, and these all\nbelonged to the company of the deathless gods. Cronos was fearful that one\nof his sons would treat him as he had treated Heaven, his father. So when\nanother child was born to him and his wife Rhea he commanded that the\nchild be given to him so that he might swallow him. But Rhea wrapped a\ngreat stone in swaddling clothes and gave the stone to Cronos. And Cronos\nswallowed the stone, thinking to swallow his latest-born child.\n\n  That child was Zeus. Earth took Zeus and hid him in a deep cave and\nthose who minded and nursed the child beat upon drums so that his cries\nmight not be heard. His nurse was Adrastia; when he was able to play she\ngave him a ball to play with. All of gold was the ball, with a dark-blue\nspiral around it. When the boy Zeus would play with this ball it would\nmake a track across the sky, flaming like a star.\n\n  Hyperion the Titan god wed Theia the Titan goddess, and their children\nwere Helios, the bright Sun, and Selene, the clear Moon. And C\u0153us wed\nPh\u0153be, and their children were Leto, who is kind to gods and men, and\nAsteria of happy name, and Hecate, whom Zeus honored above all. Now the\ngods who were the children of Cronos and Rhea went up unto the Mountain\nOlympus, and there they built their shining palaces. But the Titan gods\nwho were born of Heaven and Earth went up to the Mountain Othrys, and\nthere they had their thrones.\n\n  Between the Olympians and the Titan gods of Othrys a war began. Neither\nside might prevail against the other. But now Zeus, grown up to be a\nyouth, thought of how he might help the Olympians to overthrow the Titan\ngods.\n\n  He went down into the deep parts of the Earth where the giants Cottus,\nBriareus, and Gyes had been hidden by their father. Cronos had bound them,\nweighing them down with chains. But now Zeus loosed them and the\nhundred-armed giants in their gratitude gave him the lightning and showed\nhim how to use the thunderbolt.\n\n  Zeus would have the giants fight against the Titan gods. But although\nthey had mighty strength Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes had no fire of courage\nin their hearts. Zeus thought of a way to give them this courage; he\nbrought the food and drink of the gods to them, ambrosia and nectar, and\nwhen they had eaten and drunk their spirits grew within the giants, and\nthey were ready to make war upon the Titan gods.\n\n  \u201cSons of Earth and Heaven,\u201d said Zeus to the hundred-armed giants, \u201ca\nlong time now have the Dwellers on Olympus been striving with the Titan\ngods. Do you lend your unconquerable might to the gods and help them to\noverthrow the Titans.\u201d\n\n  Cottus, the eldest of the giants, answered, \u201cDivine One, through your\ndevising we are come back again from the murky gloom of the mid Earth and\nwe have escaped from the hard bonds that Cronus laid upon us. Our minds\nare fixed to aid you in the war against the Titan gods.\u201d\n\n  So the hundred-armed giants said, and thereupon Zeus went and he\ngathered around him all who were born of Cronos and Rhea. Cronos himself\nhid from Zeus. Then the giants, with their fifty heads growing from their\nshoulders and their hundred hands, went forth against the Titan gods. The\nboundless sea rang terribly and the earth crashed loudly; wide Heaven was\nshaken and groaned, and high Olympus reeled from its foundation. Holding\nhuge rocks in their hands the giants attacked the Titan gods.\n\n  Then Zeus entered the war. He hurled the lightning; the bolts flew thick\nand fast from his strong hand, with thunder and lightning and flame. The\nearth crashed around in burning, the forests crackled with fire, the ocean\nseethed. And hot flames wrapped the earth-born Titans all around. Three\nhundred rocks, one upon another, did Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes hurl upon\nthe Titans. And when their ranks were broken the giants seized upon them\nand held them for Zeus.\n\n  But some of the Titan gods, seeing that the strife for them was vain,\nwent over to the side of Zeus. These Zeus became friendly with. But the\nother Titans he bound in chains and he hurled them down to Tartarus.\n\n  As far as Earth is from Heaven so is Tartarus from Earth. A brazen anvil\nfalling down from Heaven to Earth nine days and nine nights would reach\nthe earth upon the tenth day. And again, a brazen anvil falling from Earth\nnine nights and nine days would reach Tartarus upon the tenth night.\nAround Tartarus runs a fence of bronze and Night spreads in a triple line\nall about it, as a necklace circles the neck. There Zeus imprisoned the\nTitan gods who had fought against him; they are hidden in the misty gloom,\nin a dank place, at the ends of the Earth. And they may not go out, for\nPoseidon fixed gates of bronze upon their prison, and a wall runs all\nround it. There Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes stay, guarding them.\n\n  And there, too, is the home of Night. Night and Day meet each other at\nthat place, as they pass a threshold of bronze. They draw near and they\ngreet one another, but the house never holds them both together, for while\none is about to go down into the house, the other is leaving through the\ndoor. One holds Light in her hand and the other holds in her arms Sleep.\n\n  There the children of dark Night have their dwellings\u2014Sleep, and Death,\nhis brother. The sun never shines upon these two. Sleep may roam over the\nwide earth, and come upon the sea, and he is kindly to men. But Death is\nnot kindly, and whoever he seizes upon, him he holds fast.\n\n  There, too, stands the hall of the lord of the Underworld, Aidoneus, the\nbrother of Zeus. Zeus gave him the Underworld to be his dominion when he\nshared amongst the Olympians the world that Cronos had ruled over. A\nfearful hound guards the hall of Aidoneus: Cerberus he is called; he has\nthree heads. On those who go within that hall Cerberus fawns, but on those\nwho would come out of it he springs and would devour them.\n\n  Not all the Titans did Zeus send down to Tartarus. Those of them who had\nwisdom joined him, and by their wisdom Zeus was able to overcome Cronos.\nThen Cronos went to live with the friendly Titan gods, while Zeus reigned\nover Olympus, becoming the ruler of gods and men.\n\n\n\n  So Orpheus sang, Orpheus who knew the ways and the histories of the\ngods.\n\n\n\n\nVI. Polydeuces\u2019 Victory and Heracles\u2019 Loss\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_A_LL the places that the Argonauts came nigh to and went past need not be\ntold\u2014Melib\u0153a, where they escaped a stormy beach; Homole, from where they\nwere able to look on Ossa and holy Olympus; Lemnos, the island that they\nwere to return to; the unnamed country where the Earth-born Men abide,\neach having six arms, two growing from his shoulders, and four fitting\nclose to his terrible sides; and then the Mountain of the Bears, where\nthey climbed, to make sacrifice there to Rhea, the mighty mother of the\ngods.\n\n  Afterward, for a whole day, no wind blew and the sail of the _Argo_ hung\nslack. But the heroes swore to each other that they would make their ship\ngo as swiftly as if the storm-footed steeds of Poseidon were racing to\novertake her. Mightily they labored at the oars, and no one would be first\nto leave his rower\u2019s bench.\n\n  And then, just as the breeze of the evening came up, and just as the\nrest of the heroes were leaning back, spent with their labor, the oar that\nHeracles still pulled at broke, and half of it was carried away by the\nwaves. Heracles sat there in ill humor, for he did not know what to do\nwith his unlaboring hands.\n\n  All through the night they went on with a good breeze filling their\nsails, and next day they came to the mouth of the River Cius. There they\nlanded so that Heracles might get himself an oar. No sooner did they set\ntheir feet upon the shore than the hero went off into the forest, to pull\nup a tree that he might shape into an oar.\n\n  Where they had landed was near to the country of the Bebrycians, a rude\npeople whose king was named Amycus. Now while Heracles was away from them\nthis king came with his followers\u2014huge, rude men, all armed with clubs,\ndown to where the Argonauts were lighting their fires on the beach.\n\n  He did not greet them courteously, asking them what manner of men they\nwere and whither they were bound, nor did he offer them hospitality.\nInstead, he shouted at them insolently:\n\n  \u201cListen to something that you rovers had better know. I am Amycus, and\nany stranger that comes to this land has to get into a boxing bout with\nme. That\u2019s the law that I have laid down. Unless you have one amongst you\nwho can stand up to me you won\u2019t be let go back to your ship. If you don\u2019t\nheed my law, look out, for something\u2019s going to happen to you.\u201d\n\n  So he shouted, that insolent king, and his followers raised their clubs\nand growled approval of what their master said. But the Argonauts were not\ndismayed at the words of Amycus. One of them stepped toward the\nBebrycians. He was Polydeuces, good at boxing.\n\n  \u201cOffer us no violence, king,\u201d said Polydeuces. \u201cWe are ready to obey the\nlaw that you have laid down. Willingly do I take up your challenge, and I\nwill box a bout with you.\u201d\n\n  The Argonauts cheered when they saw Polydeuces, the good boxer, step\nforward, and when they heard what he had to say. Amycus turned and shouted\nto his followers, and one of them brought up two pairs of boxing\ngauntlets\u2014of rough cowhide they were. The Argonauts feared that\nPolydeuces\u2019 hands might have been made numb with pulling at the oar, and\nsome of them went to him, and took his hands and rubbed them to make them\nsupple; others took from off his shoulders his beautifully colored mantle.\n\n  Amycus straightway put on his gauntlets and threw off his mantle; he\nstood there amongst his followers with his great arms crossed, glowering\nat the Argonauts as a wild beast might glower. And when the two faced each\nother Amycus seemed like one of the Earth-born Men, dark and hugely\nshaped, while Helen\u2019s brother stood there light and beautiful. Polydeuces\nwas like that star whose beams are lovely at evening-tide.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Like the wave that breaks over a ship and gives the sailors no respite\nAmycus came on at Polydeuces. He pushed in upon him, thinking to bear him\ndown and overwhelm him. But as the skillful steersman keeps the ship from\nbeing overwhelmed by the monstrous wave, so Polydeuces, all skill and\nlightness, baffled the rushes of Amycus. At last Amycus, standing on the\ntips of his toes and rising high above him, tried to bring down his great\nfist upon the head of Polydeuces. The hero swung aside and took the blow\non his shoulder. Then he struck his blow. It was a strong one, and under\nit the king of the Bebrycians staggered and fell down. \u201cYou see,\u201d said\nPolydeuces, \u201cthat we keep your law.\u201d\n\n  The Argonauts shouted, but the rude Bebrycians raised their clubs to\nrush upon them. Then would the heroes have been hard pressed, and forced,\nperhaps, to get back to the _Argo_. But suddenly Heracles appeared amongst\nthem, coming up from the forest.\n\n  He carried a pine tree in his hands with all its branches still upon it,\nand seeing this mighty-statured man appear with the great tree in his\nhands, the Bebrycians hurried off, carrying their fallen king with them.\nThen the Argonauts gathered around Polydeuces, saluted him as their\nchampion, and put a crown of victory upon his head. Heracles, meanwhile,\nlopped off the branches of the pine tree and began to fashion it into an\noar.\n\n  The fires were lighted upon the shore, and the thoughts of all were\nturned to supper. Then young Hylas, who used to sit by Heracles and keep\nbright the hero\u2019s arms and armor, took a bronze vessel and went to fetch\nwater.\n\n  Never was there a boy so beautiful as young Hylas. He had golden curls\nthat tumbled over his brow. He had deep blue eyes and a face that smiled\nat every glance that was given him, at every word that was said to him.\nNow as he walked through the flowering grasses, with his knees bare, and\nwith the bright vessel swinging in his hand, he looked most lovely.\nHeracles had brought the boy with him from the country of the Dryopians;\nhe would have him sit beside him on the bench of the _Argo_, and the ill\nhumors that often came upon him would go at the words and the smile of\nHylas.\n\n  Now the spring that Hylas was going toward was called Peg\u00e6, and it was\nhaunted by the nymphs. They were dancing around it when they heard Hylas\nsinging. They stole softly off to watch him. Hidden behind trees the\nnymphs saw the boy come near, and they felt such love for him that they\nthought they could never let him go from their sight.\n\n  They stole back to their spring, and they sank down below its clear\nsurface. Then came Hylas singing a song that he had heard from his mother.\nHe bent down to the spring, and the brimming water flowed into the\nsounding bronze of the pitcher. Then hands came out of the water. One of\nthe nymphs caught Hylas by the elbow; another put her arms around his\nneck, another took the hand that held the vessel of bronze. The pitcher\nsank down to the depths of the spring. The hands of the nymphs clasped\nHylas tighter, tighter; the water bubbled around him as they drew him\ndown. Down, down they drew him, and into the cold and glimmering cave\nwhere they live.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                                  Hylas\n\n\n  There Hylas stayed. But although the nymphs kissed him and sang to him,\nand showed him lovely things, Hylas was not content to be there.\n\n  Where the Argonauts were the fires burned, the moon arose, and still\nHylas did not return. Then they began to fear lest a wild beast had\ndestroyed the boy. One went to Heracles and told him that young Hylas had\nnot come back, and that they were fearful for him. Heracles flung down the\npine tree that he was fashioning into an oar, and he dashed along the way\nthat Hylas had gone as if a gadfly were stinging him. \u201cHylas, Hylas,\u201d he\ncried. But Hylas, in the cold and glimmering cave that the nymphs had\ndrawn him into, did not hear the call of his friend Heracles.\n\n  All the Argonauts went searching, calling as they went through the\nisland, \u201cHylas, Hylas, Hylas!\u201d But only their own calls came back to them.\nThe morning star came up, and Tiphys, the steersman, called to them from\nthe _Argo_. And when they came to the ship Tiphys told them that they\nwould have to go aboard and make ready to sail from that place.\n\n  They called to Heracles, and Heracles at last came down to the ship.\nThey spoke to him, saying that they would have to sail away. Heracles\nwould not go on board. \u201cI will not leave this island,\u201d he said, \u201cuntil I\nfind young Hylas or learn what has happened to him.\u201d\n\n  Then Jason arose to give the command to depart. But before the words\nwere said Telamon stood up and faced him. \u201cJason,\u201d he said angrily, \u201cyou\ndo not bid Heracles come on board, and you would have the _Argo_ leave\nwithout him. You would leave Heracles here so that he may not be with us\non the quest where his glory might overshadow your glory, Jason.\u201d\n\n  Jason said no word, but he sat back on his bench with head bowed. And\nthen, even as Telamon said these angry words, a strange figure rose up out\nof the waves of the sea.\n\n  It was the figure of a man, wrinkled and old, with seaweed in his beard\nand his hair. There was a majesty about him, and the Argonauts all knew\nthat this was one of the immortals\u2014he was Nereus, the ancient one of the\nsea.\n\n  \u201cTo Heracles, and to you, the rest of the Argonauts, I have a thing to\nsay,\u201d said the ancient one, Nereus. \u201cKnow, first, that Hylas has been\ntaken by the nymphs who love him and who think to win his love, and that\nhe will stay forever with them in their cold and glimmering cave. For\nHylas seek no more. And to you, Heracles, I will say this: Go aboard the\n_Argo_ again; the ship will take you to where a great labor awaits you,\nand which, in accomplishing, you will work out the will of Zeus. You will\nknow what this labor is when a spirit seizes on you.\u201d So the ancient one\nof the sea said, and he sank back beneath the waves.\n\n  Heracles went aboard the _Argo_ once more, and he took his place on the\nbench, the new oar in his hand. Sad he was to think that young Hylas who\nused to sit at his knee would never be there again. The breeze filled the\nsail, the Argonauts pulled at the oars, and in sadness they watched the\nisland where young Hylas had been lost to them recede from their view.\n\n\n\n\nVII. King Phineus\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_S_AID Tiphys, the steersman: \u201cIf we could enter the Sea of Pontus, we\ncould make our way across that sea to Colchis in a short time. But the\npassage into the Sea of Pontus is most perilous, and few mortals dare even\nto make approach to it.\u201d\n\n  Said Jason, the chieftain of the host: \u201cThe dangers of the passage,\nTiphys, we have spoken of, and it may be that we shall have to carry\n_Argo_ overland to the Sea of Pontus. But you, Tiphys, have spoken of a\nwise king who is hereabouts, and who might help us to make the dangerous\npassage. Speak again to us, and tell us what the dangers of the passage\nare, and who the king is who may be able to help us to make these dangers\nless.\u201d\n\n  Then said Tiphys, the steersman of the _Argo_: \u201cNo ship sailed by\nmortals has as yet gone through the passage that brings this sea into the\nSea of Pontus. In the way are the rocks that mariners call The Clashers.\nThese rocks are not fixed as rocks should be, but they rush one against\nthe other, dashing up the sea, and crushing whatever may be between. Yea,\nif _Argo_ were of iron, and if she were between these rocks when they met,\nshe would be crushed to bits. I have sailed as far as that passage, but\nseeing The Clashers strike together I turned back my ship, and journeyed\nas far as the Sea of Pontus overland.\n\n  \u201cBut I have been told of one who knows how a ship may be taken through\nthe passage that The Clashers make so perilous. He who knows is a king\nhereabouts, Phineus, who has made himself as wise as the gods. To no one\nhas Phineus told how the passage may be made, but knowing what high favor\nhas been shown to us, the Argonauts, it may be that he will tell us.\u201d\n\n  So Tiphys said, and Jason commanded him to steer the _Argo_ toward the\ncity where ruled Phineus, the wise king.\n\n\n\n  To Salmydessus, then, where Phineus ruled, Tiphys steered the _Argo_.\nThey left Heracles with Tiphys aboard to guard the ship, and, with the\nrest of the heroes, Jason went through the streets of the city. They met\nmany men, but when they asked any of them how they might come to the\npalace of King Phineus the men turned fearfully away.\n\n  They found their way to the king\u2019s palace. Jason spoke to the servants\nand bade them tell the king of their coming. The servants, too, seemed\nfearful, and as Jason and his comrades were wondering what there was about\nhim that made men fearful at his name, Phineus, the king, came amongst\nthem.\n\n  Were it not that he had a purple border to his robe no one would have\nknown him for the king, so miserable did this man seem. He crept along,\ntouching the walls, for the eyes in his head were blind and withered. His\nbody was shrunken, and when he stood before them leaning on his staff he\nwas like to a lifeless thing. He turned his blinded eyes upon them,\nlooking from one to the other as if he were searching for a face.\n\n  Then his sightless eyes rested upon Zetes and Calais, the sons of\nBoreas, the North Wind. A change came into his face as it turned upon\nthem. One would think that he saw the wonder that these two were endowed\nwith\u2014the wings that grew upon their ankles. It was a while before he\nturned his face from them; then he spoke to Jason and said:\n\n  \u201cYou have come to have counsel with one who has the wisdom of the gods.\nOthers before you have come for such counsel, but seeing the misery that\nis visible upon me they went without asking for counsel. I would strive to\nhold you here for a while. Stay, and have sight of the misery the gods\nvisit upon those who would be as wise as they. And when you have seen the\nthing that is wont to befall me, it may be that help will come from you\nfor me.\u201d\n\n  Then Phineus, the blind king, left them, and after a while the heroes\nwere brought into a great hall, and they were invited to rest themselves\nthere while a banquet was being prepared for them.\n\n  The hall was richly adorned, but it looked to the heroes as if it had\nknown strange happenings; rich hangings were strewn upon the ground, an\nivory chair was overturned, and the dais where the king sat had stains\nupon it. The servants who went through the hall making ready the banquet\nwere white-faced and fearful.\n\n  The feast was laid on a great table, and the heroes were invited to sit\ndown to it. The king did not come into the hall before they sat down, but\na table with food was set before the dais. When the heroes had feasted,\nthe king came into the hall. He sat at the table, blind, white-faced, and\nshrunken, and the Argonauts all turned their faces to him.\n\n  Said Phineus, the blind king: \u201cYou see, O heroes, how much my wisdom\navails me. You see me blind and shrunken, who tried to make myself in\nwisdom equal to the gods. And yet you have not seen all. Watch now and see\nwhat feasts Phineus, the wise king, has to delight him.\u201d\n\n  He made a sign, and the white-faced and trembling servants brought food\nand set it upon the table that was before him. The king bent forward as if\nto eat, and they saw that his face was covered with the damp of fear. He\ntook food from the dish and raised it to his mouth. As he did, the doors\nof the hall were flung open as if by a storm. Strange shapes flew into the\nhall and set themselves beside the king. And when the Argonauts looked\nupon them they saw that these were terrible and unsightly shapes.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  They were things that had the wings and claws of birds and the heads of\nwomen. Black hair and gray feathers were mixed upon them; they had red\neyes, and streaks of blood were upon their breasts and wings. And as the\nking raised the food to his mouth they flew at him and buffeted his head\nwith their wings, and snatched the food from his hands. Then they devoured\nor scattered what was upon the table, and all the time they screamed and\nlaughed and mocked.\n\n  \u201cAh, now ye see,\u201d Phineus panted, \u201cwhat it is to have wisdom equal to\nthe wisdom of the gods. Now ye all see my misery. Never do I strive to put\nfood to my lips but these foul things, the Harpies, the Snatchers, swoop\ndown and scatter or devour what I would eat. Crumbs they leave me that my\nlife may not altogether go from me, but these crumbs they make foul to my\ntaste and my smell.\u201d\n\n  And one of the Harpies perched herself on the back of the king\u2019s throne\nand looked upon the heroes with red eyes. \u201cHah,\u201d she screamed, \u201cyou bring\narmed men into your feasting hall, thinking to scare us away. Never,\nPhineus, can you scare us from you! Always you will have us, the\nSnatchers, beside you when you would still your ache of hunger. What can\nthese men do against us who are winged and who can travel through the ways\nof the air?\u201d\n\n  So said the unsightly Harpy, and the heroes drew together, made fearful\nby these awful shapes. All drew back except Zetes and Calais, the sons of\nthe North Wind. They laid their hands upon their swords. The wings on\ntheir shoulders spread out and the wings at their heels trembled. Phineus,\nthe king, leaned forward and panted: \u201cBy the wisdom I have I know that\nthere are two amongst you who can save me. O make haste to help me, ye who\ncan help me, and I will give the counsel that you Argonauts have come to\nme for, and besides I will load down your ship with treasure and costly\nstuffs. Oh, make haste, ye who can help me!\u201d\n\n  Hearing the king speak like this, the Harpies gathered together and\ngnashed with their teeth, and chattered to one another. Then, seeing Zetes\nand Calais with their hands upon their swords, they rose up on their wings\nand flew through the wide doors of the hall. The king cried out to Zetes\nand Calais. But the sons of the North Wind had already risen with their\nwings, and they were after the Harpies, their bright swords in their\nhands.\n\n  On flew the Harpies, screeching and gnashing their teeth in anger and\ndismay, for now they felt that they might be driven from Salmydessus,\nwhere they had had such royal feasts. They rose high in the air and flew\nout toward the sea. But high as the Harpies rose, the sons of the North\nWind rose higher. The Harpies cried pitiful cries as they flew on, but\nZetes and Calais felt no pity for them, for they knew that these dread\nSnatchers, with the stains of blood upon their breasts and wings, had\nshown pity neither to Phineus nor to any other.\n\n  On they flew until they came to the island that is called the Floating\nIsland. There the Harpies sank down with wearied wings. Zetes and Calais\nwere upon them now, and they would have cut them to pieces with their\nbright swords, if the messenger of Zeus, Iris, with the golden wings, had\nnot come between.\n\n  \u201cForbear to slay the Harpies, sons of Boreas,\u201d cried Iris warningly,\n\u201cforbear to slay the Harpies that are the hounds of Zeus. Let them cower\nhere and hide themselves, and I, who come from Zeus, will swear the oath\nthat the gods most dread, that they will never again come to Salmydessus\nto trouble Phineus, the king.\u201d\n\n  The heroes yielded to the words of Iris. She took the oath that the gods\nmost dread\u2014the oath by the Water of Styx\u2014that never again would the\nHarpies show themselves to Phineus. Then Zetes and Calais turned back\ntoward the city of Salmydessus. The island that they drove the Harpies to\nhad been called the Floating Island, but thereafter it was called the\nIsland of Turning. It was evening when they turned back, and all night\nlong the Argonauts and King Phineus sat in the hall of the palace and\nawaited the return of Zetes and Calais, the sons of the North Wind.\n\n\n\n\nVIII. King Phineus\u2019s Counsel; The Landing in Lemnos\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HEY came into King Phineus\u2019s hall, their bright swords in their hands.\nThe Argonauts crowded around them and King Phineus raised his head and\nstretched out his thin hands to them. And Zetes and Calais told their\ncomrades and told the king how they had driven the Harpies down to the\nFloating Island, and how Iris, the messenger of Zeus, had sworn the great\noath that was by the Water of Styx that never again would the Snatchers\nshow themselves in the palace.\n\n  Then a great golden cup brimming with wine was brought to the king. He\nstood holding it in his trembling hands, fearful even then that the\nHarpies would tear the cup out of his hands. He drank\u2014long and deeply he\ndrank\u2014and the dread shapes of the Snatchers did not appear. Down amongst\nthe heroes he came and he took into his the hands of Zetes and Calais, the\nsons of the North Wind.\n\n  \u201cO heroes greater than any kings,\u201d he said, \u201cye have delivered me from\nthe terrible curse that the gods had sent upon me. I thank ye, and I thank\nye all, heroes of the quest. And the thanks of Phineus will much avail you\nall.\u201d\n\n  Clasping the hands of Zetes and Calais he led the heroes through hall\nafter hall of his palace and down into his treasure chamber. There he\nbestowed upon the banishers of the Harpies crowns and arm rings of gold\nand richly colored garments and brazen chests in which to store the\ntreasure that he gave. And to Jason he gave an ivory-hilted and\ngold-encased sword, and on each of the voyagers he bestowed a rich gift,\nnot forgetting the heroes who had remained on the _Argo_, Heracles and\nTiphys.\n\n  They went back to the great hall, and a feast was spread for the king\nand for the Argonauts. They ate from rich dishes and they drank from\nflowing wine cups. Phineus ate and drank as the heroes did, and no dread\nshapes came before him to snatch from him nor to buffet him. But as Jason\nlooked upon the man who had striven to equal the gods in wisdom, and noted\nhis blinded eyes and shrunken face, he resolved never to harbor in his\nheart such presumption as Phineus had harbored.\n\n  When the feast was finished the king spoke to Jason, telling him how the\n_Argo_ might be guided through the Symplegades, the dread passage into the\nSea of Pontus. He told them to bring their ship near to the Clashing\nRocks. And one who had the keenest sight amongst them was to stand at the\nprow of the ship holding a pigeon in his hands. As the rocks came together\nhe was to loose the pigeon. If it found a space to fly through they would\nknow that the _Argo_ could make the passage, and they were to steer\nstraight toward where the pigeon had flown. But if it fluttered down to\nthe sea, or flew back to them, or became lost in the clouds of spray, they\nwere to know that the _Argo_ might not make that passage. Then the heroes\nwould have to take their ship overland to where they might reach the Sea\nof Pontus.\n\n  That day they bade farewell to Phineus, and with the treasures he had\nbestowed upon them they went down to the _Argo_. To Heracles and Tiphys\nthey gave the presents that the king had sent them. In the morning they\ndrew the _Argo_ out of the harbor of Salmydessus, and set sail again.\n\n\n\n  But not until long afterward did they come to the Symplegades, the\npassage that was to be their great trial. For they landed first in a\ncountry that was full of woods, where they were welcomed by a king who had\nheard of the voyagers and of their quest. There they stayed and hunted for\nmany days in the woods. And there a great loss befell the Argonauts, for\nTiphys, as he went through the woods, was bitten by a snake and died. He\nwho had braved so many seas and so many storms lost his life away from the\nship. The Argonauts made a tomb for him on the shore of that land\u2014a great\npile of stones, in which they fixed upright his steering oar. Then they\nset sail again, and Nauplius was made the steersman of the ship.\n\n  The course was not so clear to Nauplius as it had been to Tiphys. The\nsteersman did not find his bearings, and for many days and nights the\n_Argo_ was driven on a backward course. They came to an island that they\nknew to be that Island of Lemnos that they had passed on the first days of\nthe voyage, and they resolved to rest there for a while, and then to press\non for the passage into the Sea of Pontus.\n\n  They brought the _Argo_ near the shore. They blew trumpets and set the\nloudest voiced of the heroes to call out to those upon the island. But no\nanswer came to them, and all day the _Argo_ lay close to the island.\n\n\n\n  There were hidden people watching them, people with bows in their hands\nand arrows laid along the bowstrings. And the people who thus threatened\nthe unknowing Argonauts were women and young girls.\n\n  There were no men upon the Island of Lemnos. Years before a curse had\nfallen upon the people of that island, putting strife between the men and\nthe women. And the women had mastered the men and had driven them away\nfrom Lemnos. Since then some of the women had grown old, and the girls who\nwere children when their fathers and brothers had been banished were now\nof an age with Atalanta, the maiden who went with the Argonauts.\n\n  They chased the wild beasts of the island, and they tilled the fields,\nand they kept in good repair the houses that were built before the\nbanishing of the men. The older women served those who were younger, and\nthey had a queen, a girl whose name was Hypsipyle.\n\n  The women who watched with bows in their hands would have shot their\narrows at the Argonauts if Hypsipyle\u2019s nurse, Polyxo, had not stayed them.\nShe forbade them to shoot at the strangers until she had brought to them\nthe queen\u2019s commands.\n\n  She hastened to the palace and she found the young queen weaving at a\nloom. She told her about the ship and the strangers on board the ship, and\nshe asked the queen what word she should bring to the guardian maidens.\n\n  \u201cBefore you give a command, Hypsipyle,\u201d said Polyxo, the nurse,\n\u201cconsider these words of mine. We, the elder women, are becoming ancient\nnow; in a few years we will not be able to serve you, the younger women,\nand in a few years more we will have gone into the grave and our places\nwill know us no more. And you, the younger women, will be becoming\nstrengthless, and no more will be you able to hunt in the woods nor to\ntill the fields, and a hard old age will be before you.\n\n  \u201cThe ship that is beside our shore may have come at a good time. Those\non board are goodly heroes. Let them land in Lemnos, and stay if they\nwill. Let them wed with the younger women so that there may be husbands\nand wives, helpers and helpmeets, again in Lemnos.\u201d\n\n  Hypsipyle, the queen, let the shuttle fall from her hands and stayed for\na while looking full into Polyxo\u2019s face. Had her nurse heard her say\nsomething like this out of her dreams, she wondered? She bade the nurse\ntell the guardian maidens to let the heroes land in safety, and that she\nherself would put the crown of King Thoas, her father, upon her head, and\ngo down to the shore to welcome them.\n\n  And now the Argonauts saw people along the shore and they caught sight\nof women\u2019s dresses. The loudest voiced amongst them shouted again, and\nthey heard an answer given in a woman\u2019s voice. They drew up the _Argo_\nupon the shore, and they set foot upon the land of Lemnos.\n\n  Jason stepped forth at the head of his comrades, and he was met by\nHypsipyle, her father\u2019s crown upon her head, at the head of her maidens.\nThey greeted each other, and Hypsipyle bade the heroes come with them to\ntheir town that was called Myrine and to the palace that was there.\n\n  Wonderingly the Argonauts went, looking on women\u2019s forms and faces and\nseeing no men. They came to the palace and went within. Hypsipyle mounted\nthe stone throne that was King Thoas\u2019s and the four maidens who were her\nguards stood each side of her. She spoke to the heroes in greeting and\nbade them stay in peace for as long as they would. She told them of the\ncurse that had fallen upon the people of Lemnos, and of how the menfolk\nhad been banished. Jason, then, told the queen what voyage he and his\ncompanions were upon and what quest they were making. Then in friendship\nthe Argonauts and the women of Lemnos stayed together\u2014all the Argonauts\nexcept Heracles, and he, grieving still for Hylas, stayed aboard the\n_Argo_.\n\n\n\n\nIX. The Lemnian Maidens\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_A_ND now the Argonauts were no longer on a ship that was being dashed on\nby the sea and beaten upon by the winds. They had houses to live in; they\nhad honey-tasting things to eat, and when they went through the island\neach man might have with him one of the maidens of Lemnos. It was a change\nthat was welcome to the wearied voyagers.\n\n  They helped the women in the work of the fields; they hunted the beasts\nwith them, and over and over again they were surprised at how skillfully\nthe women had ordered all affairs. Everything in Lemnos was strange to the\nArgonauts, and they stayed day after day, thinking each day a fresh\nadventure.\n\n  Sometimes they would leave the fields and the chase, and this hero or\nthat hero, with her who was his friend amongst the Lemnian maidens, would\ngo far into that strange land and look upon lakes that were all covered\nwith golden and silver water lilies, or would gather the blue flowers from\ncreepers that grew around dark trees, or would hide themselves so that\nthey might listen to the quick-moving birds that sang in the thickets.\nPerhaps on their way homeward they would see the _Argo_ in the harbor, and\nthey would think of Heracles who was aboard, and they would call to him.\nBut the ship and the voyage they had been on now seemed far away to them,\nand the Quest of the Golden Fleece seemed to them a story they had heard\nand that they had thought of, but that they could never think on again\nwith all that fervor.\n\n\n\n  When Jason looked on Hypsipyle he saw one who seemed to him to be only\nchildlike in size. Greatly was he amazed at the words that poured forth\nfrom her as she stood at the stone throne of King Thoas\u2014he was amazed as\none is amazed at the rush of rich notes that comes from the throat of a\nlittle bird; all that she said was made lightninglike by her eyes\u2014her eyes\nthat were not clear and quiet like the eyes of the maidens he had seen in\nIolcus, but that were dark and burning. Her mouth was heavy and this heavy\nmouth gave a shadow to her face that but for it was all bright and lovely.\n\n  Hypsipyle spoke two languages\u2014one, the language of the mothers of the\nwomen of Lemnos, which was rough and harsh, a speech to be flung out to\nslaves, and the other the language of Greece, which their fathers had\nspoken, and which Hypsipyle spoke in a way that made it sound like strange\nmusic. She spoke and walked and did all things in a queenlike way, and\nJason could see that, for all her youth and childlike size, Hypsipyle was\none who was a ruler.\n\n  From the moment she took his hand it seemed that she could not bear to\nbe away from him. Where he walked, she walked too; where he sat she sat\nbefore him, looking at him with her great eyes while she laughed or sang.\n\n  Like the perfume of strange flowers, like the savor of strange fruit was\nHypsipyle to Jason. Hours and hours he would spend sitting beside her or\nwatching her while she arrayed herself in white or in brightly colored\ngarments. Not to the chase and not into the fields did Jason go, nor did\nhe ever go with the others into the Lemnian land; all day he sat in the\npalace with her, watching her, or listening to her singing, or to the\nlong, fierce speeches that she used to make to her nurse or to the four\nmaidens who attended her.\n\n  In the evening they would gather in the hall of the palace, the\nArgonauts and the Lemnian maidens who were their comrades. There were\ndances, and always Jason and Hypsipyle danced together. All the Lemnian\nmaidens sang beautifully, but none of them had any stories to tell.\n\n  And when the Argonauts would have stories told the Lemnian maidens would\nforbid any tale that was about a god or a hero; only stories that were\nabout the goddesses or about some maiden would they let be told.\n\n  Orpheus, who knew the histories of the gods, would have told them many\nstories, but the only story of his that they would come from the dance to\nlisten to was a story of the goddesses, of Demeter and her daughter\nPersephone.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n\nDemeter and Persephone\n\n\nI\n\n  Once when Demeter was going through the world, giving men grain to be\nsown in their fields, she heard a cry that came to her from across high\nmountains and that mounted up to her from the sea. Demeter\u2019s heart shook\nwhen she heard that cry, for she knew that it came to her from her\ndaughter, from her only child, young Persephone.\n\n  She stayed not to bless the fields in which the grain was being sown,\nbut she hurried, hurried away, to Sicily and to the fields of Enna, where\nshe had left Persephone. All Enna she searched, and all Sicily, but she\nfound no trace of Persephone, nor of the maidens whom Persephone had been\nplaying with. From all whom she met she begged for tidings, but although\nsome had seen maidens gathering flowers and playing together, no one could\ntell Demeter why her child had cried out nor where she had since gone to.\n\n  There were some who could have told her. One was Cyane, a water nymph.\nBut Cyane, before Demeter came to her, had been changed into a spring of\nwater. And now, not being able to speak and tell Demeter where her child\nhad gone to and who had carried her away, she showed in the water the\ngirdle of Persephone that she had caught in her hands. And Demeter,\nfinding the girdle of her child in the spring, knew that she had been\ncarried off by violence. She lighted a torch at \u00c6tna\u2019s burning mountain,\nand for nine days and nine nights she went searching for her through the\ndarkened places of the earth.\n\n  Then, upon a high and a dark hill, the Goddess Demeter came face to face\nwith Hecate, the Moon. Hecate, too, had heard the cry of Persephone; she\nhad sorrow for Demeter\u2019s sorrow: she spoke to her as the two stood upon\nthat dark, high hill, and told her that she should go to Helios for\ntidings\u2014to bright Helios, the watcher for the gods, and beg Helios to tell\nher who it was who had carried off by violence her child Persephone.\n\n  Demeter came to Helios. He was standing before his shining steeds,\nbefore the impatient steeds that draw the sun through the course of the\nheavens. Demeter stood in the way of those impatient steeds; she begged of\nHelios who sees all things upon the earth to tell her who it was had\ncarried off by violence Persephone, her child.\n\n  And Helios, who may make no concealment, said: \u201cQueenly Demeter, know\nthat the king of the Underworld, dark Aidoneus, has carried off Persephone\nto make her his queen in the realm that I never shine upon.\u201d He spoke, and\nas he did, his horses shook their manes and breathed out fire, impatient\nto be gone. Helios sprang into his chariot and went flashing away.\n\n  Demeter, knowing that one of the gods had carried off Persephone against\nher will, and knowing that what was done had been done by the will of\nZeus, would go no more into the assemblies of the gods. She quenched the\ntorch that she had held in her hands for nine days and nine nights; she\nput off her robe of goddess, and she went wandering over the earth,\nuncomforted for the loss of her child. And no longer did she appear as a\ngracious goddess to men; no longer did she give them grain; no longer did\nshe bless their fields. None of the things that it had pleased her once to\ndo would Demeter do any longer.\n\n\n\nII\n\n  Persephone had been playing with the nymphs who are the daughters of\nOcean\u2014Ph\u00e6no, Ianthe, Melita, Ianeira, Acaste\u2014in the lovely fields of Enna.\nThey went to gather flowers\u2014irises and crocuses, lilies, narcissus,\nhyacinths and rose-blooms\u2014that grow in those fields. As they went,\ngathering flowers in their baskets, they had sight of Pergus, the pool\nthat the white swans come to sing in.\n\n  Beside a deep chasm that had been made in the earth a wonder flower was\ngrowing\u2014in color it was like the crocus, but it sent forth a perfume that\nwas like the perfume of a hundred flowers. And Persephone thought as she\nwent toward it that having gathered that flower she would have something\nmuch more wonderful than her companions had.\n\n  She did not know that Aidoneus, the lord of the Underworld, had caused\nthat flower to grow there so that she might be drawn by it to the chasm\nthat he had made.\n\n  As Persephone stooped to pluck the wonder flower, Aidoneus, in his\nchariot of iron, dashed up through the chasm, and grasping the maiden by\nthe waist, set her beside him. Only Cyane, the nymph, tried to save\nPersephone, and it was then that she caught the girdle in her hands.\n\n  The maiden cried out, first because her flowers had been spilled, and\nthen because she was being reft away. She cried out to her mother, and her\ncry went over high mountains and sounded up from the sea. The daughters of\nOcean, affrighted, fled and sank down into the depths of the sea.\n\n  In his great chariot of iron that was drawn by black steeds Aidoneus\nrushed down through the chasm he had made. Into the Underworld he went,\nand he dashed across the River Styx, and he brought his chariot up beside\nhis throne. And on his dark throne he seated Persephone, the fainting\ndaughter of Demeter.\n\n\n\nIII\n\n  No more did the Goddess Demeter give grain to men; no more did she bless\ntheir fields: weeds grew where grain had been growing, and men feared that\nin a while they would famish for lack of bread.\n\n  She wandered through the world, her thought all upon her child,\nPersephone, who had been taken from her. Once she sat by a well by a\nwayside, thinking upon the child that she might not come to and who might\nnot come to her.\n\n  She saw four maidens come near; their grace and their youth reminded her\nof her child. They stepped lightly along, carrying bronze pitchers in\ntheir hands, for they were coming to the Well of the Maiden beside which\nDemeter sat.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                         Persephone and Aidoneus\n\n\n  The maidens thought when they looked upon her that the goddess was some\nancient woman who had a sorrow in her heart. Seeing that she was so noble\nand so sorrowful looking, the maidens, as they drew the clear water into\ntheir pitchers, spoke kindly to her.\n\n  \u201cWhy do you stay away from the town, old mother?\u201d one of the maidens\nsaid. \u201cWhy do you not come to the houses? We think that you look as if you\nwere shelterless and alone, and we should like to tell you that there are\nmany houses in the town where you would be welcomed.\u201d\n\n  Demeter\u2019s heart went out to the maidens, because they looked so young\nand fair and simple and spoke out of such kind hearts. She said to them:\n\u201cWhere can I go, dear children? My people are far away, and there are none\nin all the world who would care to be near me.\u201d\n\n  Said one of the maidens: \u201cThere are princes in the land who would\nwelcome you in their houses if you would consent to nurse one of their\nyoung children. But why do I speak of other princes beside Celeus, our\nfather? In his house you would indeed have a welcome. But lately a baby\nhas been born to our mother, Metaneira, and she would greatly rejoice to\nhave one as wise as you mind little Demopho\u00f6n.\u201d\n\n  All the time that she watched them and listened to their voices Demeter\nfelt that the grace and youth of the maidens made them like Persephone.\nShe thought that it would ease her heart to be in the house where these\nmaidens were, and she was not loath to have them go and ask of their\nmother to have her come to nurse the infant child.\n\n  Swiftly they ran back to their home, their hair streaming behind them\nlike crocus flowers; kind and lovely girls whose names are well\nremembered\u2014Callidice and Cleisidice, Demo and Callitho\u00eb. They went to\ntheir mother and they told her of the stranger-woman whose name was Doso.\nShe would make a wise and a kind nurse for little Demopho\u00f6n, they said.\nTheir mother, Metaneira, rose up from the couch she was sitting on to\nwelcome the stranger. But when she saw her at the doorway, awe came over\nher, so majestic she seemed.\n\n  Metaneira would have her seat herself on the couch but the goddess took\nthe lowliest stool, saying in greeting: \u201cMay the gods give you all good,\nlady.\u201d\n\n  \u201cSorrow has set you wandering from your good home,\u201d said Metaneira to\nthe goddess, \u201cbut now that you have come to this place you shall have all\nthat this house can bestow if you will rear up to youth the infant\nDemopho\u00f6n, child of many hopes and prayers.\u201d\n\n  The child was put into the arms of Demeter; she clasped him to her\nbreast, and little Demopho\u00f6n looked up into her face and smiled. Then\nDemeter\u2019s heart went out to the child and to all who were in the\nhousehold.\n\n   He grew in strength and beauty in her charge. And little Demopho\u00f6n was\nnot nourished as other children are nourished, but even as the gods in\ntheir childhood were nourished. Demeter fed him on ambrosia, breathing on\nhim with her divine breath the while. And at night she laid him on the\nhearth, amongst the embers, with the fire all around him. This she did\nthat she might make him immortal, and like to the gods.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  But one night Metaneira looked out from the chamber where she lay, and\nshe saw the nurse take little Demopho\u00f6n and lay him in a place on the\nhearth with the burning brands all around him. Then Metaneira started up,\nand she sprang to the hearth, and she snatched the child from beside the\nburning brands. \u201cDemopho\u00f5n, my son,\u201d she cried, \u201cwhat would this\nstranger-woman do to you, bringing bitter grief to me that ever I let her\ntake you in her arms?\u201d\n\n  Then said Demeter: \u201cFoolish indeed are you mortals, and not able to\nforesee what is to come to you of good or of evil! Foolish indeed are you,\nMetaneira, for in your heedlessness you have cut off this child from an\nimmortality like to the immortality of the gods themselves. For he had\nlain in my bosom and had become dear to me and I would have bestowed upon\nhim the greatest gift that the Divine Ones can bestow, for I would have\nmade him deathless and unaging. All this, now, has gone by. Honor he shall\nhave indeed, but Demopho\u00f5n will know age and death.\u201d\n\n  The seeming old age that was upon her had fallen from Demeter; beauty\nand stature were hers, and from her robe there came a heavenly fragrance.\nThere came such light from her body that the chamber shone. Metaneira\nremained trembling and speechless, unmindful even to take up the child\nthat had been laid upon the ground.\n\n  It was then that his sisters heard Demopho\u00f6n wail; one ran from her\nchamber and took the child in her arms; another kindled again the fire\nupon the hearth, and the others made ready to bathe and care for the\ninfant. All night they cared for him, holding him in their arms and at\ntheir breasts, but the child would not be comforted, because the nurses\nwho handled him now were less skillful than was the goddess-nurse.\n\n  And as for Demeter, she left the house of Celeus and went upon her way,\nlonely in her heart, and unappeased. And in the world that she wandered\nthrough, the plow went in vain through the ground; the furrow was sown\nwithout any avail, and the race of men saw themselves near perishing for\nlack of bread.\n\n  But again Demeter came near the Well of the Maiden. She thought of the\ndaughters of Celeus as they came toward the well that day, the bronze\npitchers in their hands, and with kind looks for the stranger\u2014she thought\nof them as she sat by the well again. And then she thought of little\nDemopho\u00f6n, the child she had held at her breast. No stir of living was in\nthe land near their home, and only weeds grew in their fields. As she sat\nthere and looked around her there came into Demeter\u2019s heart a pity for the\npeople in whose house she had dwelt.\n\n   She rose up and she went to the house of Celeus. She found him beside\nhis house measuring out a little grain. The goddess went to him and she\ntold him that because of the love she bore his household she would bless\nhis fields so that the seed he had sown in them would come to growth.\nCeleus rejoiced, and he called all the people together, and they raised a\ntemple to Demeter. She went through the fields and blessed them, and the\nseed that they had sown began to grow. And the goddess for a while dwelt\namongst that people, in her temple at Eleusis.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n\nIV\n\n  But still she kept away from the assemblies of the gods. Zeus sent a\nmessenger to her, Iris with the golden wings, bidding her to Olympus.\nDemeter would not join the Olympians. Then, one after the other, the gods\nand goddesses of Olympus came to her; none were able to make her cease\nfrom grieving for Persephone, or to go again into the company of the\nimmortal gods.\n\n  And so it came about that Zeus was compelled to send a messenger down to\nthe Underworld to bring Persephone back to the mother who grieved so much\nfor the loss of her. Hermes was the messenger whom Zeus sent. Through the\ndarkened places of the earth Hermes went, and he came to that dark throne\nwhere the lord Aidoneus sat, with Persephone beside him. Then Hermes spoke\nto the lord of the Underworld, saying that Zeus commanded that Persephone\nshould come forth from the Underworld that her mother might look upon her.\n\n  Then Persephone, hearing the words of Zeus that might not be gainsaid,\nuttered the only cry that had left her lips since she had sent out that\ncry that had reached her mother\u2019s heart. And Aidoneus, hearing the command\nof Zeus that might not be denied, bowed his dark, majestic head.\n\n  She might go to the Upperworld and rest herself in the arms of her\nmother, he said. And then he cried out: \u201cAh, Persephone, strive to feel\nkindliness in your heart toward me who carried you off by violence and\nagainst your will. I can give to you one of the great kingdoms that the\nOlympians rule over. And I, who am brother to Zeus, am no unfitting\nhusband for you, Demeter\u2019s child.\u201d\n\n  So Aidoneus, the dark lord of the Underworld said, and he made ready the\niron chariot with its deathless horses that Persephone might go up from\nhis kingdom.\n\n  Beside the single tree in his domain Aidoneus stayed the chariot. A\nsingle fruit grew on that tree, a bright pomegranate fruit. Persephone\nstood up in the chariot and plucked the fruit from the tree. Then did\nAidoneus prevail upon her to divide the fruit, and, having divided it,\nPersephone ate seven of the pomegranate seeds.\n\n  It was Hermes who took the whip and the reins of the chariot. He drove\non, and neither the sea nor the water-courses, nor the glens nor the\nmountain peaks stayed the deathless horses of Aidoneus, and soon the\nchariot was brought near to where Demeter awaited the coming of her\ndaughter.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  And when, from a hilltop, Demeter saw the chariot approaching, she flew\nlike a wild bird to clasp her child. Persephone, when she saw her mother\u2019s\ndear eyes, sprang out of the chariot and fell upon her neck and embraced\nher. Long and long Demeter held her dear child in her arms, gazing, gazing\nupon her. Suddenly her mind misgave her. With a great fear at her heart\nshe cried out: \u201cDearest, has any food passed your lips in all the time you\nhave been in the Underworld?\u201d\n\n  She had not tasted food in all the time she was there, Persephone said.\nAnd then, suddenly, she remembered the pomegranate that Aidoneus had asked\nher to divide. When she told that she had eaten seven seeds from it\nDemeter wept, and her tears fell upon Persephone\u2019s face.\n\n  \u201cAh, my dearest,\u201d she cried, \u201cif you had not eaten the pomegranate seeds\nyou could have stayed with me, and always we should have been together.\nBut now that you have eaten food in it, the Underworld has a claim upon\nyou. You may not stay always with me here. Again you will have to go back\nand dwell in the dark places under the earth and sit upon Aidoneus\u2019s\nthrone. But not always you will be there. When the flowers bloom upon the\nearth you shall come up from the realm of darkness, and in great joy we\nshall go through the world together, Demeter and Persephone.\u201d\n\n  And so it has been since Persephone came back to her mother after having\neaten of the pomegranate seeds. For two seasons of the year she stays with\nDemeter, and for one season she stays in the Underworld with her dark\nlord. While she is with her mother there is springtime upon the earth.\nDemeter blesses the furrows, her heart being glad because her daughter is\nwith her once more. The furrows become heavy with grain, and soon the\nwhole wide earth has grain and fruit, leaves and flowers. When the furrows\nare reaped, when the grain has been gathered, when the dark season comes,\nPersephone goes from her mother, and going down into the dark places, she\nsits beside her mighty lord Aidoneus and upon his throne. Not sorrowful is\nshe there; she sits with head unbowed, for she knows herself to be a\nmighty queen. She has joy, too, knowing of the seasons when she may walk\nwith Demeter, her mother, on the wide places of the earth, through fields\nof flowers and fruit and ripening grain.\n\n\n\n  Such was the story that Orpheus told\u2014Orpheus who knew the histories of\nthe gods.\n\n  A day came when the heroes, on their way back from a journey they had\nmade with the Lemnian maidens, called out to Heracles upon the _Argo_.\nThen Heracles, standing on the prow of the ship, shouted angrily to them.\nTerrible did he seem to the Lemnian maidens, and they ran off, drawing the\nheroes with them. Heracles shouted to his comrades again, saying that if\nthey did not come aboard the _Argo_ and make ready for the voyage to\nColchis, he would go ashore and carry them to the ship, and force them\nagain to take the oars in their hands. Not all of what Heracles said did\nthe Argonauts hear.\n\n  That evening the men were silent in Hypsipyle\u2019s hall, and it was\nAtalanta, the maiden, who told the evening\u2019s story.\n\n\n\nAtalanta\u2019s Race\n\n\n  There are two Atalantas, she said; she herself, the Huntress, and\nanother who is noted for her speed of foot and her delight in the race\u2014the\ndaughter of Sch\u0153neus, King of B\u0153otia, Atalanta of the Swift Foot.\n\n  So proud was she of her swiftness that she made a vow to the gods that\nnone would be her husband except the youth who won past her in the race.\nYouth after youth came and raced against her, but Atalanta, who grew\nfleeter and fleeter of foot, left each one of them far behind her. The\nyouths who came to the race were so many and the clamor they made after\ndefeat was so great, that her father made a law that, as he thought, would\nlessen their number. The law that he made was that the youth who came to\nrace against Atalanta and who lost the race should lose his life into the\nbargain. After that the youths who had care for their lives stayed away\nfrom B\u0153otia.\n\n  Once there came a youth from a far part of Greece into the country that\nAtalanta\u2019s father ruled over. Hippomenes was his name. He did not know of\nthe race, but having come into the city and seeing the crowd of people, he\nwent with them to the course. He looked upon the youths who were girded\nfor the race, and he heard the folk say amongst themselves, \u201cPoor youths,\nas mighty and as high-spirited as they look, by sunset the life will be\nout of each of them, for Atalanta will run past them as she ran past the\nothers.\u201d Then Hippomenes spoke to the folk in wonder, and they told him of\nAtalanta\u2019s race and of what would befall the youths who were defeated in\nit. \u201cUnlucky youths,\u201d cried Hippomenes, \u201chow foolish they are to try to\nwin a bride at the price of their lives.\u201d\n\n  Then, with pity in his heart, he watched the youths prepare for the\nrace. Atalanta had not yet taken her place, and he was fearful of looking\nupon her. \u201cShe is a witch,\u201d he said to himself, \u201cshe must be a witch to\ndraw so many youths to their deaths, and she, no doubt, will show in her\nface and figure the witch\u2019s spirit.\u201d\n\n  But even as he said this, Hippomenes saw Atalanta. She stood with the\nyouths before they crouched for the first dart in the race. He saw that\nshe was a girl of a light and a lovely form. Then they crouched for the\nrace; then the trumpets rang out, and the youths and the maiden darted\nlike swallows over the sand of the course.\n\n  On came Atalanta, far, far ahead of the youths who had started with her.\nOver her bare shoulders her hair streamed, blown backward by the wind that\nmet her flight. Her fair neck shone, and her little feet were like flying\ndoves. It seemed to Hippomenes as he watched her that there was fire in\nher lovely body. On and on she went as swift as the arrow that the\nScythian shoots from his bow. And as he watched the race he was not sorry\nthat the youths were being left behind. Rather would he have been enraged\nif one came near overtaking her, for now his heart was set upon winning\nher for his bride, and he cursed himself for not having entered the race.\n\n  She passed the last goal mark and she was given the victor\u2019s wreath of\nflowers. Hippomenes stood and watched her and he did not see the youths\nwho had started with her\u2014they had thrown themselves on the ground in their\ndespair.\n\n  Then wild, as though he were one of the doomed youths, Hippomenes made\nhis way through the throng and came before the black-bearded King of\nB\u0153tia. The king\u2019s brows were knit, for even then he was pronouncing doom\nupon the youths who had been left behind in the race. He looked upon\nHippomenes, another youth who would make the trial, and the frown became\nheavier upon his face.\n\n  But Hippomenes saw only Atalanta. She came beside her father; the wreath\nwas upon her head of gold, and her eyes were wide and tender. She turned\nher face to him, and then she knew by the wildness that was in his look\nthat he had come to enter the race with her. Then the flush that was on\nher face died away, and she shook her head as if she were imploring him to\ngo from that place.\n\n  The dark-bearded king bent his brows upon him and said, \u201cSpeak, O youth,\nspeak and tell us what brings you here.\u201d\n\n  Then cried Hippomenes as if his whole life were bursting out with his\nwords: \u201cWhy does this maiden, your daughter, seek an easy renown by\nconquering weakly youths in the race? She has not striven yet. Here stand\nI, one of the blood of Poseidon, the god of the sea. Should I be defeated\nby her in the race, then, indeed, might Atalanta have something to boast\nof.\u201d\n\n  Atalanta stepped forward and said: \u201cDo not speak of it, youth. Indeed I\nthink that it is some god, envious of your beauty and your strength, who\nsent you here to strive with me and to meet your doom. Ah, think of the\nyouths who have striven with me even now! Think of the hard doom that is\nabout to fall upon them! You venture your life in the race, but indeed I\nam not worthy of the price. Go hence, O stranger youth, go hence and live\nhappily, for indeed I think that there is some maiden who loves you well.\u201d\n\n  \u201cNay, maiden,\u201d said Hippomenes, \u201cI will enter the race and I will\nventure my life on the chance of winning you for my bride. What good will\nmy life and my spirit be to me if they cannot win this race for me?\u201d\n\n  She drew away from him then and looked upon him no more, but bent down\nto fasten the sandals upon her feet. And the black-bearded king looked\nupon Hippomenes and said, \u201cFace, then, this race to-morrow. You will be\nthe only one who will enter it. But bethink thee of the doom that awaits\nthee at the end of it.\u201d The king said no more, and Hippomenes went from\nhim and from Atalanta, and he came again to the place where the race had\nbeen run.\n\n  He looked across the sandy course with its goal marks, and in his mind\nhe saw again Atalanta\u2019s swift race. He would not meet doom at the hands of\nthe king\u2019s soldiers, he knew, for his spirit would leave him with the\ngreatness of the effort he would make to reach the goal before her. And he\nthought it would be well to die in that effort and on that sandy place\nthat was so far from his own land.\n\n  Even as he looked across the sandy course now deserted by the throng, he\nsaw one move across it, coming toward him with feet that did not seem to\ntouch the ground. She was a woman of wonderful presence. As Hippomenes\nlooked upon her he knew that she was Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and\nof love.\n\n  \u201cHippomenes,\u201d said the immortal goddess, \u201cthe gods are mindful of you\nwho are sprung from one of the gods, and I am mindful of you because of\nyour own worth. I have come to help you in your race with Atalanta, for I\nwould not have you slain, nor would I have that maiden go unwed. Give your\ngreatest strength and your greatest swiftness to the race, and behold!\nhere are wonders that will prevent the fleet-footed Atalanta from putting\nall her spirit into the race.\u201d\n\n  And then the immortal goddess held out to Hippomenes a branch that had\nupon it three apples of shining gold.\n\n  \u201cIn Cyprus,\u201d said the goddess, \u201cwhere I have come from, there is a tree\non which these golden apples grow. Only I may pluck them. I have brought\nthem to you, Hippomenes. Keep them in your girdle, and in the race you\nwill find out what to do with them, I think.\u201d\n\n  So Aphrodite said, and then she vanished, leaving a fragrance in the air\nand the three shining apples in the hands of Hippomenes. Long he looked\nupon their brightness. They were beside him that night, and when he arose\nin the dawn he put them in his girdle. Then, before the throng, he went to\nthe place of the race.\n\n  When he showed himself beside Atalanta all around the course were\nsilent, for they all admired Hippomenes for his beauty and for the spirit\nthat was in his face; they were silent out of compassion, for they knew\nthe doom that befell the youths who raced with Atalanta.\n\n  And now Sch\u0153neus, the black-bearded king, stood up, and he spoke to the\nthrong, saying, \u201cHear me all, both young and old: this youth, Hippomenes,\nseeks to win the race from my daughter, winning her for his bride. Now, if\nhe be victorious and escape death I will give him my dear child, Atalanta,\nand many fleet horses besides as gifts from me, and in honor he shall go\nback to his native land. But if he fail in the race, then he will have to\nshare the doom that has been meted out to the other youths who raced with\nAtalanta hoping to win her for a bride.\u201d\n\n  Then Hippomenes and Atalanta crouched for the start. The trumpets were\nsounded and they darted off.\n\n  Side by side with Atalanta Hippomenes went. Her flying hair touched his\nbreast, and it seemed to him that they were skimming the sandy course as\nif they were swallows. But then Atalanta began to draw away from him. He\nsaw her ahead of him, and then he began to hear the words of cheer that\ncame from the throng\u2014\u201cBend to the race, Hippomenes! Go on, go on! Use your\nstrength to the utmost.\u201d He bent himself to the race, but further and\nfurther from him Atalanta drew.\n\n  Then it seemed to him that she checked her swiftness a little to look\nback at him. He gained on her a little. And then his hand touched the\napples that were in his girdle. As it touched them it came into his mind\nwhat to do with the apples.\n\n  He was not far from her now, but already her swiftness was drawing her\nfurther and further away. He took one of the apples into his hand and\ntossed it into the air so that it fell on the track before her.\n\n  Atalanta saw the shining apple. She checked her speed and stooped in the\nrace to pick it up. And as she stooped Hippomenes darted past her, and\nwent flying toward the goal that now was within his sight.\n\n  But soon she was beside him again. He looked, and he saw that the goal\nmarks were far, far ahead of him. Atalanta with the flying hair passed\nhim, and drew away and away from him. He had not speed to gain upon her\nnow, he thought, so he put his strength into his hand and he flung the\nsecond of the shining apples. The apple rolled before her and rolled off\nthe course. Atalanta turned off the course, stooped and picked up the\napple.\n\n  Then did Hippomenes draw all his spirit into his breast as he raced on.\nHe was now nearer to the goal than she was. But he knew that she was\nbehind him, going lightly where he went heavily. And then she was beside\nhim, and then she went past him. She paused in her speed for a moment and\nshe looked back on him.\n\n  As he raced on, his chest seemed weighted down and his throat was\ncrackling dry. The goal marks were far away still, but Atalanta was\nnearing them. He took the last of the golden apples into his hand. Perhaps\nshe was now so far that the strength of his throw would not be great\nenough to bring the apple before her.\n\n  But with all the strength he could put into his hand he flung the apple.\nIt struck the course before her feet and then went bounding wide. Atalanta\nswerved in her race and followed where the apple went. Hippomenes marveled\nthat he had been able to fling it so far. He saw Atalanta stoop to pick up\nthe apple, and he bounded on. And then, although his strength was failing,\nhe saw the goal marks near him. He set his feet between them and then fell\ndown on the ground.\n\n  The attendants raised him up and put the victor\u2019s wreath upon his head.\nThe concourse of people shouted with joy to see him victor. But he looked\naround for Atalanta and he saw her standing there with the golden apples\nin her hands. \u201cHe has won,\u201d he heard her say, \u201cand I have not to hate\nmyself for bringing a doom upon him. Gladly, gladly do I give up the race,\nand glad am I that it is this youth who has won the victory from me.\u201d\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                           Atalanta\u2019s Last Race\n\n\n  She took his hand and brought him before the king. Then Sch\u0153neus, in the\nsight of all the rejoicing people, gave Atalanta to Hippomenes for his\nbride, and he bestowed upon him also a great gift of horses. With his dear\nand hard-won bride, Hippomenes went to his own country, and the apples\nthat she brought with her, the golden apples of Aphrodite, were reverenced\nby the people.\n\n\n\n\nX. The Departure from Lemnos\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_A_ DAY came when Heracles left the _Argo_ and went on the Lemnian land.\nHe gathered the heroes about him, and they, seeing Heracles come amongst\nthem, clamored to go to hunt the wild bulls that were inland from the sea.\n\n  So, for once, the heroes left the Lemnian maidens who were their\nfriends. Jason, too, left Hypsipyle in the palace and went with Heracles.\nAnd as they went, Heracles spoke to each of the heroes, saying that they\nwere forgetting the Fleece of Gold that they had sailed to gain. Jason\nblushed to think that he had almost let go out of his mind the quest that\nhad brought him from Iolcus. And then he thought upon Hypsipyle and of how\nher little hand would stay in his, and his own hand became loose upon the\nspear so that it nearly fell from him. How could he, he thought, leave\nHypsipyle and this land of Lemnos behind?\n\n  He heard the clear voice of Atalanta as she, too, spoke to the\nArgonauts. What Heracles said was brave and wise, said Atalanta.\nForgetfulness would cover their names if they stayed longer in\nLemnos\u2014forgetfulness and shame, and they would come to despise themselves.\nLeave Lemnos, she cried, and draw _Argo_ into the sea, and depart for\nColchis.\n\n  All day the Argonauts stayed by themselves, hunting the bulls. On their\nway back from the chase they were met by Lemnian maidens who carried\nwreaths of flowers for them. Very silent were the heroes as the maidens\ngreeted them. Heracles went with Jason to the palace, and Hypsipyle,\nseeing the mighty stranger coming, seated herself, not on the couch where\nshe was wont to sit looking into the face of Jason, but on the stone\nthrone of King Thoas, her father. And seated on that throne she spoke to\nJason and to Heracles as a queen might speak.\n\n  In the hall that night the heroes and the Lemnian maidens who were with\nthem were quiet. A story was told; Castor began it and Polydeuces ended\nit. And the story that Helen\u2019s brothers told was:\n\n\n\nThe Golden Maid\n\n\n  Epimetheus the Titan had a brother who was the wisest of all\nbeings\u2014Prometheus called the Foreseer. But Epimetheus himself was\nslow-witted and scatter-brained. His wise brother once sent him a message\nbidding him beware of the gifts that Zeus might send him. Epimetheus\nheard, but he did not heed the warning, and thereby he brought upon the\nrace of men troubles and cares.\n\n  Prometheus, the wise Titan, had saved men from a great trouble that Zeus\nwould have brought upon them. Also he had given them the gift of fire.\nZeus was the more wroth with men now because fire, stolen from him, had\nbeen given them; he was wroth with the race of Titans, too, and he\npondered in his heart how he might injure men, and how he might use\nEpimetheus, the mindless Titan, to further his plan.\n\n  While he pondered there was a hush on high Olympus, the mountain of the\ngods. Then Zeus called upon the artisan of the gods, lame Heph\u00e6stus, and\nhe commanded him to make a being out of clay that would have the likeness\nof a lovely maiden. With joy and pride Heph\u00e6stus worked at the task that\nhad been given him, and he fashioned a being that had the likeness of a\nlovely maiden, and he brought the thing of his making before the gods and\nthe goddesses.\n\n  All strove to add a grace or a beauty to the work of Heph\u00e6stus. Zeus\ngranted that the maiden should see and feel. Athene dressed her in\ngarments that were as lovely as flowers. Aphrodite, the goddess of love,\nput a charm on her lips and in her eyes. The Graces put necklaces around\nher neck and set a golden crown upon her head. The Hours brought her a\ngirdle of spring flowers. Then the herald of the gods gave her speech that\nwas sweet and flowing. All the gods and goddesses had given gifts to her,\nand for that reason the maiden of Heph\u00e6stus\u2019s making was called Pandora,\nthe All-endowed.\n\n  She was lovely, the gods knew; not beautiful as they themselves are, who\nhave a beauty that awakens reverence rather than love, but lovely, as\nflowers and bright waters and earthly maidens are lovely. Zeus smiled to\nhimself when he looked upon her, and he called to Hermes who knew all the\nways of the earth, and he put her into the charge of Hermes. Also he gave\nHermes a great jar to take along; this jar was Pandora\u2019s dower.\n\n\n\n  Epimetheus lived in a deep-down valley. Now one day, as he was sitting\non a fallen pillar in the ruined place that was now forsaken by the rest\nof the Titans, he saw a pair coming toward him. One had wings, and he knew\nhim to be Hermes, the messenger of the gods. The other was a maiden.\nEpimetheus marveled at the crown upon her head and at her lovely garments.\nThere was a glint of gold all around her. He rose from where he sat upon\nthe broken pillar and he stood to watch the pair. Hermes, he saw, was\ncarrying by its handle a great jar.\n\n   In wonder and delight he looked upon the maiden. Epimetheus had seen no\nlovely thing for ages. Wonderful indeed was this Golden Maid, and as she\ncame nearer the charm that was on her lips and in her eyes came to the\nEarth-born One, and he smiled with more and more delight.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Hermes came and stood before him. He also smiled, but his smile had\nsomething baleful in it. He put the hands of the Golden Maid into the\ngreat soft hand of the Titan, and he said, \u201cO Epimetheus, Father Zeus\nwould be reconciled with thee, and as a sign of his good will he sends\nthee this lovely goddess to be thy companion.\u201d\n\n  Oh, very foolish was Epimetheus the Earth-born One! As he looked upon\nthe Golden Maid who was sent by Zeus he lost memory of the wars that Zeus\nhad made upon the Titans and the Elder Gods; he lost memory of his brother\nchained by Zeus to the rock; he lost memory of the warning that his\nbrother, the wisest of all beings, had sent him. He took the hands of\nPandora, and he thought of nothing at all in all the world but her. Very\nfar away seemed the voice of Hermes saying, \u201cThis jar, too, is from\nOlympus; it has in it Pandora\u2019s dower.\u201d\n\n  The jar stood forgotten for long, and green plants grew over it while\nEpimetheus walked in the garden with the Golden Maid, or watched her while\nshe gazed on herself in the stream, or searched in the untended places for\nthe fruits that the Elder Gods would eat, when they feasted with the\nTitans in the old days, before Zeus had come to his power. And lost to\nEpimetheus was the memory of his brother now suffering upon the rock\nbecause of the gift he had given to men.\n\n  And Pandora, knowing nothing except the brightness of the sunshine and\nthe lovely shapes and colors of things and the sweet taste of the fruits\nthat Epimetheus brought to her, could have stayed forever in that garden.\n\n  But every day Epimetheus would think that the men and women of the world\nshould be able to talk to him about this maiden with the wonderful\nradiance of gold, and with the lovely garments, and the marvelous crown.\nAnd one day he took Pandora by the hand, and he brought her out of that\ndeep-lying valley, and toward the homes of men. He did not forget the jar\nthat Hermes had left with her. All things that belonged to the Golden Maid\nwere precious, and Epimetheus took the jar along.\n\n\n\n  The race of men at the time were simple and content. Their days were\npassed in toil, but now, since Prometheus had given them fire, they had\ngood fruits of their toil. They had well-shaped tools to dig the earth and\nto build houses. Their homes were warmed with fire, and fire burned upon\nthe altars that were upon their ways.\n\n  Greatly they reverenced Prometheus; who had given them fire, and greatly\nthey reverenced the race of the Titans. So when Epimetheus came amongst\nthem, tall as a man walking with stilts, they welcomed him and brought him\nand the Golden Maid to their hearths. And Epimetheus showed Pandora the\nwonderful element that his brother had given to men, and she rejoiced to\nsee the fire, clapping her hands with delight. The jar that Epimetheus\nbrought he left in an open place.\n\n  In carrying it up the rough ways out of the valley Epimetheus may have\nknocked the jar about, for the lid that had been tight upon it now fitted\nvery loosely. But no one gave heed to the jar as it stood in the open\nspace where Epimetheus had left it.\n\n  At first the men and women looked upon the beauty of Pandora, upon her\nlovely dresses, and her golden crown and her girdle of flowers, with\nwonder and delight. Epimetheus would have every one admire and praise her.\nThe men would leave off working in the fields, or hammering on iron, or\nbuilding houses, and the women would leave off spinning or weaving, and\ncome at his call, and stand about and admire the Golden Maid. But as time\nwent by a change came upon the women: one woman would weep, and another\nwould look angry, and a third would go back sullenly to her work when\nPandora was admired or praised.\n\n  Once the women were gathered together, and one who was the wisest\namongst them said: \u201cOnce we did not think about ourselves, and we were\ncontent. But now we think about ourselves, and we say to ourselves that we\nare harsh and ill-favored indeed compared to the Golden Maid that the\nTitan is so enchanted with. And we hate to see our own men praise and\nadmire her, and often, in our hearts, we would destroy her if we could.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThat is true,\u201d the women said. And then a young woman cried out in a\nmost yearnful voice, \u201cO tell us, you who are wise, how can we make\nourselves as beautiful as Pandora!\u201d\n\n  Then said that woman who was thought to be wise, \u201cThis Golden Maid is\nlovely to look upon because she has lovely apparel and all the means of\nkeeping herself lovely. The gods have given her the ways, and so her skin\nremains fair, and her hair keeps its gold, and her lips are ever red and\nher eyes shining. And I think that the means that she has of keeping\nlovely are all in that jar that Epimetheus brought with her.\u201d\n\n  When the woman who was thought to be wise said this, those around her\nwere silent for a while. But then one arose and another arose, and they\nstood and whispered together, one saying to the other that they should go\nto the place where the jar had been left by Epimetheus, and that they\nshould take out of it the salves and the charms and the washes that would\nleave them as beautiful as Pandora.\n\n  So the women went to that place. On their way they stopped at a pool and\nthey bent over to see themselves mirrored in it, and they saw themselves\nwith dusty and unkempt hair, with large and knotted hands, with troubled\neyes, and with anxious mouths. They frowned as they looked upon their\nimages, and they said in harsh voices that in a while they would have ways\nof making themselves as lovely as the Golden Maid.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  And as they went on they saw Pandora. She was playing in a flowering\nfield, while Epimetheus, high as a man upon stilts, went gathering the\nblossoms of the bushes for her. They went on, and they came at last to the\nplace where Epimetheus had left the jar that held Pandora\u2019s dower.\n\n  A great stone jar it was; there was no bird, nor flower, nor branch\npainted upon it. It stood high as a woman\u2019s shoulder. And as the women\nlooked on it they thought that there were things enough in it to keep them\nbeautiful for all the days of their lives. But each one thought that she\nshould not be the last to get her hands into it.\n\n  Once the lid had been fixed tightly down on the jar. But the lid was\nshifted a little now. As the hands of the women grasped it to take off the\nlid the jar was cast down, and the things that were inside spilled\nthemselves forth.\n\n  They were black and gray and red; they were crawling and flying things.\nAnd, as the women looked, the things spread themselves abroad or fastened\nthemselves upon them.\n\n  The jar, like Pandora herself, had been made and filled out of the ill\nwill of Zeus. And it had been filled, not with salves and charms and\nwashes, as the women had thought, but with Cares and Troubles. Before the\nwomen came to it one Trouble had already come forth from the\njar\u2014Self-thought that was upon the top of the heap. It was Self-thought\nthat had afflicted the women, making them troubled about their own looks,\nand envious of the graces of the Golden Maid.\n\n  And now the others spread themselves out\u2014Sickness and War and Strife\nbetween friends. They spread themselves abroad and entered the houses,\nwhile Epimetheus, the mindless Titan, gathered flowers for Pandora, the\nGolden Maid.\n\n  Lest she should weary of her play he called to her. He would take her\ninto the houses of men. As they drew near to the houses they saw a woman\nseated on the ground, weeping; her husband had suddenly become hard to her\nand had shut the door on her face. They came upon a child crying because\nof a pain that he could not understand. And then they found two men\nstruggling, their strife being on account of a possession that they had\nboth held peaceably before.\n\n  In every house they went to Epimetheus would say, \u201cI am the brother of\nPrometheus, who gave you the gift of fire.\u201d But instead of giving them a\nwelcome the men would say, \u201cWe know nothing about your relation to\nPrometheus. We see you as a foolish man upon stilts.\u201d\n\n  Epimetheus was troubled by the hard looks and the cold words of the men\nwho once had reverenced him. He turned from the houses and went away. In a\nquiet place he sat down, and for a while he lost sight of Pandora. And\nthen it seemed to him that he heard the voice of his wise and suffering\nbrother saying, \u201cDo not accept any gift that Zeus may send you.\u201d\n\n  He rose up and he hurried away from that place, leaving Pandora playing\nby herself. There came into his scattered mind Regret and Fear. As he went\non he stumbled. He fell from the edge of a cliff, and the sea washed away\nthe body of the mindless brother of Prometheus.\n\n  Not everything had been spilled out of the jar that had been brought\nwith Pandora into the world of men. A beautiful, living thing was in that\njar also. This was Hope. And this beautiful, living thing had got caught\nunder the rim of the jar and had not come forth with the others. One day a\nweeping woman found Hope under the rim of Pandora\u2019s jar and brought this\nliving thing into the house of men. And now because of Hope they could see\nan end to their troubles. And the men and women roused themselves in the\nmidst of their afflictions and they looked toward gladness. Hope, that had\nbeen caught under the rim of the jar, stayed behind the thresholds of\ntheir houses.\n\n  As for Pandora, the Golden Maid, she played on, knowing only the\nbrightness of the sunshine and the lovely shapes of things. Beautiful\nwould she have seemed to any being who saw her, but now she had strayed\naway from the houses of men and Epimetheus was not there to look upon her.\nThen Heph\u00e6stus, the lame artisan of the gods, left down his tools and went\nto seek her. He found Pandora, and he took her back to Olympus. And in his\nbrazen house she stays, though sometimes at the will of Zeus she goes down\ninto the world of men.\n\n\n\n  When Polydeuces had ended the story that Castor had begun, Heracles\ncried out: \u201cFor the Argonauts, too, there has been a Golden Maid\u2014nay, not\none, but a Golden Maid for each. Out of the jar that has been with her ye\nhave taken forgetfulness of your honor. As for me, I go back to the _Argo_\nlest one of these Golden Maids should hold me back from the labors that\nmake great a man.\u201d\n\n  So Heracles said, and he went from Hypsipyle\u2019s hall. The heroes looked\nat each other, and they stood up, and shame that they had stayed so long\naway from the quest came over each of them. The maidens took their hands;\nthe heroes unloosed those soft hands and turned away from them.\n\n  Hypsipyle left the throne of King Thoas and stood before Jason. There\nwas a storm in all her body; her mouth was shaken, and a whole life\u2019s\ntrouble was in her great eyes. Before she spoke Jason cried out: \u201cWhat\nHeracles said is true, O Argonauts! On the Quest of the Golden Fleece our\nlives and our honors depend. To Colchis\u2014to Colchis must we go!\u201d\n\n  He stood upright in the hall, and his comrades gathered around him. The\nLemnian maidens would have held out their arms and would have made their\npartings long delayed, but that a strange cry came to them through the\nnight. Well did the Argonauts know that cry\u2014it was the cry of the ship, of\n_Argo_ herself. They knew that they must go to her now or stay from the\nvoyage for ever. And the maidens knew that there was something in the cry\nof the ship that might not be gainsaid, and they put their hands before\ntheir faces, and they said no other word.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Then said Hypsipyle, the queen, \u201cI, too, am a ruler, Jason, and I know\nthat there are great commands that we have to obey. Go, then, to the\n_Argo_. Ah, neither I nor the women of Lemnos will stay your going now.\nBut to-morrow speak to us from the deck of the ship and bid us farewell.\nDo not go from us in the night, Jason.\u201d\n\n  Jason and the Argonauts went from Hypsipyle\u2019s hall. The maidens who were\nleft behind wept together. All but Hypsipyle. She sat on the throne of\nKing Thoas and she had Polyxo, her nurse, tell her of the ways of Jason\u2019s\nvoyage as he had told of them, and of all that he would have to pass\nthrough. When the other Lemnian women slept she put her head upon her\nnurse\u2019s knees and wept; bitterly Hypsipyle wept, but softly, for she would\nnot have the others hear her weeping.\n\n\n\n  By the coming of the morning\u2019s light the Argonauts had made all ready\nfor their sailing. They were standing on the deck when the light came, and\nthey saw the Lemnian women come to the shore. Each looked at her friend\naboard the _Argo_, and spoke, and went away. And last, Hypsipyle, the\nqueen, came. \u201cFarewell, Hypsipyle,\u201d Jason said to her, and she, in her\nstrange way of speaking, said:\n\n  \u201cWhat you told us I have remembered\u2014how you will come to the dangerous\npassage that leads into the Sea of Pontus, and how by the flight of a\npigeon you will know whether or not you may go that way. O Jason, let the\ndove you fly when you come to that dangerous place be Hypsipyle\u2019s.\u201d\n\n  She showed a pigeon held in her hands. She loosed it, and the pigeon\nalighted on the ship, and stayed there on pink feet, a white-feathered\npigeon. Jason took up the pigeon and held it in his hands, and the _Argo_\ndrew swiftly away from the Lemnian land.\n\n\n\n\nXI. The Passage of the Symplegades\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HEY came near Salmydessus, where Phineus, the wise king, ruled, and\nthey sailed past it; they sighted the pile of stones, with the oar upright\nupon it that they had raised on the seashore over the body of Tiphys, the\nskillful steersman whom they had lost; they sailed on until they heard a\nsound that grew more and more thunderous, and then the heroes said to each\nother, \u201cNow we come to the Symplegades and the dread passage into the Sea\nof Pontus.\u201d\n\n  It was then that Jason cried out: \u201cAh, when Pelias spoke of this quest\nto me, why did I not turn my head away and refuse to be drawn into it?\nSince we came near the dread passage that is before us I have passed every\nnight in groans. As for you who have come with me, you may take your ease,\nfor you need care only for your own lives. But I have to care for you all,\nand to strive to win for you all a safe return to Greece. Ah, greatly am I\nafflicted now, knowing to what a great peril I have brought you!\u201d\n\n  So Jason said, thinking to make trial of the heroes. They, on their\npart, were not dismayed, but shouted back cheerful words to him. Then he\nsaid: \u201cO friends of mine, by your spirit my spirit is quickened. Now if I\nknew that I was being borne down into the black gulfs of Hades, I should\nfear nothing, knowing that you are constant and faithful of heart.\u201d\n\n  As he said this they came into water that seethed all around the ship.\nThen into the hands of Euphemus, a youth of Iolcus, who was the\nkeenest-eyed amongst the Argonauts, Jason put the pigeon that Hypsipyle\nhad given him. He bade him stand by the prow of the _Argo_, ready to loose\nthe pigeon as the ship came nigh that dreadful gate of rock.\n\n  They saw the spray being dashed around in showers; they saw the sea\nspread itself out in foam; they saw the high, black rocks rush together,\nsounding thunderously as they met. The caves in the high rocks rumbled as\nthe sea surged into them, and the foam of the dashing waves spurted high\nup the rocks.\n\n  Jason shouted to each man to grip hard on the oars. The _Argo_ dashed on\nas the rocks rushed toward each other again. Then there was such noise\nthat no man\u2019s voice could be heard above it.\n\n  As the rocks met, Euphemus loosed the pigeon. With his keen eyes he\nwatched her fly through the spray. Would she, not finding an opening to\nfly through, turn back? He watched, and meanwhile the Argonauts gripped\nhard on the oars to save the ship from being dashed on the rocks. The\npigeon fluttered as though she would sink down and let the spray drown\nher. And then Euphemus saw her raise herself and fly forward. Toward the\nplace where she had flown he pointed. The rowers gave a loud cry, and\nJason called upon them to pull with might and main.\n\n  The rocks were parting asunder, and to the right and left broad Pontus\nwas seen by the heroes. Then suddenly a huge wave rose before them, and at\nthe sight of it they all uttered a cry and bent their heads. It seemed to\nthem that it would dash down on the whole ship\u2019s length and overwhelm them\nall. But Nauplius was quick to ease the ship, and the wave rolled away\nbeneath the keel, and at the stern it raised the _Argo_ and dashed her\naway from the rocks.\n\n  They felt the sun as it streamed upon them through the sundered rocks.\nThey strained at the oars until the oars bent like bows in their hands.\nThe ship sprang forward. Surely they were now in the wide Sea of Pontus!\n\n  The Argonauts shouted. They saw the rocks behind them with the sea fowl\nscreaming upon them. Surely they were in the Sea of Pontus\u2014the sea that\nhad never been entered before through the Rocks Wandering. The rocks no\nlonger dashed together; each remained fixed in its place, for it was the\nwill of the gods that these rocks should no more clash together after a\nmortal\u2019s ship had passed between them.\n\n  They were now in the Sea of Pontus, the sea into which flowed the river\nthat Colchis was upon\u2014the River Phasis. And now above Jason\u2019s head the\nbird of peaceful days, the Halcyon, fluttered, and the Argonauts knew that\nthis was a sign from the gods that the voyage would not any more be\ntroublous.\n\n\n\n\nXII. The Mountain Caucasus\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HEY rested in the harbor of Thynias, the desert island, and sailing\nfrom there they came to the land of the Mariandyni, a people who were\nconstantly at war with the Bebrycians; there the hero Polydeuces was\nwelcomed as a god. Twelve days afterward they passed the mouth of the\nRiver Callichorus; then they came to the mouth of that river that flows\nthrough the land of the Amazons, the River Thermodon. Fourteen days from\nthat place brought them to the island that is filled with the birds of\nAres, the god of war. These birds dropped upon the heroes heavy, pointed\nfeathers that would have pierced them as arrows if they had not covered\nthemselves with their shields; then by shouting, and by striking their\nshields with their spears, they raised such a clamor as drove the birds\naway.\n\n  They sailed on, borne by a gentle breeze, until a gulf of the sea opened\nbefore them, and lo! a mountain that they knew bore some mighty name.\nOrpheus, looking on its peak and its crags, said, \u201cLo, now! We, the\nArgonauts, are looking upon the mountain that is named Caucasus!\u201d\n\n  When he declared the name the heroes all stood up and looked on the\nmountain with awe. And in awe they cried out a name, and that name was\n\u201cPrometheus!\u201d\n\n  For upon that mountain the Titan god was held, his limbs bound upon the\nhard rocks by fetters of bronze. Even as the Argonauts looked toward the\nmountain a great shadow fell upon their ship, and looking up they saw a\nmonstrous bird flying. The beat of the bird\u2019s wings filled out the sail\nand drove the _Argo_ swiftly onward. \u201cIt is the bird sent by Zeus,\u201d\nOrpheus said. \u201cIt is the vulture that every day devours the liver of the\nTitan god.\u201d They cowered down on the ship as they heard that word\u2014all the\nArgonauts save Heracles; he stood upright and looked out toward where the\nbird was flying. Then, as the bird came near to the mountain, the\nArgonauts heard a great cry of anguish go up from the rocks.\n\n  \u201cIt is Prometheus crying out as the bird of Zeus flies down upon him,\u201d\nthey said to one another. Again they cowered down on the ship, all save\nHeracles, who stayed looking toward where the great vulture had flown.\n\n  The night came and the Argonauts sailed on in silence, thinking in awe\nof the Titan god and of the doom that Zeus had inflicted upon him. Then,\nas they sailed on under the stars, Orpheus told them of Prometheus, of his\ngift to men, and of the fearful punishment that had been meted out to him\nby Zeus.\n\n\n\nPrometheus\n\n\n  The gods more than once made a race of men: the first was a Golden Race.\nVery close to the gods who dwell on Olympus was this Golden Race; they\nlived justly although there were no laws to compel them. In the time of\nthe Golden Race the earth knew only one season, and that season was\neverlasting Spring. The men and women of the Golden Race lived through a\nspan of life that was far beyond that of the men and women of our day, and\nwhen they died it was as though sleep had become everlasting with them.\nThey had all good things, and that without labor, for the earth without\nany forcing bestowed fruits and crops upon them. They had peace all\nthrough their lives, this Golden Race, and after they had passed away\ntheir spirits remained above the earth, inspiring the men of the race that\ncame after them to do great and gracious things and to act justly and\nkindly to one another.\n\n  After the Golden Race had passed away, the gods made for the earth a\nsecond race\u2014a Silver Race. Less noble in spirit and in body was this\nSilver Race, and the seasons that visited them were less gracious. In the\ntime of the Silver Race the gods made the seasons\u2014Summer and Spring, and\nAutumn and Winter. They knew parching heat, and the bitter winds of\nwinter, and snow and rain and hail. It was the men of the Silver Race who\nfirst built houses for shelter. They lived through a span of life that was\nlonger than our span, but it was not long enough to give wisdom to them.\nChildren were brought up at their mothers\u2019 sides for a hundred years,\nplaying at childish things. And when they came to years beyond a hundred\nthey quarreled with one another, and wronged one another, and did not know\nenough to give reverence to the immortal gods. Then, by the will of Zeus,\nthe Silver Race passed away as the Golden Race had passed away. Their\nspirits stay in the Underworld, and they are called by men the blessed\nspirits of the Underworld.\n\n  And then there was made the third race\u2014the Race of Bronze. They were a\nrace great of stature, terrible and strong. Their armor was of bronze,\ntheir swords were of bronze, their implements were of bronze, and of\nbronze, too, they made their houses. No great span of life was theirs, for\nwith the weapons that they took in their terrible hands they slew one\nanother. Thus they passed away, and went down under the earth to Hades,\nleaving no name that men might know them by.\n\n  Then the gods created a fourth race\u2014our own: a Race of Iron. We have not\nthe justice that was amongst the men of the Golden Race, nor the\nsimpleness that was amongst the men of the Silver Race, nor the stature\nnor the great strength that the men of the Bronze Race possessed. We are\nof iron that we may endure. It is our doom that we must never cease from\nlabor and that we must very quickly grow old.\n\n  But miserable as we are to-day, there was a time when the lot of men was\nmore miserable. With poor implements they had to labor on a hard ground.\nThere was less justice and kindliness amongst men in those days than there\nis now.\n\n  Once it came into the mind of Zeus that he would destroy the fourth race\nand leave the earth to the nymphs and the satyrs. He would destroy it by a\ngreat flood. But Prometheus, the Titan god who had given aid to Zeus\nagainst the other Titans\u2014Prometheus, who was called the Foreseer\u2014could not\nconsent to the race of men being destroyed utterly, and he considered a\nway of saving some of them. To a man and a woman, Deucalion and Pyrrha,\njust and gentle people, he brought word of the plan of Zeus, and he showed\nthem how to make a ship that would bear them through what was about to be\nsent upon the earth.\n\n  Then Zeus shut up in their cave all the winds but the wind that brings\nrain and clouds. He bade this wind, the South Wind, sweep over the earth,\nflooding it with rain. He called upon Poseidon and bade him to let the sea\npour in upon the land. And Poseidon commanded the rivers to put forth all\ntheir strength, and sweep dykes away, and overflow their banks.\n\n  The clouds and the sea and the rivers poured upon the earth. The flood\nrose higher and higher, and in the places where the pretty lambs had\nplayed the ugly sea calves now gambolled; men in their boats drew fishes\nout of the tops of elm trees, and the water nymphs were amazed to come on\nmen\u2019s cities under the waves.\n\n  Soon even the men and women who had boats were overwhelmed by the rise\nof water\u2014all perished then except Deucalion and Pyrrha, his wife; them the\nwaves had not overwhelmed, for they were in a ship that Prometheus had\nshown them how to build. The flood went down at last, and Deucalion and\nPyrrha climbed up to a high and a dry ground. Zeus saw that two of the\nrace of men had been left alive. But he saw that these two were just and\nkindly, and had a right reverence for the gods. He spared them, and he saw\ntheir children again peopling the earth.\n\n  Prometheus, who had saved them, looked on the men and women of the earth\nwith compassion. Their labor was hard, and they wrought much to gain\nlittle. They were chilled at night in their houses, and the winds that\nblew in the daytime made the old men and women bend double like a wheel.\nPrometheus thought to himself that if men and women had the element that\nonly the gods knew of\u2014the element of fire\u2014they could make for themselves\nimplements for labor; they could build houses that would keep out the\nchilling winds, and they could warm themselves at the blaze.\n\n  But the gods had not willed that men should have fire, and to go against\nthe will of the gods would be impious. Prometheus went against the will of\nthe gods. He stole fire from the altar of Zeus, and he hid it in a hollow\nfennel stalk, and he brought it to men.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                                Prometheus\n\n\n  Then men were able to hammer iron into tools, and cut down forests with\naxes, and sow grain where the forests had been. Then were they able to\nmake houses that the storms could not overthrow, and they were able to\nwarm themselves at hearth fires. They had rest from their labor at times.\nThey built cities; they became beings who no longer had heads and backs\nbent but were able to raise their faces even to the gods.\n\n  And Zeus spared the race of men who had now the sacred element of fire.\nBut he knew that Prometheus had stolen this fire even from his own altar\nand had given it to men. And he thought on how he might punish the great\nTitan god for his impiety.\n\n  He brought back from the Underworld the giants that he had put there to\nguard the Titans that had been hurled down to Tartarus. He brought back\nGyes, Cottus, and Briareus, and he commanded them to lay hands upon\nPrometheus and to fasten him with fetters to the highest, blackest crag\nupon Caucasus. And Briareus, Cottus, and Gyes seized upon the Titan god,\nand carried him to Caucasus, and fettered him with fetters of bronze to\nthe highest, blackest crag\u2014with fetters of bronze that may not be broken.\nThere they have left the Titan stretched, under the sky, with the cold\nwinds blowing upon him, and with the sun streaming down on him. And that\nhis punishment might exceed all other punishments Zeus had sent a vulture\nto prey upon him\u2014a vulture that tears at his liver each day.\n\n  And yet Prometheus does not cry out that he has repented of his gift to\nman; although the winds blow upon him, and the sun streams upon him, and\nthe vulture tears at his liver, Prometheus will not cry out his repentance\nto heaven. And Zeus may not utterly destroy him. For Prometheus the\nForeseer knows a secret that Zeus would fain have him disclose. He knows\nthat even as Zeus overthrew his father and made himself the ruler in his\nstead, so, too, another will overthrow Zeus. And one day Zeus will have to\nhave the fetters broken from around the limbs of Prometheus, and will have\nto bring from the rock and the vulture, and into the Council of the\nOlympians, the unyielding Titan god.\n\n\n\n  When the light of the morning came the _Argo_ was very near to the\nMountain Caucasus. The voyagers looked in awe upon its black crags. They\nsaw the great vulture circling over a high rock, and from beneath where\nthe vulture circled they heard a weary cry. Then Heracles, who all night\nhad stood by the mast, cried out to the Argonauts to bring the ship near\nto a landing place.\n\n  But Jason would not have them go near; fear of the wrath of Zeus was\nstrong upon him; rather, he bade the Argonauts put all their strength into\ntheir rowing, and draw far off from that forbidden mountain. Heracles, not\nheeding what Jason ordered, declared that it was his purpose to make his\nway up to the black crag, and, with his shield and his sword in his hands,\nslay the vulture that preyed upon the liver of Prometheus.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Then Orpheus in a clear voice spoke to the Argonauts. \u201cSurely some\nspirit possesses Heracles,\u201d he said. \u201cDespite all we do or say he will\nmake his way to where Prometheus is fettered to the rock. Do not gainsay\nhim in this! Remember what Nereus, the ancient one of the sea, declared!\nDid Nereus not say that a great labor awaited Heracles, and that in the\ndoing of it he should work out the will of Zeus? Stay him not! How just it\nwould be if he who is the son of Zeus freed from his torments the\nmuch-enduring Titan god!\u201d\n\n  So Orpheus said in his clear, commanding voice. They drew near to the\nMountain Caucasus. Then Heracles, gripping the sword and shield that were\nthe gifts of the gods, sprang out on the landing place. The Argonauts\nshouted farewell to him. But he, filled as he was with an overmastering\nspirit, did not heed their words.\n\n  A strong breeze drove them onward; darkness came down, and the _Argo_\nwent on through the night. With the morning light those who were sleeping\nwere awakened by the cry of Nauplius\u2014\u201cLo! The Phasis, and the utmost\nbourne of the sea!\u201d They sprang up, and looked with many strange feelings\nupon the broad river they had come to.\n\n  Here was the Phasis emptying itself into the Sea of Pontus! Up that\nriver was Colchis and the city of King \u00c6etes, the end of their voyage, the\nplace where was kept the Golden Fleece! Quickly they let down the sail;\nthey lowered the mast and they laid it along the deck; strongly they\ngrasped the oars; they swung the _Argo_ around, and they entered the broad\nstream of the Phasis.\n\n  Up the river they went with the Mountain Caucasus on their left hand,\nand on their right the groves and gardens of Aea, King \u00c6etes\u2019s city. As\nthey went up the stream, Jason poured from a golden cup an offering to the\ngods. And to the dead heroes of that country the Argonauts prayed for good\nfortune to their enterprise.\n\n  It was Jason\u2019s counsel that they should not at once appear before King\n\u00c6etes, but visit him after they had seen the strength of his city. They\ndrew their ship into a shaded backwater, and there they stayed while day\ngrew and faded around them.\n\n  Night came, and the heroes slept upon the deck of _Argo_. Many things\ncame back to them in their dreams or through their half-sleep: they\nthought of the Lemnian maidens they had parted from; of the Clashing Rocks\nthey had passed between; of the look in the eyes of Heracles as he raised\nhis face to the high, black peak of Caucasus. They slept, and they thought\nthey saw before them THE GOLDEN FLEECE; darkness surrounded it; it seemed\nto the dreaming Argonauts that the darkness was the magic power that King\n\u00c6etes possessed.\n\n\n\n\n\nPART II. THE RETURN TO GREECE\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI. King \u00c6etes\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HEY had come into a country that was the strangest of all countries,\nand amongst a people that were the strangest of all peoples. They were in\nthe land, this people said, before the moon had come into the sky. And it\nis true that when the great king of Egypt had come so far, finding in all\nother places men living on the high hills and eating the acorns that grew\non the oaks there, he found in Colchis the city of Aea with a wall around\nit and with pillars on which writings were graven. That was when Egypt was\ncalled the Morning Land.\n\n  And many of the magicians of Egypt who had come with King Sesostris\nstayed in that city of Aea, and they taught people spells that could stay\nthe moon in her going and coming, in her rising and setting. Priests of\nthe Moon ruled the city of Aea until King \u00c6etes came.\n\n  \u00c6etes had no need of their magic, for Helios, the bright Sun, was his\nfather, as he thought. Also, Heph\u00e6stus, the artisan of the gods, was his\nfriend, and Heph\u00e6stus made for him many wonderful things to be his\nprotection. Medea, too, his wise daughter, knew the secrets taught by\nthose who could sway the moon.\n\n  But \u00c6etes once was made afraid by a dream that he had: he dreamt that a\nship had come up the Phasis, and then, sailing on a mist, had rammed his\npalace that was standing there in all its strength and beauty until it had\nfallen down. On the morning of the night that he had had this dream \u00c6etes\ncalled Medea, his wise daughter, and he bade her go to the temple of\nHecate, the Moon, and search out spells that might destroy those who came\nagainst his city.\n\n\n\n  That morning the Argonauts, who had passed the night in the backwater of\nthe river, had two youths come to them. They were in a broken ship, and\nthey had one oar only. When Jason, after giving them food and fresh\ngarments, questioned them, he found out that these youths were of the city\nof Aea, and that they were none others than the sons of Phrixus\u2014of Phrixus\nwho had come there with the Golden Ram.\n\n  And the youths, Phrontis and Melas, were as amazed as was Jason when\nthey found out whose ship they had come aboard. For Jason was the grandson\nof Cretheus, and Cretheus was the brother of Athamas, their grandfather.\nThey had ventured from Aea, where they had been reared, thinking to reach\nthe country of Athamas and lay claim to his possessions. But they had been\nwrecked at a place not far from the mouth of the Phasis, and with great\npain and struggle they had made their way back.\n\n  They were fearful of Aea and of their uncle King \u00c6etes, and they would\ngladly go with Jason and the Argonauts back to Greece. They would help\nJason, they said, to persuade \u00c6etes to give the Golden Fleece peaceably to\nthem. Their mother was the daughter of \u00c6etes\u2014Chalciope, whom the king had\ngiven in marriage to Phrixus, his guest.\n\n  A council of the Argonauts was held, and it was agreed that Jason should\ngo with two comrades to King \u00c6etes, Phrontis and Melas going also. They\nwere to ask the king to give them the Golden Fleece and to offer him a\nrecompense. Jason took Peleus and Telamon with him.\n\n  As they came to the city a mist fell, and Jason and his comrades with\nthe sons of Phrixus went through the city without being seen. They came\nbefore the palace of King \u00c6etes. Then Phrontis and Melas were some way\nbehind. The mist lifted, and before the heroes was the wonder of the\npalace in the bright light of the morning.\n\n  Vines with broad leaves and heavy clusters of fruit grew from column to\ncolumn, the columns holding a gallery up. And under the vines were the\nfour fountains that Heph\u00e6stus had made for King \u00c6etes. They gushed out\ninto golden, silver, bronze, and iron basins. And one fountain gushed out\nclear water, and another gushed out milk; another gushed out wine; and\nanother oil. On each side of the courtyard were the palace buildings; in\none King \u00c6etes lived with Apsyrtus, his son, and in the other Chalciope\nand Medea lived with their handmaidens.\n\n  Medea was passing from her father\u2019s house. The mist lifted suddenly and\nshe saw three strangers in the palace courtyard. One had a crimson mantle\non; his shoulders were such as to make him seem a man that a whole world\ncould not overthrow, and his eyes had all the sun\u2019s light in them.\n\n  Amazed, Medea stood looking upon Jason, wondering at his bright hair and\ngleaming eyes and at the lightness and strength of the hand that he had\nraised. And then a dove flew toward her: it was being chased by a hawk,\nand Medea saw the hawk\u2019s eyes and beak. As the dove lighted upon her\nshoulder she threw her veil around it, and the hawk dashed itself against\na column. And as Medea, trembling, leaned against the column she heard a\ncry from her sister, who was within.\n\n  For now Phrontis and Melas had come up, and Chalciope who was spinning\nby the door saw them and cried out. All the servants rushed out. Seeing\nChalciope\u2019s sons there they, too, uttered loud cries, and made such\ncommotion that Apsyrtus and then King \u00c6etes came out of the palace.\n\n  Jason saw King \u00c6etes. He was old and white, but he had great green eyes,\nand the strength of a leopard was in all he did. And Jason looked upon\nApsyrtus too; the son of \u00c6etes looked like a Ph\u00e6nician merchant, black of\nbeard and with rings in his ears, with a hooked nose and a gleam of copper\nin his face.\n\n  Phrontis and Melas went from their mother\u2019s embrace and made reverence\nto King \u00c6etes. Then they spoke of the heroes who were with them, of Jason\nand his two comrades. \u00c6etes bade all enter the palace; baths were made\nready for them, and a banquet was prepared.\n\n  After the banquet, when they all sat together, \u00c6etes, addressing the\neldest of Chalciope\u2019s sons, said:\n\n  \u201cSons of Phrixus, of that man whom I honored above all men who came to\nmy halls, speak now and tell me how it is that you have come back to Aea\nso soon, and who they are, these men who come with you?\u201d\n\n  \u00c6etes, as he spoke, looked sharply upon Phrontis and Melas, for he\nsuspected them of having returned to Aea, bringing these armed men with\nthem, with an evil intent. Phrontis looked at the King, and said:\n\n  \u201c\u00c6etes, our ship was driven upon the Island of Ares, where it was almost\nbroken upon the rocks. That was on a murky night, and in the morning the\nbirds of Ares shot their sharp feathers upon us. We pulled away from that\nplace, and thereafter we were driven by the winds back to the mouth of the\nPhasis. There we met with these heroes who were friendly to us. Who they\nare, what they have come to your city for, I shall now tell you.\n\n  \u201cA certain king, longing to drive one of these heroes from his land, and\nhoping that the race of Cretheus might perish utterly, led him to enter a\nmost perilous adventure. He came here upon a ship that was made by the\ncommand of Hera, the wife of Zeus, a ship more wonderful than mortals ever\nsailed in before. With him there came the mightiest of the heroes of\nGreece. He is Jason, the grandson of Cretheus, and he has come to beg that\nyou will grant him freely the famous Fleece of Gold that Phrixus brought\nto Aea.\n\n  \u201cBut not without recompense to you would he take the Fleece. Already he\nhas heard of your bitter foes, the Sauromat\u00e6. He with his comrades would\nsubdue them for you. And if you would ask of the names and the lineage of\nthe heroes who are with Jason I shall tell you. This is Peleus and this is\nTelamon; they are brothers, and they are sons of \u00c6acus, who was of the\nseed of Zeus. And all the other heroes who have come with them are of the\nseed of the gods.\u201d\n\n  So Phrontis said, but the King was not placated by what he said. He\nthought that the sons of Chalciope had returned to Aea bringing these\nwarriors with them so that they might wrest the kingship from him, or,\nfailing that, plunder the city. \u00c6etes\u2019s heart was filled with wrath as he\nlooked upon them, and his eyes shone as a leopard\u2019s eyes.\n\n  \u201cBegone from my sight,\u201d he cried, \u201crobbers that ye are! Tricksters! If\nyou had not eaten at my table, assuredly I should have had your tongues\ncut out for speaking falsehoods about the blessed gods, saying that this\none and that of your companions was of their divine race.\u201d\n\n  Telamon and Peleus strode forward with angry hearts; they would have\nlaid their hands upon King \u00c6etes only Jason held them back. And then\nspeaking to the king in a quiet voice, Jason said:\n\n  \u201cBear with us, King \u00c6etes, I pray you. We have not come with such evil\nintent as you think. Ah, it was the evil command of an evil king that sent\nme forth with these companions of mine across dangerous gulfs of the sea,\nand to face your wrath and the armed men you can bring against us. We are\nready to make great recompense for the friendliness you may show to us. We\nwill subdue for you the Sauromat\u00e6, or any other people that you would lord\nit over.\u201d\n\n  But \u00c6etes was not made friendly by Jason\u2019s words. His heart was divided\nas to whether he should summon his armed men and have them slain upon the\nspot, or whether he should put them into danger by the trial he would make\nof them. At last he thought that it would be better to put them to the\ntrial that he had in mind, slaying them afterward if need be. And then he\nspoke to Jason, saying:\n\n  \u201cStrangers to Colchis, it may be true what my nephews have said. It may\nbe that ye are truly of the seed of the immortals. And it may be that I\nshall give you the Golden Fleece to bear away after I have made trial of\nyou.\u201d\n\n  As he spoke Medea, brought there by his messenger so that she might\nobserve the strangers, came into the chamber. She entered softly and she\nstood away from her father and the four who were speaking with him. Jason\nlooked upon her, and even although his mind was filled with the thought of\nbending King \u00c6etes to his will, he saw what manner of maiden she was, and\nwhat beauty and what strength was hers.\n\n  She had a dark face that was made very strange by her crown of golden\nhair. Her eyes, like her father\u2019s, were wide and full of light, and her\nlips were so full and red that they made her mouth like an opening rose.\nBut her brows were always knit as if there was some secret anger within\nher.\n\n  \u201cWith brave men I have no quarrel,\u201d said \u00c6etes. \u201cI will make a trial of\nyour bravery, and if your bravery wins through the trial, be very sure\nthat you will have the Golden Fleece to bring back in triumph to Iolcus.\n\n  \u201cBut the trial that I would make of you is hard for a great hero even.\nKnow that on the plain of Ares yonder I have two fire-breathing bulls with\nfeet of brass. These bulls were once conquered by me; I yoked them to a\nplow of adamant, and with them I plowed the field of Ares for four\nplow-gates. Then I sowed the furrows, not with the seed that Demeter\ngives, but with teeth of a dragon. And from the dragon\u2019s teeth that I\nsowed in the field of Ares armed men sprang up. I slew them with my spear\nas they rose around me to slay me. If you can accomplish this that I\naccomplished in days gone by I shall submit to you and give you the Golden\nFleece. But if you cannot accomplish what I once accomplished you shall go\nfrom my city empty-handed, for it is not right that a brave man should\nyield aught to one who cannot show himself as brave.\u201d\n\n  So \u00c6etes said. Then Jason, utterly confounded, cast his eyes upon the\nground. He raised them to speak to the king, and as he did he found the\nstrange eyes of Medea upon him. With all the courage that was in him he\nspoke:\n\n  \u201cI will dare this contest, monstrous as it is. I will face this doom. I\nhave come far, and there is nothing else for me to do but to yoke your\nfire-breathing bulls to the plow of adamant, and plow the furrows in the\nfield of Ares, and struggle with the Earth-born Men.\u201d As he said this he\nsaw the eyes of Medea grow wide as with fear.\n\n  Then \u00c6etes said, \u201cGo back to your ship and make ready for the trial.\u201d\nJason, with Peleus and Telamon, left the chamber, and the king smiled\ngrimly as he saw them go. Phrontis and Melas went to where their mother\nwas. But Medea stayed, and \u00c6etes looked upon her with his great leopard\u2019s\neyes. \u201cMy daughter, my wise Medea,\u201d he said, \u201cgo, put spells upon the\nMoon, that Hecate may weaken that man in his hour of trial.\u201d Medea turned\naway from her father\u2019s eyes, and went to her chamber.\n\n\n\n\nII. Medea the Sorceress\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_S_HE turned away from her father\u2019s eyes and she went into her own\nchamber. For a long time she stood there with her hands clasped together.\nShe heard the voice of Chalciope lamenting because \u00c6etes had taken a\nhatred to her sons and might strive to destroy them. She heard the voice\nof her sister lamenting, but Medea thought that the cause that her sister\nhad for grieving was small compared with the cause that she herself had.\n\n  She thought on the moment when she had seen Jason for the first time\u2014in\nthe courtyard as the mist lifted and the dove flew to her; she thought of\nhim as he lifted those bright eyes of his; then she thought of his voice\nas he spoke after her father had imposed the dreadful trial upon him. She\nwould have liked then to have cried out to him, \u201cO youth, if others\nrejoice at the doom that you go to, I do not rejoice.\u201d\n\n  Still her sister lamented. But how great was her own grief compared to\nher sister\u2019s! For Chalciope could try to help her sons and could lament\nfor the danger they were in and no one would blame her. But she might not\nstrive to help Jason nor might she lament for the danger he was in. How\nterrible it would be for a maiden to help a stranger against her father\u2019s\ndesign! How terrible it would be for a woman of Colchis to help a stranger\nagainst the will of the king! How terrible it would be for a daughter to\nplot against King \u00c6etes in his own palace!\n\n  And then Medea hated Aea, her city. She hated the furious people who\ncame together in the assembly, and she hated the brazen bulls that\nHeph\u00e6stus had given her father. And then she thought that there was\nnothing in Aea except the furious people and the fire-breathing bulls. O\nhow pitiful it was that the strange hero and his friends should have come\nto such a place for the sake of the Golden Fleece that was watched over by\nthe sleepless serpent in the grove of Ares!\n\n  Still Chalciope lamented. Would Chalciope come to her and ask her,\nMedea, to help her sons? If she should come she might speak of the\nstrangers, too, and of the danger they were in. Medea went to her couch\nand lay down upon it. She longed for her sister to come to her or to call\nto her.\n\n  But Chalciope stayed in her own chamber. Medea, lying upon her couch,\nlistened to her sister\u2019s laments. At last she went near where Chalciope\nwas. Then shame that she should think so much about the stranger came over\nher. She stood there without moving; she turned to go back to the couch,\nand then trembled so much that she could not stir. As she stood between\nher couch and her sister\u2019s chamber she heard the voice of Chalciope\ncalling to her.\n\n  She went into the chamber where her sister stood. Chalciope flung her\narms around her. \u201cSwear,\u201d said she to Medea, \u201cswear by Hecate, the Moon,\nthat you will never speak of something I am going to ask you.\u201d Medea swore\nthat she would never speak of it.\n\n  Chalciope spoke of the danger her sons were in. She asked Medea to\ndevise a way by which they could escape with the stranger from Aea. \u201cIn\nAea and in Colchis,\u201d she said, \u201cthere will be no safety for my sons\nhenceforth.\u201d And to save Phrontis and Melas, she said, Medea would have to\nsave the strangers also. Surely she knew of a charm that would save the\nstranger from the brazen bulls in the contest on the morrow!\n\n  So Chalciope came to the very thing that was in Medea\u2019s mind. Her heart\nbounded with joy and she embraced her. \u201cChalciope,\u201d she said, \u201cI declare\nthat I am your sister, indeed\u2014aye, and your daughter, too, for did you not\ncare for me when I was an infant? I will strive to save your sons. I will\nstrive to save the strangers who came with your sons. Send one to the\nstrangers\u2014send him to the leader of the strangers, and tell him that I\nwould see him at daybreak in the temple of Hecate.\u201d\n\n  When Medea said this Chalciope embraced her again. She was amazed to see\nhow Medea\u2019s tears were flowing. \u201cChalciope,\u201d she said, \u201cno one will know\nthe dangers that I shall go through to save them.\u201d\n\n  Swiftly then Chalciope went from the chamber. But Medea stayed there\nwith her head bowed and the blush of shame on her face. She thought that\nalready she had deceived her sister, making her think that it was Phrontis\nand Melas and not Jason that was in her mind to save. And she thought on\nhow she would have to plot against her father and against her own people,\nand all for the sake of a stranger who would sail away without thought of\nher, without the image of her in his mind.\n\n\n\n  Jason, with Peleus and Telamon, went back to the _Argo_. His comrades\nasked how he had fared, and when he spoke to them of the fire-breathing\nbulls with feet of brass, of the dragon\u2019s teeth that had to be sown, and\nof the Earth-born Men that had to be overcome, the Argonauts were greatly\ncast down, for this task, they thought, was one that could not be\naccomplished. He who stood before the fire-breathing bulls would perish on\nthe moment. But they knew that one amongst them must strive to accomplish\nthe task. And if Jason held back, Peleus, Telamon, Theseus, Castor,\nPolydeuces, or any one of the others would undertake it.\n\n  But Jason would not hold back. On the morrow, he said, he would strive\nto yoke the fire-breathing, brazen-footed bulls to the plow of adamant. If\nhe perished the Argonauts should then do what they thought was best\u2014make\nother trials to gain the Golden Fleece, or turn their ship and sail back\nto Greece.\n\n  While they were speaking, Phrontis, Chalciope\u2019s son, came to the ship.\nThe Argonauts welcomed him, and in a while he began to speak of his\nmother\u2019s sister and of the help she could give. They grew eager as he\nspoke of her, all except rough Arcas, who stood wrapped in his bear\u2019s\nskin. \u201cShame on us,\u201d rough Arcas cried, \u201cshame on us if we have come here\nto crave the help of girls! Speak no more of this! Let us, the Argonauts,\ngo with swords into the city of Aea, and slay this king, and carry off the\nFleece of Gold.\u201d\n\n  Some of the Argonauts murmured approval of what Arcas said. But Orpheus\nsilenced him and them, for in his prophetic mind Orpheus saw something of\nthe help that Medea would give them. It would be well, Orpheus said, to\ntake help from this wise maiden; Jason should go to her in the temple of\nHecate. The Argonauts agreed to this; they listened to what Phrontis told\nthem about the brazen bulls, and the night wore on.\n\n\n\n  When darkness came upon the earth; when, at sea, sailors looked to the\nBear and the stars of Orion; when, in the city, there was no longer the\nsound of barking dogs nor of men\u2019s voices, Medea went from the palace. She\ncame to a path; she followed it until it brought her into the part of the\ngrove that was all black with the shadow that oak trees made.\n\n  She raised up her hands and she called upon Hecate, the Moon. As she\ndid, there was a blaze as from torches all around, and she saw horrible\nserpents stretching themselves toward her from the branches of the trees.\nMedea shrank back in fear. But again she called upon Hecate. And now there\nwas a howling as from the hounds of Hades all around her. Fearful, indeed,\nMedea grew as the howling came near her; almost she turned to flee. But\nshe raised her hands again and called upon Hecate. Then the nymphs who\nhaunted the marsh and the river shrieked, and at those shrieks Medea\ncrouched down in fear.\n\n  She called upon Hecate, the Moon, again. She saw the moon rise above the\ntreetops, and then the hissing and shrieking and howling died away.\nHolding up a goblet in her hand Medea poured out a libation of honey to\nHecate, the Moon.\n\n  And then she went to where the moon made a brightness upon the ground.\nThere she saw a flower that rose above the other flowers\u2014a flower that\ngrew from two joined stalks, and that was of the color of a crocus. Medea\ncut the stalks with a brazen knife, and as she did there came a deep groan\nout of the earth.\n\n  This was the Promethean flower. It had come out of the earth first when\nthe vulture that tore at Prometheus\u2019s liver had let fall to earth a drop\nof his blood. With a Caspian shell that she had brought with her Medea\ngathered the dark juice of this flower\u2014the juice that went to make her\nmost potent charm. All night she went through the grove gathering the\njuice of secret herbs; then she mingled them in a phial that she put away\nin her girdle.\n\n  She went from that grove and along the river. When the sun shed its\nfirst rays upon snowy Caucasus she stood outside the temple of Hecate. She\nwaited, but she had not long to wait, for, like the bright star Sirius\nrising out of Ocean, soon she saw Jason coming toward her. She made a sign\nto him, and he came and stood beside her in the portals of the temple.\n\n  They would have stood face to face if Medea did not have her head bent.\nA blush had come upon her face, and Jason seeing it, and seeing how her\nhead was bent, knew how grievous it was to her to meet and speak to a\nstranger in this way. He took her hand and he spoke to her reverently, as\none would speak to a priestess.\n\n  \u201cLady,\u201d he said, \u201cI implore you by Hecate and by Zeus who helps all\nstrangers and suppliants to be kind to me and to the men who have come to\nyour country with me. Without your help I cannot hope to prevail in the\ngrievous trial that has been laid upon me. If you will help us, Medea,\nyour name will be renowned throughout all Greece. And I have hopes that\nyou will help us, for your face and form show you to be one who can be\nkind and gracious.\u201d\n\n  The blush of shame had gone from Medea\u2019s face and a softer blush came\nover her as Jason spoke. She looked upon him and she knew that she could\nhardly live if the breath of the brazen bulls withered his life or if the\nEarth-born Men slew him. She took the charm from out her girdle;\nungrudgingly she put it into Jason\u2019s hands. And as she gave him the charm\nthat she had gained with such danger, the fear and trouble that was around\nher heart melted as the dew melts from around the rose when it is warmed\nby the first light of the morning.\n\n  Then they spoke standing close together in the portal of the temple. She\ntold him how he should anoint his body all over with the charm; it would\ngive him, she said, boundless and untiring strength, and make him so that\nthe breath of the bulls could not wither him nor the horns of the bulls\npierce him. She told him also to sprinkle his shield and his sword with\nthe charm.\n\n  And then they spoke of the dragon\u2019s teeth and of the Earth-born Men who\nwould spring from them. Medea told Jason that when they arose out of the\nearth he was to cast a great stone amongst them. The Earth-born Men would\nstruggle about the stone, and they would slay each other in the contest.\n\n  Her dark and delicate face was beautiful. Jason looked upon her, and it\ncame into his mind that in Colchis there was something else of worth\nbesides the Golden Fleece. And he thought that after he had won the Fleece\nthere would be peace between the Argonauts and King \u00c6etes, and that he and\nMedea might sit together in the king\u2019s hall. But when he spoke of being\njoined in friendship with her father, Medea cried:\n\n  \u201cThink not of treaties nor of covenants. In Greece such are regarded,\nbut not here. Ah, do not think that the king, my father, will keep any\npeace with you! When you have won the Fleece you must hasten away. You\nmust not tarry in Aea.\u201d\n\n  She said this and her cheeks were wet with tears to think that he should\ngo so soon, that he would go so far, and that she would never look upon\nhim again. She bent her head again and she said: \u201cTell me about your own\nland; about the place of your father, the place where you will live when\nyou win back from Colchis.\u201d\n\n  Then Jason told her of Iolcus; he told her how it was circled by\nmountains not so lofty as her Caucasus; he told her of the pasture lands\nof Iolcus with their flocks of sheep; he told her of the Mountain Pelion\nwhere he had been reared by Chiron, the ancient centaur; he told her of\nhis father who lingered out his life in waiting for his return.\n\n  Medea said: \u201cWhen you go back to Iolcus do not forget me, Medea. I shall\nremember you, Jason, even in my father\u2019s despite. And it will be my hope\nthat some rumor of you will come to me like some messenger-bird. If you\nforget me may some blast of wind sweep me away to Iolcus, and may I sit in\nyour hall an unknown and an unexpected guest!\u201d\n\n  Then they parted; Medea went swiftly back to the palace, and Jason,\nturning to the river, went to where the _Argo_ was moored.\n\n  The heroes embraced and questioned him; he told them of Medea\u2019s counsel\nand he showed them the charm she had given him. That savage man Arcas\nscoffed at Medea\u2019s counsel and Medea\u2019s charm, saying that the Argonauts\nhad become poor-spirited indeed when they had to depend upon a girl\u2019s\nhelp.\n\n  Jason bathed in the river; then he anointed himself with the charm; he\nsprinkled his spear and shield and sword with it. He came to Arcas who sat\nupon his bench, still nursing his anger, and he held the spear toward him.\n\n  Arcas took up his heavy sword and he hewed at the butt of the spear. The\nedge of the sword turned. The blade leaped back in his hand as if it had\nbeen struck against an anvil. And Jason, feeling within him a boundless\nand tireless strength, laughed aloud.\n\n\n\n\nIII. The Winning of the Golden Fleece\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HEY took the ship out of the backwater and they brought her to a wharf\nin the city. At a place that was called \u201cThe Ram\u2019s Couch\u201d they fastened\nthe _Argo_. Then they marched to the field of Ares, where the king and the\nColchian people were.\n\n  Jason, carrying his shield and spear, went before the king. From the\nking\u2019s hand he took the gleaming helmet that held the dragon\u2019s teeth. This\nhe put into the hands of Theseus, who went with him. Then with the spear\nand shield in his hands, with his sword girt across his shoulders, and\nwith his mantle stripped off, Jason looked across the field of Ares.\n\n  He saw the plow that he was to yoke to the bulls; he saw the yoke of\nbronze near it; he saw the tracks of the bulls\u2019 hooves. He followed the\ntracks until he came to the lair of the fire-breathing bulls. Out of that\nlair, which was underground, smoke and fire belched.\n\n  He set his feet firmly upon the ground and he held his shield before\nhim. He awaited the onset of the bulls. They came clanging up with loud\nbellowing, breathing out fire. They lowered their heads, and with mighty,\niron-tipped horns they came to gore and trample him.\n\n  Medea\u2019s charm had made him strong; Medea\u2019s charm had made his shield\nimpregnable. The rush of the bulls did not overthrow him. His comrades\nshouted to see him standing firmly there, and in wonder the Colchians\ngazed upon him. All round him, as from a furnace, there came smoke and\nfire.\n\n  The bulls roared mightily. Grasping the horns of the bull that was upon\nhis right hand, Jason dragged him until he had brought him beside the yoke\nof bronze. Striking the brazen knees of the bull suddenly with his foot he\nforced him down. Then he smote the other bull as it rushed upon him, and\nit too he forced down upon its knees.\n\n  Castor and Polydeuces held the yoke to him. Jason bound it upon the\nnecks of the bulls. He fastened the plow to the yoke. Then he took his\nshield and set it upon his back, and grasping the handles of the plow he\nstarted to make the furrow.\n\n  With his long spear he drove the bulls before him as with a goad.\nTerribly they raged, furiously they breathed out fire. Beside Jason\nTheseus went holding the helmet that held the dragon\u2019s teeth. The hard\nground was torn up by the plow of adamant, and the clods groaned as they\nwere cast up. Jason flung the teeth between the open sods, often turning\nhis head in fear that the deadly crop of the Earth-born Men were rising\nbehind him.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                     The Field of the Dragon\u2019s Teeth\n\n\n  By the time that a third of the day was finished the field of Ares had\nbeen plowed and sown. As yet the furrows were free of the Earth-born Men.\nJason went down to the river and filled his helmet full of water and drank\ndeeply. And his knees that were stiffened with the plowing he bent until\nthey were made supple again.\n\n  He saw the field rising into mounds. It seemed that there were graves\nall over the field of Ares. Then he saw spears and shields and helmets\nrising up out of the earth. Then armed warriors sprang up, a fierce battle\ncry upon their lips.\n\n  Jason remembered the counsel of Medea. He raised a boulder that four men\ncould hardly raise and with arms hardened by the plowing he cast it. The\nColchians shouted to see such a stone cast by the hands of one man. Right\ninto the middle of the Earth-born Men the stone came. They leaped upon it\nlike hounds, striking at one another as they came together. Shield crashed\non shield, spear rang upon spear as they struck at each other. The\nEarth-born Men, as fast as they arose, went down before the weapons in the\nhands of their brethren.\n\n  Jason rushed upon them, his sword in his hand. He slew some that had\nrisen out of the earth only as far as the shoulders; he slew others whose\nfeet were still in the earth; he slew others who were ready to spring upon\nhim. Soon all the Earth-born Men were slain, and the furrows ran with\ntheir dark blood as channels run with water in springtime.\n\n  The Argonauts shouted loudly for Jason\u2019s victory. King \u00c6etes rose from\nhis seat that was beside the river and he went back to the city. The\nColchians followed him. Day faded, and Jason\u2019s contest was ended.\n\n\n\n  But it was not the will of \u00c6etes that the strangers should be let depart\npeaceably with the Golden Fleece that Jason had won. In the assembly\nplace, with his son Apsyrtus beside him, and with the furious Colchians\nall around him, the king stood: on his breast was the gleaming corselet\nthat Ares had given him, and on his head was that golden helmet with its\nfour plumes that made him look as if he were truly the son of Helios, the\nSun. Lightnings flashed from his great eyes; he spoke fiercely to the\nColchians, holding in his hand his bronze-topped spear.\n\n  He would have them attack the strangers and burn the _Argo_. He would\nhave the sons of Phrixus slain for bringing them to Aea. There was a\nprophecy, he declared, that would have him be watchful of the treachery of\nhis own offspring: this prophecy was being fulfilled by the children of\nChalciope; he feared, too, that his daughter, Medea, had aided the\nstrangers. So the king spoke, and the Colchians, hating all strangers,\nshouted around him.\n\n  Word of what her father had said was brought to Medea. She knew that she\nwould have to go to the Argonauts and bid them flee hastily from Aea. They\nwould not go, she knew, without the Golden Fleece; then she, Medea, would\nhave to show them how to gain the Fleece.\n\n  Then she could never again go back to her father\u2019s palace, she could\nnever again sit in this chamber and talk to her handmaidens, and be with\nChalciope, her sister. Forever afterward she would be dependent on the\nkindness of strangers. Medea wept when she thought of all this. And then\nshe cut off a tress of her hair and she left it in her chamber as a\nfarewell from one who was going afar. Into the chamber where Chalciope was\nshe whispered farewell.\n\n  The palace doors were all heavily bolted, but Medea did not have to pull\nback the bolts. As she chanted her Magic Song the bolts softly drew back,\nthe doors softly opened. Swiftly she went along the ways that led to the\nriver. She came to where fires were blazing and she knew that the\nArgonauts were there.\n\n  She called to them, and Phrontis, Chalciope\u2019s son, heard the cry and\nknew the voice. To Jason he spoke, and Jason quickly went to where Medea\nstood.\n\n  She clasped Jason\u2019s hand and she drew him with her. \u201cThe Golden Fleece,\u201d\nshe said, \u201cthe time has come when you must pluck the Golden Fleece off the\noak in the grove of Ares.\u201d When she said these words all Jason\u2019s being\nbecame taut like the string of a bow.\n\n  It was then the hour when huntsmen cast sleep from their eyes\u2014huntsmen\nwho never sleep away the end of the night, but who are ever ready to be up\nand away with their hounds before the beams of the sun efface the track\nand the scent of the quarry. Along a path that went from the river Medea\ndrew Jason. They entered a grove. Then Jason saw something that was like a\ncloud filled with the light of the rising sun. It hung from a great oak\ntree. In awe he stood and looked upon it, knowing that at last he looked\nupon THE GOLDEN FLEECE.\n\n  His hand let slip Medea\u2019s hand and he went to seize the Fleece. As he\ndid he heard a dreadful hiss. And then he saw the guardian of the Golden\nFleece. Coiled all around the tree, with outstretched neck and keen and\nsleepless eyes, was a deadly serpent. Its hiss ran all through the grove\nand the birds that were wakening up squawked in terror.\n\n  Like rings of smoke that rise one above the other, the coils of the\nserpent went around the tree\u2014coils covered by hard and gleaming scales. It\nuncoiled, stretched itself, and lifted its head to strike. Then Medea\ndropped on her knees before it, and began to chant her Magic Song.\n\n  As she sang, the coils around the tree grew slack. Like a dark,\nnoiseless wave the serpent sank down on the ground. But still its jaws\nwere open, and those dreadful jaws threatened Jason. Medea, with a newly\ncut spray of juniper dipped in a mystic brew, touched its deadly eyes. And\nstill she chanted her Magic Song. The serpent\u2019s jaws closed; its eyes\nbecame deadened; far through the grove its length was stretched out.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Then Jason took the Golden Fleece. As he raised his hands to it, its\nbrightness was such as to make a flame on his face. Medea called to him.\nHe strove to gather it all up in his arms; Medea was beside him, and they\nwent swiftly on.\n\n  They came to the river and down to the place where the _Argo_ was\nmoored. The heroes who were aboard started up, astonished to see the\nFleece that shone as with the lightning of Zeus. Over Medea Jason cast it,\nand he lifted her aboard the _Argo_.\n\n  \u201cO friends,\u201d he cried, \u201cthe quest on which we dared the gulfs of the sea\nand the wrath of kings is accomplished, thanks to the help of this maiden.\nNow may we return to Greece; now have we the hope of looking upon our\nfathers and our friends once more. And in all honor will we bring this\nmaiden with us, Medea, the daughter of King \u00c6etes.\u201d\n\n  Then he drew his sword and cut the hawsers of the ship, calling upon the\nheroes to drive the _Argo_ on. There was a din and a strain and a splash\nof oars, and away from Aea the _Argo_ dashed. Beside the mast Medea stood;\nthe Golden Fleece had fallen at her feet, and her head and face were\ncovered by her silver veil.\n\n\n\n\nIV. The Slaying of Apsyrtus\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HAT silver veil was to be splashed with a brother\u2019s blood, and the\nArgonauts, because of that calamity, were for a long time to be held back\nfrom a return to their native land.\n\n  Now as they went down the river they saw that dangers were coming\nswiftly upon them. The chariots of the Colchians were upon the banks.\nJason saw King \u00c6etes in his chariot, a blazing torch lighting his corselet\nand his helmet. Swiftly the _Argo_ went, but there were ships behind her,\nand they went swiftly too.\n\n  They came into the Sea of Pontus, and Phrontis, the son of Phrixus, gave\ncounsel to them. \u201cDo not strive to make the passage of the Symplegades,\u201d\nhe said. \u201cAll who live around the Sea of Pontus are friendly to King\n\u00c6etes; they will be warned by him, and they will be ready to slay us and\ntake the _Argo_. Let us journey up the River Ister, and by that way we can\ncome to the Thrinacian Sea that is close to your land.\u201d\n\n  The Argonauts thought well of what Phrontis said; into the waters of the\nIster the ship was brought. Many of the Colchian ships passed by the mouth\nof the river, and went seeking the _Argo_ toward the passage of the\nSymplegades.\n\n  But the Argonauts were on a way that was dangerous for them. For\nApsyrtus had not gone toward the Symplegades seeking the _Argo_. He had\nled his soldiers overland to the River Ister at a place that was at a\ndistance above its mouth. There were islands in the river at that place,\nand the soldiers of Apsyrtus landed on the islands, while Apsyrtus went to\nthe kings of the people around and claimed their support.\n\n  The _Argo_ came and the heroes found themselves cut off. They could not\nmake their way between the islands that were filled with the Colchian\nsoldiers, nor along the banks that were lined with men friendly to King\n\u00c6etes. _Argo_ was stayed. Apsyrtus sent for the chiefs; he had men enough\nto overwhelm them, but he shrank from a fight with the heroes, and he\nthought that he might gain all he wanted from them without a struggle.\n\n  Theseus and Peleus went to him. Apsyrtus would have them give up the\nGolden Fleece; he would have them give up Medea and the sons of Phrixus\nalso.\n\n  Theseus and Peleus appealed to the judgment of the kings who supported\nApsyrtus. \u00c6etes, they said, had no more claim on the Golden Fleece. He had\npromised it to Jason as a reward for tasks that he had imposed. The tasks\nhad been accomplished and the Fleece, no matter in what way it was taken\nfrom the grove of Ares, was theirs. So Theseus and Peleus said, and the\nkings who supported Apsyrtus gave judgment for the Argonauts.\n\n  But Medea would have to be given to her brother. If that were done the\n_Argo_ would be let go on her course, Apsyrtus said, and the Golden Fleece\nwould be left with them. Apsyrtus said, too, that he would not take Medea\nback to the wrath of her father; if the Argonauts gave her up she would be\nlet stay on the island of Artemis and under the guardianship of the\ngoddess.\n\n  The chiefs brought Apsyrtus\u2019s words back. There was a council of the\nArgonauts, and they agreed that they should leave Medea on the island of\nArtemis.\n\n  But grief and wrath took hold of Medea when she heard of this resolve.\nAlmost she would burn the _Argo_. She went to where Jason stood, and she\nspoke again of all she had done to save his life and win the Golden Fleece\nfor the Argonauts. Jason made her look on the ships and the soldiers that\nwere around them; he showed her how these could overwhelm the Argonauts\nand slay them all. With all the heroes slain, he said, Medea would come\ninto the hands of Apsyrtus, who then could leave her on the island of\nArtemis or take her back to the wrath of her father.\n\n  But Medea would not consent to go nor could Jason\u2019s heart consent to let\nher go. Then these two made a plot to deceive Apsyrtus.\n\n  \u201cI have not been of the council that agreed to give you up to him,\u201d\nJason said. \u201cAfter you have been left there I will take you off the island\nof Artemis secretly. The Colchians and the kings who support them, not\nknowing that you have been taken off and hidden on the _Argo_, will let us\npass.\u201d This Medea and Jason planned to do, and it was an ill thing, for it\nwas breaking the covenant that the chiefs had entered with Apsyrtus.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Medea then was left by the Argonauts on the island of Artemis. Now\nApsyrtus had been commanded by his father to bring her back to Aea; he\nthought that when she had been left by the Argonauts he could force her to\ncome with him. So he went over to the island. Jason, secretly leaving his\ncompanions, went to the island from the other side.\n\n  Before the temple of Artemis Jason and Apsyrtus came face to face. Both\nmen, thinking they had been betrayed to their deaths, drew their swords.\nThen, before the vestibule of the temple and under the eyes of Medea,\nJason and Apsyrtus fought. Jason\u2019s sword pierced the son of \u00c6etes; as he\nfell Apsyrtus cried out bitter words against Medea, saying that it was on\nher account that he had come on his death. And as he fell the blood of her\nbrother splashed Medea\u2019s silver veil.\n\n  Jason lifted Medea up and carried her to the _Argo_. They hid the maiden\nunder the Fleece of Gold and they sailed past the ships of the Colchians.\nWhen darkness came they were far from the island of Artemis. It was then\nthat they heard a loud wailing, and they knew that the Colchians had\ndiscovered that their prince had been slain.\n\n  The Colchians did not pursue them. Fearing the wrath of \u00c6etes they made\nsettlements in the lands of the kings who had supported Apsyrtus; they\nnever went back to Aea; they called themselves Apsyrtians henceforward,\nnaming themselves after the prince they had come with.\n\n  They had escaped the danger that had hemmed them in, but the Argonauts,\nas they sailed on, were not content; covenants had been broken, and blood\nhad been shed in a bad cause. And as they went on through the darkness the\nvoice of the ship was heard; at the sound of that voice fear and sorrow\ncame upon the voyagers, for they felt that it had a prophecy of doom.\n\n  Castor and Polydeuces went to the front of the ship; holding up their\nhands, they prayed. Then they heard the words that the voice uttered: in\nthe night as they went on the voice proclaimed the wrath of Zeus on\naccount of the slaying of Apsyrtus.\n\n  What was their doom to be? It was that the Argonauts would have to\nwander forever over the gulfs of the sea unless Medea had herself cleansed\nof her brother\u2019s blood. There was one who could cleanse Medea\u2014Circe, the\ndaughter of Helios and Perse. The voice urged the heroes to pray to the\nimmortal gods that the way to the island of Circe be shown to them.\n\n\n\n\nV. Medea Comes to Circe\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HEY sailed up the River Ister until they came to the Eridanus, that\nriver across which no bird can fly. Leaving the Eridanus they entered the\nRhodanus, a river that rises in the extreme north, where Night herself has\nher habitation. And voyaging up this river they came to the Stormy Lakes.\nA mist lay upon the lakes night and day; voyaging through them the\nArgonauts at last brought out their ship upon the Sea of Ausonia.\n\n  It was Zetes and Calais, the sons of the North Wind, who brought the\n_Argo_ safely along this dangerous course. And to Zetes and Calais Iris,\nthe messenger of the gods, appeared and revealed to them where Circe\u2019s\nisland lay.\n\n  Deep blue water was all around that island, and on its height a marble\nhouse was to be seen. But a strange haze covered everything as with a\nveil. As the Argonauts came near they saw what looked to them like great\ndragonflies; they came down to the shore, and then the heroes saw that\nthey were maidens in gleaming dresses.\n\n  The maidens waved their hands to the voyagers, calling them to come on\nthe island. Strange beasts came up to where the maidens were and made\nwhimpering cries.\n\n  The Argonauts would have drawn the ship close and would have sprung upon\nthe island only that Medea cried out to them. She showed them the beasts\nthat whimpered around the maidens, and then, as the Argonauts looked upon\nthem, they saw that these were not beasts of the wild. There was something\nstrange and fearful about them; the heroes gazed upon them with troubled\neyes. They brought the ship near, but they stayed upon their benches,\nholding the oars in their hands.\n\n  Medea sprang to the island; she spoke to the maidens so that they shrank\naway; then the beasts came and whimpered around her. \u201cForbear to land\nhere, O Argonauts,\u201d Medea cried, \u201cfor this is the island where men are\nchanged into beasts.\u201d She called to Jason to come; only Jason would she\nhave come upon the island.\n\n  They went swiftly toward the marble house, and the beasts followed them,\nlooking up at Jason and Medea with pitiful human eyes. They went into the\nmarble house of Circe, and as suppliants they seated themselves at the\nhearth.\n\n  Circe stood at her loom, weaving her many-colored threads. Swiftly she\nturned to the suppliants; she looked for something strange in them, for\njust before they came the walls of her house dripped with blood and the\nflame ran over and into her pot, burning up all the magic herbs she was\nbrewing. She went toward where they sat, Medea with her face hidden by her\nhands, and Jason, with his head bent, holding with its point in the ground\nthe sword with which he had slain the son of \u00c6etes.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  When Medea took her hands away from before her face, Circe knew that,\nlike herself, this maiden was of the race of Helios. Medea spoke to her,\ntelling her first of the voyage of the heroes and of their toils; telling\nher then of how she had given help to Jason against the will of \u00c6etes, her\nfather; telling her then, fearfully, of the slaying of Apsyrtus. She\ncovered her face with her robe as she spoke of it. And then she told Circe\nshe had come, warned by the judgment of Zeus, to ask of Circe, the\ndaughter of Helios, to purify her from the stain of her brother\u2019s blood.\n\n  Like all the children of Helios, Circe had eyes that were wide and full\nof life, but she had stony lips\u2014lips that were heavy and moveless. Bright\ngolden hair hung smoothly along each of her sides. First she held a cup to\nthem that was filled with pure water, and Jason and Medea drank from that\ncup.\n\n  Then Circe stayed by the hearth; she burnt cakes in the flame, and all\nthe while she prayed to Zeus to be gentle with these suppliants. She\nbrought both to the seashore. There she washed Medea\u2019s body and her\ngarments with the spray of the sea.\n\n  Medea pleaded with Circe to tell her of the life she foresaw for her,\nbut Circe would not speak of it. She told Medea that one day she would\nmeet a woman who knew nothing about enchantments but who had much human\nwisdom. She was to ask of her what she was to do in her life or what she\nwas to leave undone. And whatever this woman out of her wisdom told her,\nthat Medea was to regard. Once more Circe offered them the cup filled with\nclear water, and when they had drunken of it she left them upon the\nseashore. As she went toward her marble house the strange beasts followed\nCirce, whimpering as they went. Jason and Medea went aboard the _Argo_,\nand the heroes drew away from Circe\u2019s island.\n\n\n\n\nVI. In the Land of the Ph\u00e6acians\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_W_EARIED were the heroes now. They would have fain gone upon the island\nof Circe to rest there away from the oars and the sound of the sea. But\nthe wisest of them, looking upon the beasts that were men transformed,\nheld the _Argo_ far off the shore. Then Jason and Medea came aboard, and\nwith heavy hearts and wearied arms they turned to the open sea again.\n\n  No longer had they such high hearts as when they drove the _Argo_\nbetween the Clashers and into the Sea of Pontus. Now their heads drooped\nas they went on, and they sang such songs as slaves sing in their hopeless\nlabor. Orpheus grew fearful for them now.\n\n  For Orpheus knew that they were drawing toward a danger. There was no\nother way for them, he knew, but past the Island Anthem\u0153ssa in the\nTyrrhenian Sea where the Sirens were. Once they had been nymphs and had\ntended Persephone before she was carried off by Aidoneus to be his queen\nin the Underworld. Kind they had been, but now they were changed, and they\ncared only for the destruction of men.\n\n  All set around with rocks was the island where they were. As the _Argo_\ncame near, the Sirens, ever on the watch to draw mariners to their\ndestruction, saw them and came to the rocks and sang to them, holding each\nother\u2019s hands.\n\n  They sang all together their lulling song. That song made the wearied\nvoyagers long to let their oars go with the waves, and drift, drift to\nwhere the Sirens were. Bending down to them the Sirens, with soft hands\nand white arms, would lift them to soft resting places. Then each of the\nSirens sang a clear, piercing song that called to each of the voyagers.\nEach man thought that his own name was in that song. \u201cO how well it is\nthat you have come near,\u201d each one sang, \u201chow well it is that you have\ncome near where I have awaited you, having all delight prepared for you!\u201d\n\n  Orpheus took up his lyre as the Sirens began to sing. He sang to the\nheroes of their own toils. He sang of them, how, gaunt and weary as they\nwere, they were yet men, men who were the strength of Greece, men who had\nbeen fostered by the love and hope of their country. They were the winners\nof the Golden Fleece and their story would be told forever. And for the\nfame that they had won men would forego all rest and all delight. Why\nshould they not toil, they who were born for great labors and to face\ndangers that other men might not face? Soon hands would be stretched out\nto them\u2014the welcoming hands of the men and women of their own land.\n\n  So Orpheus sang, and his voice and the music of his lyre prevailed above\nthe Sirens\u2019 voices. Men dropped their oars, but other men remained at\ntheir benches, and pulled steadily, if wearily, on. Only one of the\nArgonauts, Butes, a youth of Iolcus, threw himself into the water and swam\ntoward the rocks from which the Sirens sang.\n\n  But an anguish that nearly parted their spirits from their bodies was\nupon them as they went wearily on. Toward the end of the day they beheld\nanother island\u2014an island that seemed very fair; they longed to land and\nrest themselves there and eat the fruits of the island. But Orpheus would\nnot have them land. The island, he said, was Thrinacia. Upon that island\nthe Cattle of the Sun pastured, and if one of the cattle perished through\nthem their return home might not be won. They heard the lowing of the\ncattle through the mist, and a deep longing for the sight of their own\nfields, with a white house near, and flocks and herds at pasture, came\nover the heroes. They came near the Island of Thrinacia, and they saw the\nCattle of the Sun feeding by the meadow streams; not one of them was\nblack; all were white as milk, and the horns upon their heads were golden.\nThey saw the two nymphs who herded the kine\u2014Ph\u00e6thusa and Lampetia, one\nwith a staff of silver and the other with a staff of gold.\n\n  Driven by the breeze that came over the Thrinacian Sea the Argonauts\ncame to the land of the Ph\u00e6acians. It was a good land as they saw when\nthey drew near; a land of orchards and fresh pastures, with a white and\nsun-lit city upon the height. Their spirits came back to them as they drew\ninto the harbor; they made fast the hawsers, and they went upon the ways\nof the city.\n\n  And then they saw everywhere around them the dark faces of Colchian\nsoldiers. These were the men of King \u00c6etes, and they had come overland to\nthe Ph\u00e6acian city, hoping to cut off the Argonauts. Jason, when he saw the\nsoldiers, shouted to those who had been left on the _Argo_, and they drew\nout of the harbor, fearful lest the Colchians should grapple with the ship\nand wrest from them the Fleece of Gold. Then Jason made an encampment upon\nthe shore, and the captain of the Colchians went here and there, gathering\ntogether his men.\n\n  Medea left Jason\u2019s side and hastened through the city. To the palace of\nAlcinous, king of the Ph\u00e6acians, she went. Within the palace she found\nArete, the queen. And Arete was sitting by her hearth, spinning golden and\nsilver threads.\n\n  Arete was young at that time, as young as Medea, and as yet no child had\nbeen born to her. But she had the clear eyes of one who understands, and\nwho knows how to order things well. Stately, too, was Arete, for she had\nbeen reared in the house of a great king. Medea came to her, and fell upon\nher knees before her, and told her how she had fled from the house of her\nfather, King \u00c6etes.\n\n  She told Arete, too, how she had helped Jason to win the Golden Fleece,\nand she told her how through her her brother had been led to his death. As\nshe told this part of her story she wept and prayed at the knees of the\nqueen.\n\n  Arete was greatly moved by Medea\u2019s tears and prayers. She went to\nAlcinous in his garden, and she begged of him to save the Argonauts from\nthe great force of the Colchians that had come to cut them off. \u201cThe\nGolden Fleece,\u201d said Arete, \u201chas been won by the tasks that Jason\nperformed. If the Colchians should take Medea, it would be to bring her\nback to Aea and to a bitter doom. And the maiden,\u201d said the queen, \u201chas\nbroken my heart by her prayers and tears.\u201d\n\n  King Alcinous said: \u201c\u00c6etes is strong, and although his kingdom is far\nfrom ours, he can bring war upon us.\u201d But still Arete pleaded with him to\nprotect Medea from the Colchians. Alcinous went within; he raised up Medea\nfrom where she crouched on the floor of the palace, and he promised her\nthat the Argonauts would be protected in his city.\n\n  Then the king mounted his chariot; Medea went with him, and they came\ndown to the seashore where the heroes had made their encampment. The\nArgonauts and the Colchians were drawn up against each other, and the\nColchians far outnumbered the wearied heroes.\n\n  Alcinous drove his chariot between the two armies. The Colchians prayed\nhim to have the strangers make surrender to them. But the king drove his\nchariot to where the heroes stood, and he took the hand of each, and\nreceived them as his guests. Then the Colchians knew that they might not\nmake war upon the heroes. They drew off. The next day they marched away.\n\n\n\n  It was a rich land that they had come to. Once Arist\u00e6us dwelt there, the\nking who discovered how to make bees store up their honey for men and how\nto make the good olive grow. Macris, his daughter, tended Dionysus, the\nson of Zeus, when Hermes brought him of the flame, and moistened his lips\nwith honey. She tended him in a cave in the Ph\u00e6acian land, and ever\nafterward the Ph\u00e6acians were blessed with all good things.\n\n  Now as the heroes marched to the palace of King Alcinous the people came\nto meet them, bringing them sheep and calves and jars of wine and honey.\nThe women brought them fresh garments; to Medea they gave fine linen and\ngolden ornaments.\n\n  Amongst the Ph\u00e6acians who loved music and games and the telling of\nstories the heroes stayed for long. There were dances, and to the\nPh\u00e6acians who honored him as a god, Orpheus played upon his lyre. And\nevery day, for the seven days that they stayed amongst them, the Ph\u00e6acians\nbrought rich presents to the heroes.\n\n  And Medea, looking into the clear eyes of Queen Arete, knew that she was\nthe woman of whom Circe had prophesied, the woman who knew nothing of\nenchantments, but who had much human wisdom. She was to ask of her what\nshe was to do in her life and what she was to leave undone. And what this\nwoman told her Medea was to regard. Arete told her that she was to forget\nall the witcheries and enchantments that she knew, and that she was never\nto practice against the life of any one. This she told Medea upon the\nshore, before Jason lifted her aboard the _Argo_.\n\n\n\n\nVII. They Come to the Desert Land\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_A_ND now with sail spread wide the _Argo_ went on, and the heroes rested\nat the oars. The wind grew stronger. It became a great blast, and for nine\ndays and nine nights the ship was driven fearfully along.\n\n  The blast drove them into the Gulf of Libya, from whence there is no\nreturn for ships. On each side of the gulf there are rocks and shoals, and\nthe sea runs toward the limitless sand. On the top of a mighty tide the\n_Argo_ was lifted, and she was flung high up on the desert sands.\n\n  A flood tide such as might not come again for long left the Argonauts on\nthe empty Libyan land. And when they came forth and saw that vast level of\nsand stretching like a mist away into the distance, a deadly fear came\nover each of them. No spring of water could they descry; no path; no\nherdsman\u2019s cabin; over all that vast land there was silence and dead calm.\nAnd one said to the other: \u201cWhat land is this? Whither have we come? Would\nthat the tempest had overwhelmed us, or would that we had lost the ship\nand our lives between the Clashing Rocks at the time when we were making\nour way into the Sea of Pontus.\u201d\n\n  And the helmsman, looking before him, said with a breaking heart: \u201cOut\nof this we may not come, even should the breeze blow from the land, for\nall around us are shoals and sharp rocks\u2014rocks that we can see fretting\nthe water, line upon line. Our ship would have been shattered far from the\nshore if the tide had not borne her far up on the sand. But now the tide\nrushes back toward the sea, leaving only foam on which no ship can sail to\ncover the sand. And so all hope of our return is cut off.\u201d\n\n  He spoke with tears flowing upon his cheeks, and all who had knowledge\nof ships agreed with what the helmsman had said. No dangers that they had\nbeen through were as terrible as this. Hopelessly, like lifeless specters,\nthe heroes strayed about the endless strand.\n\n  They embraced each other and they said farewell as they laid down upon\nthe sand that might blow upon them and overwhelm them in the night. They\nwrapped their heads in their cloaks, and, fasting, they laid themselves\ndown.\n\n  Jason crouched beside the ship, so troubled that his life nearly went\nfrom him. He saw Medea huddled against a rock and with her hair streaming\non the sand. He saw the men who, with all the bravery of their lives, had\ncome with him, stretched on the desert sand, weary and without hope. He\nthought that they, the best of men, might die in this desert with their\ndeeds all unknown; he thought that he might never win home with Medea, to\nmake her his queen in Iolcus.\n\n  He lay against the side of the ship, his cloak wrapped around his head.\nAnd there death would have come to him and to the others if the nymphs of\nthe desert had been unmindful of these brave men. They came to Jason. It\nwas midday then, and the fierce rays of the sun were scorching all Libya.\nThey drew off the cloak that wrapped his head; they stood near him, three\nnymphs girded around with goatskins.\n\n  \u201cWhy art thou so smitten with despair?\u201d the nymphs said to Jason. \u201cWhy\nart thou smitten with despair, thou who hast wrought so much and hast won\nso much? Up! Arouse thy comrades! We are the solitary nymphs, the warders\nof the land of Libya, and we have come to show a way of escape to you, the\nArgonauts.\n\n  \u201cLook around and watch for the time when Poseidon\u2019s great horse shall be\nunloosed. Then make ready to pay recompense to the mother that bore you\nall. What she did for you all, that you all must do for her; by doing it\nyou will win back to the land of Greece.\u201d Jason heard them say these words\nand then he saw them no more; the nymphs vanished amongst the desert\nmounds.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Then Jason rose up. He did not know what to make out of what had been\ntold him, but there was courage now and hope in his heart. He shouted; his\nvoice was like the roar of a lion calling to his mate. At his shout his\ncomrades roused themselves; all squalid with the dust of the desert the\nArgonauts stood around him.\n\n  \u201cListen, comrades, to me,\u201d Jason said, \u201cwhile I speak of a strange thing\nthat has befallen me. While I lay by the side of our ship three nymphs\ncame before me. With light hands they drew away the cloak that wrapped my\nhead. They declared themselves to be the solitary nymphs, the warders, of\nLibya. Very strange were the words they said to me. When Poseidon\u2019s great\nhorse shall be unloosed, they said, we were to make the mother of us all a\nrecompense, doing for her what she had done for us all. This the nymphs\ntold me to say, but I cannot understand the meaning of their words.\u201d\n\n  There were some there who would not have given heed to Jason\u2019s words,\ndeeming them words without meaning. But even as he spoke a wonder came\nbefore their eyes. Out of the far-off sea a great horse leaped. Vast he\nwas of size and he had a golden mane. He shook the spray of the sea off\nhis sides and mane. Past them he trampled and away toward the horizon,\nleaving great tracks in the sand.\n\n  Then Nestor spoke rejoicingly. \u201cBehold the great horse! It is the horse\nthat the desert nymphs spoke of, Poseidon\u2019s horse. Even now has the horse\nbeen unloosed, and now is the time to do what the nymphs bade us do.\n\n  \u201cWho but _Argo_ is the mother of us all? She has carried us. Now we must\nmake her a recompense and carry her even as she carried us. With untiring\nshoulders we must bear _Argo_ across this great desert.\n\n  \u201cAnd whither shall we bear her? Whither but along the tracks that\nPoseidon\u2019s horse has left in the sand! Poseidon\u2019s horse will not go under\nthe earth\u2014once again he will plunge into the sea!\u201d\n\n  So Nestor said and the Argonauts saw truth in his saying. Hope came to\nthem again\u2014the hope of leaving that desert and coming to the sea. Surely\nwhen they came to the sea again, and spread the sail and held the oars in\ntheir hands, their sacred ship would make swift course to their native\nland!\n\n\n\n\nVIII. The Carrying of the Argo\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_W_ITH the terrible weight of the ship upon their shoulders the Argonauts\nmade their way across the desert, following the tracks of Poseidon\u2019s\ngolden-maned horse. Like a wounded serpent that drags with pain its length\nalong, they went day after day across that limitless land.\n\n  A day came when they saw the great tracks of the horse no more. A wind\nhad come up and had covered them with sand. With the mighty weight of the\nship upon their shoulders, with the sun beating upon their heads, and with\nno marks on the desert to guide them, the heroes stood there, and it\nseemed to them that the blood must gush up and out of their hearts.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Then Zetes and Calais, sons of the North Wind, rose up upon their wings\nto strive to get sight of the sea. Up, up, they soared. And then as a man\nsees, or thinks he sees, at the month\u2019s beginning, the moon through a bank\nof clouds, Zetes and Calais, looking over the measureless land, saw the\ngleam of water. They shouted to the Argonauts; they marked the way for\nthem, and wearily, but with good hearts, the heroes went upon the way.\n\n  They came at last to the shore of what seemed to be a wide inland sea.\nThey set _Argo_ down from off their over-wearied shoulders and they let\nher keel take water once more.\n\n  All salt and brackish was that water; they dipped their hands into and\ntasted the salt. Orpheus was able to name the water they had come to; it\nwas that lake that was called after Triton, the son of Nereus, the ancient\none of the sea. They set up an altar and they made sacrifices in\nthanksgiving to the gods.\n\n  They had come to water at last, but now they had to seek for other\nwater\u2014for the sweet water that they could drink. All around them they\nlooked, but they saw no sign of a spring. And then they felt a wind blow\nupon them\u2014a wind that had in it not the dust of the desert but the\nfragrance of growing things. Toward where that wind blew from they went.\n\n  As they went on they saw a great shape against the sky; they saw\nmountainous shoulders bowed. Orpheus bade them halt and turn their faces\nwith reverence toward that great shape: for this was Atlas the Titan, the\nbrother of Prometheus, who stood there to hold up the sky on his\nshoulders.\n\n  Then they were near the place that the fragrance had blown from: there\nwas a garden there; the only fence that ran around it was a lattice of\nsilver. \u201cSurely there are springs in the garden,\u201d the Argonauts said. \u201cWe\nwill enter this fair garden now and slake our thirst.\u201d\n\n  Orpheus bade them walk reverently, for all around them, he said, was\nsacred ground. This garden was the Garden of the Hesperides that was\nwatched over by the Daughters of the Evening Land. The Argonauts looked\nthrough the silver lattice; they saw trees with lovely fruit, and they saw\nthree maidens moving through the garden with watchful eyes. In this garden\ngrew the tree that had the golden apples that Zeus gave to Hera as a\nwedding gift.\n\n  They saw the tree on which the golden apples grew. The maidens went to\nit and then looked watchfully all around them. They saw the faces of the\nArgonauts looking through the silver lattice and they cried out, one to\nthe other, and they joined their hands around the tree.\n\n  But Orpheus called to them, and the maidens understood the divine speech\nof Orpheus. He made the Daughters of the Evening Land know that they who\nstood before the lattice were men who reverenced the gods, who would not\nstrive to enter the forbidden garden. The maidens came toward them.\nBeautiful as the singing of Orpheus was their utterance, but what they\nsaid was a complaint and a lament.\n\n  Their lament was for the dragon Ladon, that dragon with a hundred heads\nthat guarded sleeplessly the tree that had the golden apples. Now that\ndragon was slain. With arrows that had been dipped in the poison of the\nHydra\u2019s blood their dragon, Ladon, had been slain.\n\n  The Daughters of the Evening Land sang of how a mortal had come into the\ngarden that they watched over. He had a great bow, and with his arrow he\nslew the dragon that guarded the golden apples. The golden apples he had\ntaken away; they had come back to the tree they had been plucked from, for\nno mortal might keep them in his possession. So the maidens sang\u2014Hespere,\nEretheis, and \u00c6gle\u2014and they complained that now, unhelped by the\nhundred-headed dragon, they had to keep guard over the tree.\n\n  The Argonauts knew of whom they told the tale\u2014Heracles, their comrade.\nWould that Heracles were with them now!\n\n  The Hesperides told them of Heracles\u2014of how the springs in the garden\ndried up because of his plucking the golden apples. He came out of the\ngarden thirsting. Nowhere could he find a spring of water. To yonder great\nrock he went. He smote it with his foot and water came out in full flow.\nThen he, leaning on his hands and with his chest upon the ground, drank\nand drank from the water that flowed from the rifted rock.\n\n  The Argonauts looked to where the rock stood. They caught the sound of\nwater. They carried Medea over. And then, company after company, all\nhuddled together, they stooped down and drank their fill of the clear good\nwater. With lips wet with the water they cried to each other, \u201cHeracles!\nAlthough he is not with us, in very truth Heracles has saved his comrades\nfrom deadly thirst!\u201d\n\n  They saw his footsteps printed upon the rocks, and they followed them\nuntil they led to the sand where no footsteps stay. Heracles! How glad his\ncomrades would have been if they could have had sight of him then! But it\nwas long ago\u2014before he had sailed with them\u2014that Heracles had been here.\n\n  Still hearing their complaint they turned back to the lattice, to where\nthe Daughters of the Evening Land stood. The Daughters of the Evening Land\nbent their heads to listen to what the Argonauts told one another, and,\nseeing them bent to listen, Orpheus told a story about one who had gone\nacross the Libyan desert, about one who was a hero like unto Heracles.\n\n\n\nThe Story of Perseus\n\n\n  Beyond where Atlas stands there is a cave where the strange women, the\nancient daughters of Phorcys, live. They have been gray from their birth.\nThey have but one eye and one tooth between them, and they pass the eye\nand the tooth, one to the other, when they would see or eat. They are\ncalled the Graiai, these two sisters.\n\n  Up to the cave where they lived a youth once came. He was beardless, and\nthe garb he wore was torn and travel-stained, but he had shapeliness and\nbeauty. In his leathern belt there was an exceedingly bright sword; this\nsword was not straight like the swords we carry, but it was hooked like a\nsickle. The strange youth with the bright, strange sword came very quickly\nand very silently up to the cave where the Graiai lived and looked over a\nhigh boulder into it.\n\n  One was sitting munching acorns with the single tooth. The other had the\neye in her hand. She was holding it to her forehead and looking into the\nback of the cave. These two ancient women, with their gray hair falling\nover them like thick fleeces, and with faces that were only forehead and\ncheeks and nose and mouth, were strange creatures truly. Very silently the\nyouth stood looking at them.\n\n  \u201cSister, sister,\u201d cried the one who was munching acorns, \u201csister, turn\nyour eye this way. I heard the stir of something.\u201d\n\n  The other turned, and with the eye placed against her forehead looked\nout to the opening of the cave. The youth drew back behind the boulder.\n\u201cSister, sister, there is nothing there,\u201d said the one with the eye.\n\n  Then she said: \u201cSister, give me the tooth for I would eat my acorns.\nTake the eye and keep watch.\u201d\n\n  The one who was eating held out the tooth, and the one who was watching\nheld out the eye. The youth darted into the cave. Standing between the\neyeless sisters, he took with one hand the tooth and with the other the\neye.\n\n  \u201cSister, sister, have you taken the eye?\u201d\n\n  \u201cI have not taken the eye. Have you taken the tooth?\u201d\n\n  \u201cI have not taken the tooth.\u201d\n\n  \u201cSome one has taken the eye, and some one has taken the tooth.\u201d\n\n  They stood together, and the youth watched their blinking faces as they\ntried to discover who had come into the cave, and who had taken the eye\nand the tooth.\n\n  Then they said, screaming together: \u201cWho ever has taken the eye and the\ntooth from the Graiai, the ancient daughters of Phorcys, may Mother Night\nsmother him.\u201d\n\n  The youth spoke. \u201cAncient daughters of Phorcys,\u201d he said, \u201cGraiai, I\nwould not rob from you. I have come to your cave only to ask the way to a\nplace.\u201d\n\n  \u201cAh, it is a mortal, a mortal,\u201d screamed the sisters. \u201cWell, mortal,\nwhat would you have from the Graiai?\u201d\n\n  \u201cAncient Graiai,\u201d said the youth, \u201cI would have you tell me, for you\nalone know, where the nymphs dwell who guard the three magic treasures\u2014the\ncap of darkness, the shoes of flight, and the magic pouch.\u201d\n\n  \u201cWe will not tell you, we will not tell you that,\u201d screamed the two\nancient sisters.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  \u201cI will keep the eye and the tooth,\u201d said the youth, \u201cand I will give\nthem to one who will help me.\u201d\n\n  \u201cGive me the eye and I will tell you,\u201d said one. \u201cGive me the tooth and\nI will tell you,\u201d said the other. The youth put the eye in the hand of one\nand the tooth in the hand of the other, but he held their skinny hands in\nhis strong hands until they should tell him where the nymphs dwelt who\nguarded the magic treasures. The Gray Ones told him. Then the youth with\nthe bright sword left the cave. As he went out he saw on the ground a\nshield of bronze, and he took it with him.\n\n  To the other side of where Atlas stands he went. There he came upon the\nnymphs in their valley. They had long dwelt there, hidden from gods and\nmen, and they were startled to see a stranger youth come into their hidden\nvalley. They fled away. Then the youth sat on the ground, his head bent\nlike a man who is very sorrowful.\n\n  The youngest and the fairest of the nymphs came to him at last. \u201cWhy\nhave you come, and why do you sit here in such great trouble, youth?\u201d said\nshe. And then she said: \u201cWhat is this strange sickle-sword that you wear?\nWho told you the way to our dwelling place? What name have you?\u201d\n\n  \u201cI have come here,\u201d said the youth, and he took the bronze shield upon\nhis knees and began to polish it, \u201cI have come here because I want you,\nthe nymphs who guard them, to give to me the cap of darkness and the shoes\nof flight and the magic pouch. I must gain these things; without them I\nmust go to my death. Why I must gain them you will know from my story.\u201d\n\n  When he said that he had come for the three magic treasures that they\nguarded, the kind nymph was more startled than she and her sisters had\nbeen startled by the appearance of the strange youth in their hidden\nvalley. She turned away from him. But she looked again and she saw that he\nwas beautiful and brave looking. He had spoken of his death. The nymph\nstood looking at him pitifully, and the youth, with the bronze shield laid\nbeside his knees and the strange hooked sword lying across it, told her\nhis story.\n\n\n\n  \u201cI am Perseus,\u201d he said, \u201cand my grandfather, men say, is king in Argos.\nHis name is Acrisius. Before I was born a prophecy was made to him that\nthe son of Dana\u00eb, his daughter, would slay him. Acrisius was frightened by\nthe prophecy, and when I was born he put my mother and myself into a\nchest, and he sent us adrift upon the waves of the sea.\n\n  \u201cI did not know what a terrible peril I was in, for I was an infant\nnewly born. My mother was so hopeless that she came near to death. But the\nwind and the waves did not destroy us: they brought us to a shore; a\nshepherd found the chest, and he opened it and brought my mother and\nmyself out of it alive. The land we had come to was Seriphus. The shepherd\nwho found the chest and who rescued my mother and myself was the brother\nof the king. His name was Dictys.\n\n  \u201cIn the shepherd\u2019s wattled house my mother stayed with me, a little\ninfant, and in that house I grew from babyhood to childhood, and from\nchildhood to boyhood. He was a kind man, this shepherd Dictys. His brother\nPolydectes had put him away from the palace, but Dictys did not grieve for\nthat, for he was happy minding his sheep upon the hillside, and he was\nhappy in his little hut of wattles and clay.\n\n  \u201cPolydectes, the king, was seldom spoken to about his brother, and it\nwas years before he knew of the mother and child who had been brought to\nlive in Dictys\u2019s hut. But at last he heard of us, for strange things began\nto be said about my mother\u2014how she was beautiful, and how she looked like\none who had been favored by the gods. Then one day when he was hunting,\nPolydectes the king came to the hut of Dictys the shepherd.\n\n  \u201cHe saw Dana\u00eb, my mother, there. By her looks he knew that she was a\nking\u2019s daughter and one who had been favored by the gods. He wanted her\nfor his wife. But my mother hated this harsh and overbearing king, and she\nwould not wed with him. Often he came storming around the shepherd\u2019s hut,\nand at last my mother had to take refuge from him in a temple. There she\nbecame the priestess of the goddess.\n\n  \u201cI was taken to the palace of Polydectes, and there I was brought up.\nThe king still stormed around where my mother was, more and more bent on\nmaking her marry him. If she had not been in the temple where she was\nunder the protection of the goddess he would have wed her against her\nwill.\n\n  \u201cBut I was growing up now, and I was able to give some protection to my\nmother. My arm was a strong one, and Polydectes knew that if he wronged my\nmother in any way, I had the will and the power to be deadly to him. One\nday I heard him say before his princes and his lords that he would wed,\nand would wed one who was not Dana\u00eb. I was overjoyed to hear him say this.\nHe asked the lords and the princes to come to the wedding feast; they\ndeclared they would, and they told him of the presents they would bring.\n\n  \u201cThen King Polydectes turned to me and he asked me to come to the\nwedding feast. I said I would come. And then, because I was young and full\nof the boast of youth, and because the king was now ceasing to be a terror\nto me, I said that I would bring to his wedding feast the head of the\nGorgon.\n\n  \u201cThe king smiled when he heard me say this, but he smiled not as a good\nman smiles when he hears the boast of youth. He smiled, and he turned to\nthe princes and lords, and he said: \u2018Perseus will come, and he will bring\na greater gift than any of you, for he will bring the head of her whose\ngaze turns living creatures into stone.\u2019\n\n  \u201cWhen I heard the king speak so grimly about my boast the fearfulness of\nthe thing I had spoken of doing came over me. I thought for an instant\nthat the Gorgon\u2019s head appeared before me, and that I was then and there\nturned into stone.\n\n  \u201cThe day of the wedding feast came. I came and I brought no gift. I\nstood with my head hanging for shame. Then the princes and the lords came\nforward, and they showed the great gifts of horses that they had brought.\nI thought that the king would forget about me and about my boast. And then\nI heard him call my name. \u2018Perseus,\u2019 he said, \u2018Perseus, bring before us\nnow the Gorgon\u2019s head that, as you told us, you would bring for the\nwedding gift.\u2019\n\n  \u201cThe princes and lords and people looked toward me, and I was filled\nwith a deeper shame. I had to say that I had failed to bring a present.\nThen that harsh and overbearing king shouted at me. \u2018Go forth,\u2019 he said,\n\u2018go forth and fetch the present that you spoke of. If you do not bring it\nremain forever out of my country, for in Seriphus we will have no empty\nboasters.\u2019 The lords and the princes applauded what the king said; the\npeople were sad for me and sad for my mother, but they might not do\nanything to help me, so just and so due to me did the words of the king\nseem. There was no help for it, and I had to go from the country of\nSeriphus, leaving my mother at the mercy of Polydectes.\n\n  \u201cI bade good-by to my sorrowful mother and I went from Seriphus\u2014from\nthat land that I might not return to without the Gorgon\u2019s head. I traveled\nfar from that country. One day I sat down in a lonely place and prayed to\nthe gods that my strength might be equal to the will that now moved in\nme\u2014the will to take the Gorgon\u2019s head, and take from my name the shame of\na broken promise, and win back to Seriphus to save my mother from the\nharshness of the king.\n\n  \u201cWhen I looked up I saw one standing before me. He was a youth, too, but\nI knew by the way he moved, and I knew by the brightness of his face and\neyes, that he was of the immortals. I raised my hands in homage to him,\nand he came near me. \u2018Perseus,\u2019 he said, \u2018if you have the courage to\nstrive, the way to win the Gorgon\u2019s head will be shown you.\u2019 I said that I\nhad the courage to strive, and he knew that I was making no boast.\n\n  \u201cHe gave me this bright sickle-sword that I carry. He told me by what\nways I might come near enough to the Gorgons without being turned into\nstone by their gaze. He told me how I might slay the one of the three\nGorgons who was not immortal, and how, having slain her, I might take her\nhead and flee without being torn to pieces by her sister Gorgons.\n\n  \u201cThen I knew that I should have to come on the Gorgons from the air. I\nknew that having slain the one that could be slain I should have to fly\nwith the speed of the wind. And I knew that that speed even would not save\nme\u2014I should have to be hidden in my flight. To win the head and save\nmyself I would need three magic things\u2014the shoes of flight and the magic\npouch, and the dogskin cap of Hades that makes its wearer invisible.\n\n  \u201cThe youth said: \u2018The magic pouch and the shoes of flight and the\ndogskin cap of Hades are in the keeping of the nymphs whose dwelling place\nno mortal knows. I may not tell you where their dwelling place is. But\nfrom the Gray Ones, from the ancient daughters of Phorcys who live in a\ncave near where Atlas stands, you may learn where their dwelling place\nis.\u2019\n\n  \u201cThereupon he told me how I might come to the Graiai, and how I might\nget them to tell me where you, the nymphs, had your dwelling. The one who\nspoke to me was Hermes, whose dwelling is on Olympus. By this sickle-sword\nthat he gave me you will know that I speak the truth.\u201d\n\n\n\n  Perseus ceased speaking, and she who was the youngest and fairest of the\nnymphs came nearer to him. She knew that he spoke truthfully, and besides\nshe had pity for the youth. \u201cBut we are the keepers of the magic\ntreasures,\u201d she said, \u201cand some one whose need is greater even than yours\nmay some time require them from us. But will you swear that you will bring\nthe magic treasures back to us when you have slain the Gorgon and have\ntaken her head?\u201d\n\n  Perseus declared that he would bring the magic treasures back to the\nnymphs and leave them once more in their keeping. Then the nymph who had\ncompassion for him called to the others. They spoke together while Perseus\nstayed far away from them, polishing his shield of bronze. At last the\nnymph who had listened to him came back, the others following her. They\nbrought to Perseus and they put into his hands the things they had\nguarded\u2014the cap made from dogskin that had been brought up out of Hades, a\npair of winged shoes, and a long pouch that he could hang across his\nshoulder.\n\n\n\n  And so with the shoes of flight and the cap of darkness and the magic\npouch, Perseus went to seek the Gorgons. The sickle-sword that Hermes gave\nhim was at his side, and on his arm he held the bronze shield that was now\nwell polished.\n\n  He went through the air, taking a way that the nymphs had shown him. He\ncame to Oceanus that was the rim around the world. He saw forms that were\nof living creatures all in stone, and he knew that he was near the place\nwhere the Gorgons had their lair.\n\n  Then, looking upon the surface of his polished shield, he saw the\nGorgons below him. Two were covered with hard serpent scales; they had\ntusks that were long and were like the tusks of boars, and they had hands\nof gleaming brass and wings of shining gold. Still looking upon the\nshining surface of his shield Perseus went down and down. He saw the third\nsister\u2014she who was not immortal. She had a woman\u2019s face and form, and her\ncountenance was beautiful, although there was something deadly in its\nfairness. The two scaled and winged sisters were asleep, but the third,\nMedusa, was awake, and she was tearing with her hands a lizard that had\ncome near her.\n\n  Upon her head was a tangle of serpents all with heads raised as though\nthey were hissing. Still looking into the mirror of his shield Perseus\ncame down and over Medusa. He turned his head away from her. Then, with a\nsweep of the sickle-sword he took her head off. There was no scream from\nthe Gorgon, but the serpents upon her head hissed loudly.\n\n  Still with his face turned from it he lifted up the head by its tangle\nof serpents. He put it into the magic pouch. He rose up in the air. But\nnow the Gorgon sisters were awake. They had heard the hiss of Medusa\u2019s\nserpents, and now they looked upon her headless body. They rose up on\ntheir golden wings, and their brazen hands were stretched out to tear the\none who had slain Medusa. As they flew after him they screamed aloud.\n\n  Although he flew like the wind the Gorgon sisters would have overtaken\nhim if he had been plain to their eyes. But the dogskin cap of Hades saved\nhim, for the Gorgon sisters did not know whether he was above or below\nthem, behind or before them. On Perseus went, flying toward where Atlas\nstood. He flew over this place, over Libya. Drops of blood from Medusa\u2019s\nhead fell down upon the desert. They were changed and became the deadly\nserpents that are on these sands and around these rocks. On and on Perseus\nflew toward Atlas and toward the hidden valley where the nymphs who were\nagain to guard the magic treasures had their dwelling place. But before he\ncame to the nymphs Perseus had another adventure.\n\n\n\n  In Ethopia, which is at the other side of Libya, there ruled a king\nwhose name was Cepheus. This king had permitted his queen to boast that\nshe was more beautiful than the nymphs of the sea. In punishment for the\nqueen\u2019s impiety and for the king\u2019s folly Poseidon sent a monster out of\nthe sea to waste that country. Every year the monster came, destroying\nmore and more of the country of Ethopia. Then the king asked of an oracle\nwhat he should do to save his land and his people. The oracle spoke of a\ndreadful thing that he would have to do\u2014he would have to sacrifice his\ndaughter, the beautiful Princess Andromeda.\n\n  The king was forced by his savage people to take the maiden Andromeda\nand chain her to a rock on the seashore, leaving her there for the monster\nto devour her, satisfying himself with that prey.\n\n  Perseus, flying near, heard the maiden\u2019s laments. He saw her lovely body\nbound with chains to the rock. He came near her, taking the cap of\ndarkness off his head. She saw him, and she bent her head in shame, for\nshe thought that he would think that it was for some dreadful fault of her\nown that she had been left chained in that place.\n\n  Her father had stayed near. Perseus saw him, and called to him, and bade\nhim tell why the maiden was chained to the rock. The king told Perseus of\nthe sacrifice that he had been forced to make. Then Perseus came near the\nmaiden, and he saw how she looked at him with pleading eyes.\n\n  Then Perseus made her father promise that he would give Andromeda to him\nfor his wife if he should slay the sea monster. Gladly Cepheus promised\nthis. Then Perseus once again drew his sickle-sword; by the rock to which\nAndromeda was still chained he waited for sight of the sea monster.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                          Perseus and Andromeda\n\n\n  It came rolling in from the open sea, a shapeless and unsightly thing.\nWith the shoes of flight upon his feet Perseus rose above it. The monster\nsaw his shadow upon the water, and savagely it went to attack the shadow.\nPerseus swooped down as an eagle swoops down; with his sickle-sword he\nattacked it, and he struck the hook through the monster\u2019s shoulder.\nTerribly it reared up from the sea. Perseus rose over it, escaping its\nwide-opened mouth with its treble rows of fangs. Again he swooped and\nstruck at it. Its hide was covered all over with hard scales and with the\nshells of sea things, but Perseus\u2019s sword struck through it. It reared up\nagain, spouting water mixed with blood. On a rock near the rock that\nAndromeda was chained to Perseus alighted. The monster, seeing him,\nbellowed and rushed swiftly through the water to overwhelm him. As it\nreared up he plunged the sword again and again into its body. Down into\nthe water the monster sank, and water mixed with blood was spouted up from\nthe depths into which it sank.\n\n  Then was Andromeda loosed from her chains. Perseus, the conqueror,\nlifted up the fainting maiden and carried her back to the king\u2019s palace.\nAnd Cepheus there renewed his promise to give her in marriage to her\ndeliverer.\n\n  Perseus went on his way. He came to the hidden valley where the nymphs\nhad their dwelling place, and he restored to them the three magic\ntreasures that they had given him\u2014the cap of darkness, the shoes of\nflight, and the magic pouch. And these treasures are still there, and the\nhero who can win his way to the nymphs may have them as Perseus had them.\n\n  Again he returned to the place where he had found Andromeda chained.\nWith face averted he drew forth the Gorgon\u2019s head from where he had hidden\nit between the rocks. He made a bag for it out of the horny skin of the\nmonster he had slain. Then, carrying his tremendous trophy, he went to the\npalace of King Cepheus to claim his bride.\n\n\n\n  Now before her father had thought of sacrificing her to the sea monster\nhe had offered Andromeda in marriage to a prince of Ethopia\u2014to a prince\nwhose name was Phineus. Phineus did not strive to save Andromeda. But,\nhearing that she had been delivered from the monster, he came to take her\nfor his wife; he came to Cepheus\u2019s palace, and he brought with him a\nthousand armed men.\n\n  The palace of Cepheus was filled with armed men when Perseus entered it.\nHe saw Andromeda on a raised place in the hall. She was pale as when she\nwas chained to the rock, and when she saw him in the palace she uttered a\ncry of gladness.\n\n  Cepheus, the craven king, would have let him who had come with the armed\nbands take the maiden. Perseus came beside Andromeda and he made his\nclaim. Phineus spoke insolently to him, and then he urged one of his\ncaptains to strike Perseus down. Many sprang forward to attack him. Out of\nthe bag Perseus drew Medusa\u2019s head. He held it before those who were\nbringing strife into the hall. They were turned to stone. One of Cepheus\u2019s\nmen wished to defend Perseus: he struck at the captain who had come near;\nhis sword made a clanging sound as it struck this one who had looked upon\nMedusa\u2019s head.\n\n  Perseus went from the land of Ethopia taking fair Andromeda with him.\nThey went into Greece, for he had thought of going to Argos, to the\ncountry that his grandfather ruled over. At this very time Acrisius got\ntidings of Dana\u00eb and her son, and he knew that they had not perished on\nthe waves of the sea. Fearful of the prophecy that told he would be slain\nby his grandson and fearing that he would come to Argos to seek him,\nAcrisius fled out of his country.\n\n  He came into Thessaly. Perseus and Andromeda were there. Now, one day\nthe old king was brought to games that were being celebrated in honor of a\ndead hero. He was leaning on his staff, watching a youth throw a metal\ndisk, when something in that youth\u2019s appearance made him want to watch him\nmore closely. About him there was something of a being of the upper air;\nit made Acrisius think of a brazen tower and of a daughter whom he had\nshut up there.\n\n  He moved so that he might come nearer to the disk-thrower. But as he\nleft where he had been standing he came into the line of the thrown disk.\nIt struck the old man on the temple. He fell down dead, and as he fell the\npeople cried out his name\u2014\u201cAcrisius, King Acrisius!\u201d Then Perseus knew\nwhom the disk, thrown by his hand, had slain.\n\n  And because he had slain the king by chance Perseus would not go to\nArgos, nor take over the kingdom that his grandfather had reigned over.\nWith Andromeda he went to Seriphus where his mother was. And in Seriphus\nthere still reigned Polydectes, who had put upon him the terrible task of\nwinning the Gorgon\u2019s head.\n\n  He came to Seriphus and he left Andromeda in the hut of Dictys the\nshepherd. No one knew him; he heard his name spoken of as that of a youth\nwho had gone on a foolish quest and who would never again be heard of. To\nthe temple where his mother was a priestess he came. Guards were placed\nall around it. He heard his mother\u2019s voice and it was raised in lament:\n\u201cWalled up here and given over to hunger I shall be made go to\nPolydectes\u2019s house and become his wife. O ye gods, have ye no pity for\nDana\u00eb, the mother of Perseus?\u201d\n\n  Perseus cried aloud, and his mother heard his voice and her moans\nceased. He turned around and he went to the palace of Polydectes, the\nking.\n\n  The king received him with mockeries. \u201cI will let you stay in Seriphus\nfor a day,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause I would have you at a marriage feast. I have\nvowed that Dana\u00eb, taken from the temple where she sulks, will be my wife\nby to-morrow\u2019s sunset.\u201d\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  So Polydectes said, and the lords and princes who were around him mocked\nat Perseus and flattered the king. Perseus went from them then. The next\nday he came back to the palace. But in his hands now there was a dread\nthing\u2014the bag made from the hide of the sea monster that had in it the\nGorgon\u2019s head.\n\n  He saw his mother. She was brought in white and fainting, thinking that\nshe would now have to wed the harsh and overbearing king. Then she saw her\nson, and hope came into her face.\n\n  The king seeing Perseus, said: \u201cStep forward, O youngling, and see your\nmother wed to a mighty man. Step forward to witness a marriage, and then\ndepart, for it is not right that a youth that makes promises and does not\nkeep them should stay in a land that I rule over. Step forward now, you\nwith the empty hands.\u201d\n\n  But not with empty hands did Perseus step forward. He shouted out: \u201cI\nhave brought something to you at last, O king\u2014a present to you and your\nmocking friends. But you, O my mother, and you, O my friends, avert your\nfaces from what I have brought.\u201d Saying this Perseus drew out the Gorgon\u2019s\nhead. Holding it by the snaky locks he stood before the company. His\nmother and his friends averted their faces. But Polydectes and his\ninsolent friends looked full upon what Perseus showed. \u201cThis youth would\nstrive to frighten us with some conjuror\u2019s trick,\u201d they said. They said no\nmore, for they became as stones, and as stone images they still stand in\nthat hall in Seriphus.\n\n  He went to the shepherd\u2019s hut, and he brought Dictys from it with\nAndromeda. Dictys he made king in Polydectes\u2019s stead. Then with Dana\u00eb and\nAndromeda, his mother and his wife, he went from Seriphus.\n\n  He did not go to Argos, the country that his grandfather had ruled over,\nalthough the people there wanted Perseus to come to them, and be king over\nthem. He took the kingdom of Tiryns in exchange for that of Argos, and\nthere he lived with Andromeda, his lovely wife out of Ethopia. They had a\nson named Perses who became the parent of the Persian people.\n\n  The sickle-sword that had slain the Gorgon went back to Hermes, and\nHermes took Medusa\u2019s head also. That head Hermes\u2019s divine sister set upon\nher shield\u2014Medusa\u2019s head upon the shield of Pallas Athene. O may Pallas\nAthene guard us all, and bring us out of this land of sands and stone\nwhere are the deadly serpents that have come from the drops of blood that\nfell from the Gorgon\u2019s head!\n\n  They turned away from the Garden of the Daughters of the Evening Land.\nThe Argonauts turned from where the giant shape of Atlas stood against the\nsky and they went toward the Tritonian Lake. But not all of them reached\nthe _Argo_. On his way back to the ship, Nauplius, the helmsman, met his\ndeath.\n\n  A sluggish serpent was in his way\u2014it was not a serpent that would strike\nat one who turned from it. Nauplius trod upon it, and the serpent lifted\nits head up and bit his foot. They raised him on their shoulders and they\nhurried back with him. But his limbs became numb, and when they laid him\ndown on the shore of the lake he stayed moveless. Soon he grew cold. They\ndug a grave for Nauplius beside the lake, and in that desert land they set\nup his helmsman\u2019s oar in the middle of his tomb of heaped stones.\n\n\n\n  And now like a snake that goes writhing this way and that way and that\ncannot find the cleft in the rock that leads to its lair, the _Argo_ went\nhither and thither striving to find an outlet from that lake. No outlet\ncould they find and the way of their homegoing seemed lost to them again.\nThen Orpheus prayed to the son of Nereus, to Triton, whose name was on\nthat lake, to aid them.\n\n  Then Triton appeared. He stretched out his hand and showed them the\noutlet to the sea. And Triton spoke in friendly wise to the heroes,\nbidding them go upon their way in joy. \u201cAnd as for labor,\u201d he said, \u201clet\nthere be no grieving because of that, for limbs that have youthful vigor\nshould still toil.\u201d\n\n  They took up the oars and they pulled toward the sea, and Triton, the\nfriendly immortal, helped them on. He laid hold upon _Argo\u2019s_ keel and he\nguided her through the water. The Argonauts saw him beneath the water; his\nbody, from his head down to his waist, was fair and great and like to the\nbody of one of the other immortals. But below his body was like a great\nfish\u2019s, forking this way and that. He moved with fins that were like the\nhorns of the new moon. Triton helped _Argo_ along until they came into the\nopen sea. Then he plunged down into the abyss. The heroes shouted their\nthanks to him. Then they looked at each other and embraced each other with\njoy, for the sea that touched upon the land of Greece was open before\nthem.\n\n\n\n\nIX. Near to Iolcus Again\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HE sun sank; then that star came that bids the shepherd bring his flock\nto the fold, that brings the wearied plowman to his rest. But no rest did\nthat star bring to the Argonauts. The breeze that filled the sail died\ndown; they furled the sail and lowered the mast; then, once again, they\npulled at the oars. All night they rowed, and all day, and again when the\nnext day came on. Then they saw the island that is halfway to Greece\u2014the\ngreat and fair island of Crete.\n\n  It was Theseus who first saw Crete\u2014Theseus who was to come to Crete upon\nanother ship. They drew the _Argo_ near the great island; they wanted\nwater, and they were fain to rest there.\n\n  Minos, the great king, ruled over Crete. He left the guarding of the\nisland to one of the race of bronze, to Talos, who had lived on after the\nrest of the bronze men had been destroyed. Thrice a day would Talos stride\naround the island; his brazen feet were tireless.\n\n  Now Talos saw the _Argo_ drawing near. He took up great rocks and he\nhurled them at the heroes, and very quickly they had to draw their ship\nout of range.\n\n  They were wearied and their thirst was consuming them. But still that\nbronze man stood there ready to sink their ship with the great rocks that\nhe took up in his hands. Medea stood forward upon the ship, ready to use\nher spells against the man of bronze.\n\n  In body and limbs he was made of bronze and in these he was\ninvulnerable. But beneath a sinew in his ankle there was a vein that ran\nup to his neck and that was covered by a thin skin. If that vein were\nbroken Talos would perish.\n\n  Medea did not know about this vein when she stood forward upon the ship\nto use her spells against him. Upon a cliff of Crete, all gleaming, stood\nthat huge man of bronze. Then, as she was ready to fling her spells\nagainst him, Medea thought upon the words that Arete, the wise queen, had\ngiven her\u2014that she was not to use spells and not to practice against the\nlife of any one.\n\n  But she knew that there was no impiety in using spells and practicing\nagainst Talos, for Zeus had already doomed all his race. She stood upon\nthe ship, and with her Magic Song she enchanted him. He whirled round and\nround. He struck his ankle against a jutting stone. The vein broke, and\nthat which was the blood of the bronze man flowed out of him like molten\nlead. He stood towering upon the cliff. Like a pine upon a mountaintop\nthat the woodman had left half hewn through and that a mighty wind pitches\nagainst, Talos stood upon his tireless feet, swaying to and fro. Then,\nemptied of all his strength, Minos\u2019s man of bronze fell into the Cretan\nSea.\n\n  The heroes landed. That night they lay upon the land of Crete and rested\nand refreshed themselves. When dawn came they drew water from a spring,\nand once more they went on board the _Argo_.\n\n\n\n  A day came when the helmsman said, \u201cTo-morrow we shall see the shore of\nThessaly, and by sunset we shall be in the harbor of Pagas\u00e6. Soon, O\nvoyagers, we shall be back in the city from which we went to gain the\nGolden Fleece.\u201d\n\n  Then Jason brought Medea to the front of the ship so that they might\nwatch together for Thessaly, the homeland. The Mountain Pelion came into\nsight. Jason exulted as he looked upon that mountain; again he told Medea\nabout Chiron, the ancient centaur, and about the days of his youth in the\nforests of Pelion.\n\n  The _Argo_ went on; the sun sank, and darkness came on. Never was there\ndarkness such as there was on that night. They called that night afterward\nthe Pall of Darkness. To the heroes upon the _Argo_ it seemed as if black\nchaos had come over the world again; they knew not whether they were\nadrift upon the sea or upon the River of Hades. No star pierced the\ndarkness nor no beam from the moon.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  After a night that seemed many nights the dawn came. In the sunrise they\nsaw the land of Thessaly with its mountain, its forests, and its fields.\nThey hailed each other as if they had met after a long parting. They\nraised the mast and unfurled the sail.\n\n  But not toward Pagas\u00e6 did they go. For now the voice of _Argo_ came to\nthem, shaking their hearts: Jason and Orpheus, Castor and Polydeuces,\nZetes and Calais, Peleus and Telamon, Theseus, Admetus, Nestor, and\nAtalanta, heard the cry of their ship. And the voice of _Argo_ warned them\nnot to go into the harbor of Pagas\u00e6.\n\n  As they stood upon the ship, looking toward Iolcus, sorrow came over all\nthe heroes, such sorrow as made their hearts nearly break. For long they\nstood there in utter numbness.\n\n  Then Admetus spoke\u2014Admetus who was the happiest of all those who went in\nquest of the Golden Fleece. \u201cAlthough we may not go into the harbor of\nPagas\u00e6, nor into the city of Iolcus,\u201d Admetus said, \u201cstill we have come to\nthe land of Greece. There are other harbors and other cities that we may\ngo into. And in all the places that we go to we will be honored, for we\nhave gone through toils and dangers, and we have brought to Greece the\nfamous Fleece of Gold.\u201d\n\n  So Admetus said, and their spirits came back again to the heroes\u2014came\nback to all of them save Jason. The rest had other cities to go to, and\nfathers and mothers and friends to greet them in other places, but for\nJason there was only Iolcus.\n\n  Medea took his hand, and sorrow for him overcame her. For Medea could\ndivine what had happened in Iolcus and why it was that the heroes might\nnot go there.\n\n\n\n  It was to Corinth that the _Argo_ went. Creon, the king of Corinth,\nwelcomed them and gave great honor to the heroes who had faced such labors\nand such dangers to bring the world\u2019s wonder to Greece.\n\n  The Argonauts stayed together until they went to Calydon, to hunt the\nboar that ravaged Prince Meleagrus\u2019s country. After that they separated,\neach one going to his own land. Jason came back to Corinth where Medea\nstayed. And in Corinth he had tidings of the happenings in Iolcus.\n\n  King Pelias now ruled more fearfully in Iolcus, having brought down from\nthe mountains more and fiercer soldiers. And \u00c6son, Jason\u2019s father, and\nAlcimide, his mother, were now dead, having been slain by King Pelias.\n\n  This Jason heard from men who came into Corinth from Thessaly. And\nbecause of the great army that Pelias had gathered there, Jason might not\nyet go into Iolcus, either to exact a vengeance, or to show the people THE\nGOLDEN FLEECE that he had gone so far to gain.\n\n\n\n\n\nPART III. THE HEROES OF THE QUEST\n\n\n\n\nI. Atalanta the Huntress\n\n\nI\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HEY came once more together, the heroes of the quest, to hunt a boar in\nCalydon\u2014Jason and Peleus came, Telamon, Theseus, and rough Arcas, Nestor\nand Helen\u2019s brothers Polydeuces and Castor. And, most noted of all, there\ncame the Arcadian huntress maid, Atalanta.\n\n  Beautiful they all thought her when they knew her aboard the _Argo_. But\neven more beautiful Atalanta seemed to the heroes when she came amongst\nthem in her hunting gear. Her lovely hair hung in two bands across her\nshoulders, and over her breast hung an ivory quiver filled with arrows.\nThey said that her face with its wide and steady eyes was maidenly for a\nboy\u2019s, and boyish for a maiden\u2019s face. Swiftly she moved with her head\nheld high, and there was not one amongst the heroes who did not say, \u201cOh,\nhappy would that man be whom Atalanta the unwedded would take for her\nhusband!\u201d\n\n  All the heroes said it, but the one who said it most feelingly was the\nprince of Calydon, young Meleagrus. He more than the other heroes felt the\nwonder of Atalanta\u2019s beauty.\n\n  Now the boar they had come to hunt was a monster boar. It had come into\nCalydon and it was laying waste the fields and orchards and destroying the\npeople\u2019s cattle and horses. That boar had been sent into Calydon by an\nangry divinity. For when \u0152neus, the king of the country, was making\nsacrifice to the gods in thanksgiving for a bounteous harvest, he had\nneglected to make sacrifice to the goddess of the wild things, Artemis. In\nher anger Artemis had sent the monster boar to lay waste \u0152neus\u2019s realm.\n\n  It was a monster boar indeed\u2014one as huge as a bull, with tusks as great\nas an elephant\u2019s; the bristles on its back stood up like spear points, and\nthe hot breath of the creature withered the growth on the ground. The boar\ntore up the corn in the fields and trampled down the vines with their\nclusters and heavy bunches of grapes; also it rushed against the cattle\nand destroyed them in the fields. And no hounds the huntsmen were able to\nbring could stand before it. And so it came to pass that men had to leave\ntheir farms and take refuge behind the walls of the city because of the\nravages of the boar. It was then that the rulers of Calydon sent for the\nheroes of the quest to join with them in hunting the monster.\n\n  Calydon itself sent Prince Meleagrus and his two uncles, Plexippus and\nToxeus. They were brothers to Meleagrus\u2019s mother, Alth\u00e6a. Now Alth\u00e6a was a\nwoman who had sight to see mysterious things, but who had also a wayward\nand passionate heart. Once, after her son Meleagrus was born, she saw the\nthree Fates sitting by her hearth. They were spinning the threads of her\nson\u2019s life, and as they spun they sang to each other, \u201cAn equal span of\nlife we give to the newborn child, and to the billet of wood that now\nrests above the blaze of the fire.\u201d Hearing what the Fates sang and\nunderstanding it Alth\u00e6a had sprung up from her bed, had seized the billet\nof wood, and had taken it out of the fire before the flames had burnt into\nit.\n\n  That billet of wood lay in her chest, hidden away. And Meleagrus nor any\none else save Alth\u00e6a knew of it, nor knew that the prince\u2019s life would\nlast only for the space it would be kept from the burning. On the day of\nthe hunting he appeared as the strongest and bravest of the youths of\nCalydon. And he knew not, poor Meleagrus, that the love for Atalanta that\nhad sprung into his heart was to bring to the fire the billet of wood on\nwhich his life depended.\n\n\n\nII\n\n  As Atalanta went, the bow in her hands, Prince Meleagrus pressed behind\nher. Then came Jason and Peleus, Telamon, Theseus and Nestor. Behind them\ncame Meleagrus\u2019s dark-browed uncles, Plexippus and Toxeus. They came to a\nforest that covered the side of a mountain. Huntsmen had assembled here\nwith hounds held in leashes and with nets to hold the rushing quarry. And\nwhen they had all gathered together they went through the forest on the\ntrack of the monster boar.\n\n  It was easy to track the boar, for it had left a broad trail through the\nforest. The heroes and the huntsmen pressed on. They came to a marshy\ncovert where the boar had its lair. There was a thickness of osiers and\nwillows and tall bullrushes, making a place that it was hard for the\nhunters to go through.\n\n  They roused the boar with the blare of horns and it came rushing out.\nFoam was on its tusks, and its eyes had in them the blaze of fire. On the\nboar came, breaking down the thicket in its rush. But the heroes stood\nsteadily with the points of their spears toward the monster.\n\n  The hounds were loosed from their leashes and they dashed toward the\nboar. The boar slashed them with its tusks and trampled them into the\nground. Jason flung his spear. The spear went wide of the mark. Another,\nArcas, cast his, but the wood, not the point of the spear, struck the\nboar, rousing it further. Then its eyes flamed, and like a great stone\nshot from a catapult the boar rushed on the huntsmen who were stationed to\nthe right. In that rush it flung two youths prone upon the ground.\n\n  Then might Nestor have missed his going to Troy and his part in that\nstory, for the boar swerved around and was upon him in an instant. Using\nhis spear as a leaping pole he vaulted upward and caught the branches of a\ntree as the monster dashed the spear down in its rush. In rage the beast\ntore at the trunk of the tree. The heroes might have been scattered at\nthis moment, for Telamon had fallen, tripped by the roots of a tree, and\nPeleus had had to throw himself upon him to pull him out of the way of\ndanger, if Polydeuces and Castor had not dashed up to their aid. They came\nriding upon high white horses, spears in their hands. The brothers cast\ntheir spears, but neither spear struck the monster boar.\n\n  Then the boar turned and was for drawing back into the thicket. They\nmight have lost it then, for its retreat was impenetrable. But before it\ngot clear away Atalanta put an arrow to the string, drew the bow to her\nshoulder, and let the arrow fly. It struck the boar, and a patch of blood\nwas seen upon its bristles. Prince Meleagrus shouted out, \u201cO first to\nstrike the monster! Honor indeed shall you receive for this, Arcadian\nmaid.\u201d\n\n  His uncles were made wroth by this speech, as was another, the Arcadian,\nrough Arcas. Arcas dashed forward, holding in his hands a two-headed axe.\n\u201cHeroes and huntsmen,\u201d he cried, \u201cyou shall see how a man\u2019s strokes\nsurpass a girl\u2019s.\u201d He faced the boar, standing on tiptoe with his axe\nraised for the stroke. Meleagrus\u2019s uncles shouted to encourage him. But\nthe boar\u2019s tusks tore him before Arcas\u2019s axe fell, and the Arcadian was\ntrampled upon the ground.\n\n  The boar, roused again by Atalanta\u2019s arrow, turned on the hunters. Jason\nhurled a spear again. It swerved and struck a hound and pinned it to the\nground. Then, speaking the name of Atalanta, Meleagrus sprang before the\nheroes and the huntsmen.\n\n  He had two spears in his hands. The first missed and stuck quivering in\nthe ground. But the second went right through the back of the monster\nboar. It whirled round and round, spouting out blood and foam. Meleagrus\npressed on, and drove his hunting knife through the shoulders of the\nmonster.\n\n  His uncles, Plexippus and Toxeus, were the first to come to where the\nmonster boar was lying outstretched. \u201cIt is well, the deed you have done,\nboy,\u201d said one; \u201cit is well that none of the strangers to our country slew\nthe boar. Now will the head and tusks of the monster adorn our hall, and\nmen will know that the arms of our house can well protect this land.\u201d\n\n  But one word only did Meleagrus say, and that word was the name,\n\u201cAtalanta.\u201d The maiden came and Meleagrus, his spear upon the head, said,\n\u201cTake, O fair Arcadian, the spoil of the chase. All know that it was you\nwho inflicted the first wound upon the boar.\u201d\n\n  Plexippus and Toxeus tried to push him away, as if Meleagrus was still a\nboy under their tutoring. He shouted to them to stand off, and then he\nhacked out the terrible tusks and held them toward Atalanta.\n\n  She would have taken them, for she, who had never looked lovingly upon a\nyouth, was moved by the beauty and the generosity of Prince Meleagrus. She\nwould have taken from him the spoil of the chase. But as she held out her\narms Meleagrus\u2019s uncles struck them with the poles of their spears. Heavy\nmarks were made on the maiden\u2019s white arms. Madness then possessed\nMeleagrus, and he took up his spear and thrust it, first into the body of\nPlexippus and then into the body of Toxeus. His thrusts were terrible, for\nhe was filled with the fierceness of the hunt, and his uncles fell down in\ndeath.\n\n  Then a great horror came over all the heroes. They raised up the bodies\nof Plexippus and Toxeus and carried them on their spears away from the\nplace of the hunting and toward the temple of the gods. Meleagrus crouched\ndown upon the ground in horror of what he had done. Atalanta stood beside\nhim, her hand upon his head.\n\n\n\nIII\n\n  Alth\u00e6a was in the temple making sacrifice to the gods. She saw men come\nin carrying across their spears the bodies of two men. She looked and she\nsaw that the dead men were her two brothers, Plexippus and Toxeus.\n\n  Then she beat her breast and she filled the temple with the cries of her\nlamentation. \u201cWho has slain my brothers? Who has slain my brothers?\u201d she\nkept crying out.\n\n  Then she was told that her son Meleagrus had slain her brothers. She had\nno tears to shed then, and in a hard voice she asked, \u201cWhy did my son slay\nPlexippus and Toxeus, his uncles?\u201d\n\n  The one who was wroth with Atalanta, Arcas the Arcadian, came to her and\ntold her that her brothers had been slain because of a quarrel about the\ngirl Atalanta.\n\n  \u201cMy brothers have been slain because a girl bewitched my son; then\naccursed be that son of mine,\u201d Alth\u00e6a cried. She took off the gold-fringed\nrobe of a priestess, and she put on a black robe of mourning.\n\n  Her brothers, the only sons of her father, had been slain, and for the\nsake of a girl. The image of Atalanta came before her, and she felt she\ncould punish dreadfully her son. But her son was not there to punish; he\nwas far away, and the girl for whose sake he had killed Plexippus and\nToxeus was with him.\n\n  The rage she had went back into her heart and made her truly mad. \u201cI\ngave Meleagrus life when I might have let it go from him with the burning\nbillet of wood,\u201d she cried, \u201cand now he has taken the lives of my\nbrothers.\u201d And then her thought went to the billet of wood that was hidden\nin the chest.\n\n  Back to her house she went, and when she went within she saw a fire of\npine knots burning upon the hearth. As she looked upon their burning a\nscorching pain went through her. But she went from the hearth,\nnevertheless, and into the inner room. There stood the chest that she had\nnot opened for years. She opened it now, and out of it she took the billet\nof wood that had on it the mark of the burning.\n\n  She brought it to the hearth fire. Four times she went to throw it into\nthe fire, and four times she stayed her hand. The fire was before her, but\nit was in her too. She saw the images of her brothers lying dead, and,\nsaying that he who had slain them should lose his life, she threw the\nbillet of wood into the fire of pine knots.\n\n  Straightway it caught fire and began to burn. And Alth\u00e6a cried, \u201cLet him\ndie, my son, and let naught remain; let all perish with my brothers, even\nthe kingdom that \u0152neus, my husband, founded.\u201d\n\n  Then she turned away and remained stiffly standing by the hearth, the\nlife withered up within her. Her daughters came and tried to draw her\naway, but they could not\u2014her two daughters, Gorge and Deianira.\n\n  Meleagrus was crouching upon the ground with Atalanta watching beside\nhim. Now he stood up, and taking her hand he said, \u201cLet me go with you to\nthe temple of the gods where I shall strive to make atonement for the deed\nI have done to-day.\u201d\n\n  She went with him. But even as they came to the street of the city a\nsharp and a burning pain seized upon Meleagrus. More and more burning it\ngrew, and weaker and weaker he became. He could not have moved further if\nit had not been for the aid of Atalanta. Jason and Peleus lifted him\nacross the threshold and carried him into the temple of the gods.\n\n  They laid him down with his head upon Atalanta\u2019s lap. The pain within\nhim grew fiercer and fiercer, but at last it died down as the burning\nbillet of wood sank down into the ashes. The heroes of the quest stood\naround, all overcome with woe. In the street they heard the lamentations\nfor Plexippus and Toxeus, for Prince Meleagrus, and for the passing of the\nkingdom founded by \u0152neus. Atalanta left the temple, and attended by the\ntwo brothers on the white horses, Polydeuces and Castor, she went back to\nArcady.\n\n\n\n\nII. Peleus and His Bride from the Sea\n\n\nI\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_P_RINCE PELEUS came on his ship to a bay on the coast of Thessaly. His\npainted ship lay between two great rocks, and from its poop he saw a sight\nthat enchanted him. Out from the sea, riding on a dolphin, came a lovely\nmaiden. And by the radiance of her face and limbs Peleus knew her for one\nof the immortal goddesses.\n\n  Now Peleus had borne himself so nobly in all things that he had won the\nfavor of the gods themselves. Zeus, who is highest amongst the gods, had\nmade this promise to Peleus: he would honor him as no one amongst the sons\nof men had been honored before, for he would give him an immortal goddess\nto be his bride.\n\n  She who came out of the sea went into a cave that was overgrown with\nvines and roses. Peleus looked into the cave and he saw her sleeping upon\nskins of the beasts of the sea. His heart was enchanted by the sight, and\nhe knew that his life would be broken if he did not see this goddess day\nafter day. So he went back to his ship and he prayed: \u201cO Zeus, now I claim\nthe promise that you once made to me. Let it be that this goddess come\nwith me, or else plunge my ship and me beneath the waves of the sea.\u201d\n\n  And when Peleus said this he looked over the land and the water for a\nsign from Zeus.\n\n  Even then the goddess sleeping in the cave had dreams such as had never\nbefore entered that peaceful resting place of hers. She dreamt that she\nwas drawn away from the deep and the wide sea. She dreamt that she was\nbrought to a place that was strange and unfree to her. And as she lay in\nthe cave, sleeping, tears that might never come into the eyes of an\nimmortal lay around her heart.\n\n  But Peleus, standing on his painted ship, saw a rainbow touch upon the\nsea. He knew by that sign that Iris, the messenger of Zeus, had come down\nthrough the air. Then a strange sight came before his eyes. Out of the sea\nrose the head of a man; wrinkled and bearded it was, and the eyes were\nvery old. Peleus knew that he who was there before him was Nereus, the\nancient one of the sea.\n\n  Said old Nereus: \u201cThou hast prayed to Zeus, and I am here to speak an\nanswer to thy prayer. She whom you have looked upon is Thetis, the goddess\nof the sea. Very loath will she be to take Zeus\u2019s command and wed with\nthee. It is her desire to remain in the sea, unwedded, and she has refused\nmarriage even with one of the immortal gods.\u201d\n\n  Then said Peleus, \u201cZeus promised me an immortal bride. If Thetis may not\nbe mine I cannot wed any other, goddess or mortal maiden.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThen thou thyself wilt have to master Thetis,\u201d said Nereus, the wise\none of the sea. \u201cIf she is mastered by thee, she cannot go back to the\nsea. She will strive with all her strength and all her wit to escape from\nthee; but thou must hold her no matter what she does, and no matter how\nshe shows herself. When thou hast seen her again as thou didst see her at\nfirst, thou wilt know that thou hast mastered her.\u201d And when he had said\nthis to Peleus, Nereus, the ancient one of the sea, went under the waves.\n\n\n\nII\n\n  With his hero\u2019s heart beating more than ever it had beaten yet, Peleus\nwent into the cave. Kneeling beside her he looked down upon the goddess.\nThe dress she wore was like green and silver mail. Her face and limbs were\npearly, but through them came the radiance that belongs to the immortals.\n\n  He touched the hair of the goddess of the sea, the yellow hair that was\nso long that it might cover her all over. As he touched her hair she\nstarted up, wakening suddenly out of her sleep. His hands touched her\nhands and held them. Now he knew that if he should loose his hold upon her\nshe would escape from him into the depths of the sea, and that thereafter\nno command from the immortals would bring her to him.\n\n  She changed into a white bird that strove to bear itself away. Peleus\nheld to its wings and struggled with the bird. She changed and became a\ntree. Around the trunk of the tree Peleus clung. She changed once more,\nand this time her form became terrible: a spotted leopard she was now,\nwith burning eyes; but Peleus held to the neck of the fierce-appearing\nleopard and was not affrighted by the burning eyes. Then she changed and\nbecame as he had seen her first\u2014a lovely maiden, with the brow of a\ngoddess, and with long yellow hair.\n\n  But now there was no radiance in her face or in her limbs. She looked\npast Peleus, who held her, and out to the wide sea. \u201cWho is he,\u201d she\ncried, \u201cwho has been given this mastery over me?\u201d\n\n  Then said the hero: \u201cI am Peleus, and Zeus has given me the mastery over\nthee. Wilt thou come with me, Thetis? Thou art my bride, given me by him\nwho is highest amongst the gods, and if thou wilt come with me, thou wilt\nalways be loved and reverenced by me.\u201d\n\n  \u201cUnwillingly I leave the sea,\u201d she cried, \u201cunwillingly I go with thee,\nPeleus.\u201d\n\n  But life in the sea was not for her any more now that she was mastered.\nShe went to Peleus\u2019s ship and she went to Phthia, his country. And when\nthe hero and the sea goddess were wedded the immortal gods and goddesses\ncame to their hall and brought the bride and the bridegroom wondrous\ngifts. The three sisters who are called the Fates came also. These wise\nand ancient women said that the son born of the marriage of Peleus and\nThetis would be a man greater than Peleus himself.\n\n\n\nIII\n\n  Now although a son was born to her, and although this son had something\nof the radiance of the immortals about him, Thetis remained forlorn and\nestranged. Nothing that her husband did was pleasing to her. Prince Peleus\nwas in fear that the wildness of the sea would break out in her, and that\nsome great harm would be wrought in his house.\n\n  One night he wakened suddenly. He saw the fire upon his hearth and he\nsaw a figure standing by the fire. It was Thetis, his wife. The fire was\nblazing around something that she held in her hands. And while she stood\nthere she was singing to herself a strange-sounding song.\n\n  And then he saw what Thetis held in her hands and what the fire was\nblazing around; it was the child, Achilles.\n\n  Prince Peleus sprang from the bed and caught Thetis around the waist and\nlifted her and the child away from the blazing fire. He put them both upon\nthe bed, and he took from her the child that she held by the heel. His\nheart was wild within him, for the thought that wildness had come over his\nwife, and that she was bent upon destroying their child. But Thetis looked\non him from under those goddess brows of hers and she said to him: \u201cBy the\ndivine power that I still possess I would have made the child\ninvulnerable; but the heel by which I held him has not been endued by the\nfire and in that place some day he may be stricken. All that the fire\ncovered is invulnerable, and no weapon that strikes there can destroy his\nlife. His heel I cannot now make invulnerable, for now the divine power is\ngone out of me.\u201d\n\n  When she said this Thetis looked full upon her husband, and never had\nshe seemed so unforgiving as she was then. All the divine radiance that\nhad remained with her was gone from her now, and she seemed a white-faced\nand bitter-thinking woman. And when Peleus saw that such a great\nbitterness faced him he fled from his house.\n\n  He traveled far from his own land, and first he went to the help of\nHeracles, who was then in the midst of his mighty labors. Heracles was\nbuilding a wall around a city. Peleus labored, helping him to raise the\nwall for King Laomedon. Then, one night, as he walked by the wall he had\nhelped to build, he heard voices speaking out of the earth. And one voice\nsaid: \u201cWhy has Peleus striven so hard to raise a wall that his son shall\nfight hard to overthrow?\u201d No voice replied. The wall was built, and Peleus\ndeparted. The city around which the wall was built was the great city of\nTroy.\n\n  In whatever place he went Peleus was followed by the hatred of the\npeople of the sea, and above all by the hatred of the nymph who is called\nPsamathe. Far, far from his own country he went, and at last he came to a\ncountry of bright valleys that was ruled over by a kindly king\u2014by Ceyx,\nwho was called the Son of the Morning Star.\n\n  Bright of face and kindly and peaceable in all his ways was this king,\nand kindly and peaceable was the land that he ruled over. And when Prince\nPeleus went to him to beg for his protection, and to beg for unfurrowed\nfields where he might graze his cattle, Ceyx raised him up from where he\nknelt. \u201cPeaceable and plentiful is the land,\u201d he said, \u201cand all who come\nhere may have peace and a chance to earn their food. Live where you will,\nO stranger, and take the unfurrowed fields by the seashore for pasture for\nyour cattle.\u201d\n\n  Peace came into Peleus\u2019s heart as he looked into the untroubled face of\nCeyx, and as he looked over the bright valleys of the land he had come\ninto. He brought his cattle to the unfurrowed fields by the seashore and\nhe left herdsmen there to tend them. And as he walked along these bright\nvalleys he thought upon his wife and upon his son Achilles, and there were\ngentle feelings in his breast. But then he thought upon the enmity of\nPsamathe, the woman of the sea, and great trouble came over him again. He\nfelt he could not stay in the palace of the kindly king. He went where his\nherdsmen camped and he lived with them. But the sea was very near and its\nsound tormented him, and as the days went by, Peleus, wild looking and\nshaggy, became more and more unlike the hero whom once the gods themselves\nhad honored.\n\n  One day as he was standing near the palace having speech with the king,\na herdsman ran to him and cried out: \u201cPeleus, Peleus, a dread thing has\nhappened in the unfurrowed fields.\u201d And when he had got his breath the\nherdsman told of the thing that had happened.\n\n  They had brought the herd down to the sea. Suddenly, from the marshes\nwhere the sea and land came together, a monstrous beast rushed out upon\nthe herd; like a wolf this beast was, but with mouth and jaws that were\nmore terrible than a wolf\u2019s even. The beast seized upon the cattle. Yet it\nwas not hunger that made it fierce, for the beasts that it killed it tore,\nbut did not devour. It rushed on and on, killing and tearing more and more\nof the herd. \u201cSoon,\u201d said the herdsman, \u201cit will have destroyed all in the\nherd, and then it will not spare to destroy the other flocks and herds\nthat are in the land.\u201d\n\n  Peleus was stricken to hear that his herd was being destroyed, but more\nstricken to know that the land of a friendly king would be ravaged, and\nravaged on his account. For he knew that the terrible beast that had come\nfrom where the sea and the land joined had been sent by Psamathe. He went\nup on the tower that stood near the king\u2019s palace. He was able to look out\non the sea and able to look over all the land. And looking across the\nbright valleys he saw the dread beast. He saw it rush through his own\nmangled cattle and fall upon the herds of the kindly king.\n\n  He looked toward the sea and he prayed to Psamathe to spare the land\nthat he had come to. But, even as he prayed, he knew that Psamathe would\nnot harken to him. Then he made a prayer to Thetis, to his wife who had\nseemed so unforgiving. He prayed her to deal with Psamathe so that the\nland of Ceyx would not be altogether destroyed.\n\n  As he looked from the tower he saw the king come forth with arms in his\nhands for the slaying of the terrible beast. Peleus felt fear for the life\nof the kindly king. Down from the tower he came, and taking up his spear\nhe went with Ceyx.\n\n  Soon, in one of the brightest of the valleys, they came upon the beast;\nthey came between it and a herd of silken-coated cattle. Seeing the men it\nrushed toward them with blood and foam upon its jaws. Then Peleus knew\nthat the spears they carried would be of little use against the raging\nbeast. His only thought was to struggle with it so that the king might be\nable to save himself.\n\n  Again he lifted up his hands and prayed to Thetis to draw away\nPsamathe\u2019s enmity. The beast rushed toward them; but suddenly it stopped.\nThe bristles upon its body seemed to stiffen. The gaping jaws became\nfixed. The hounds that were with them dashed upon the beast, but then fell\nback with yelps of disappointment. And when Peleus and Ceyx came to where\nit stood they found that the monstrous beast had been turned into stone.\n\n  And a stone it remains in that bright valley, a wonder to all the men of\nCeyx\u2019s land. The country was spared the ravages of the beast. And the\nheart of Peleus was uplifted to think that Thetis had harkened to his\nprayer and had prevailed upon Psamathe to forego her enmity. Not\naltogether unforgiving was his wife to him.\n\n  That day he went from the land of the bright valleys, from the land\nruled over by the kindly Ceyx, and he came back to rugged Phthia, his own\ncountry. When he came near his hall he saw two at the doorway awaiting\nhim. Thetis stood there, and the child Achilles was by her side. The\nradiance of the immortals was in her face no longer, but there was a glow\nthere, a glow of welcome for the hero Peleus. And thus Peleus, long\ntormented by the enmity of the sea-born ones, came back to the wife he had\nwon from the sea.\n\n\n\n\nIII. Theseus and the Minotaur\n\n\nI\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_T_HEREAFTER Theseus made up his mind to go in search of his father, the\nunknown king, and Medea, the wise woman, counseled him to go to Athens.\nAfter the hunt in Calydon he set forth. On his way he fought with and slew\ntwo robbers who harassed countries and treated people unjustly.\n\n  The first was Sinnias. He was a robber who slew men cruelly by tying\nthem to strong branches of trees and letting the branches fly apart. On\nhim Theseus had no mercy. The second was a robber also, Procrustes: he had\na great iron bed on which he made his captives lie; if they were too long\nfor that bed he chopped pieces off them, and if they were too short he\nstretched out their bodies with terrible racks. On him, likewise, Theseus\nhad no mercy; he slew Procrustes and gave liberty to his captives.\n\n  The King of Athens at the time was named \u00c6geus. He was father of\nTheseus, but neither Theseus nor he knew that this was so. \u00c6thra was his\nmother, and she was the daughter of the King of Tr\u0153zen. Before Theseus was\nborn his father left a great sword under a stone, telling \u00c6thra that the\nboy was to have the sword when he was able to move that stone away.\n\n  King \u00c6geus was old and fearful now: there were wars and troubles in the\ncity; besides, there was in his palace an evil woman, a witch, to whom the\nking listened. This woman heard that a proud and fearless young man had\ncome into Athens, and she at once thought to destroy him.\n\n  So the witch spoke to the fearful king, and she made him believe that\nthis stranger had come into Athens to make league with his enemies and\ndestroy him. Such was her power over \u00c6geus that she was able to persuade\nhim to invite the stranger youth to a feast in the palace, and to give him\na cup that would have poison in it.\n\n  Theseus came to the palace. He sat down to the banquet with the king.\nBut before the cup was brought something moved him to stand up and draw\nforth the sword that he carried. Fearfully the king looked upon the sword.\nThen he saw the heavy ivory hilt with the curious carving on it, and he\nknew that this was the sword that he had once laid under the stone near\nthe palace of the King of Tr\u0153zen. He questioned Theseus as to how he had\ncome by the sword, and Theseus told him how \u00c6thra, his mother, had shown\nhim where it was hidden, and how he had been able to take it from under\nthe stone before he was grown a youth. More and more \u00c6geus questioned him,\nand he came to know that the youth before him was his son indeed. He\ndashed down the cup that had been brought to the table, and he shook all\nover with the thought of how near he had been to a terrible crime. The\nwitchwoman watched all that passed; mounting on a car drawn by dragons she\nmade flight from Athens.\n\n  And now the people of the city, knowing that it was he who had slain the\nrobbers Sinnias and Procrustes, rejoiced to have Theseus amongst them.\nWhen he appeared as their prince they rejoiced still more. Soon he was\nable to bring to an end the wars in the city and the troubles that\nafflicted Athens.\n\n\n\nII\n\n  The greatest king in the world at that time was Minos, King of Crete.\nMinos had sent his son to Athens to make peace and friendship between his\nkingdom and the kingdom of King \u00c6geus. But the people of Athens slew the\nson of King Minos, and because \u00c6geus had not given him the protection that\na king should have given a stranger come upon such an errand he was deemed\nto have some part in the guilt of his slaying.\n\n  Minos, the great king, was wroth, and he made war on Athens, wreaking\ngreat destruction upon the country and the people. Moreover, the gods\nthemselves were wroth with Athens; they punished the people with famine,\nmaking even the rivers dry up. The Athenians went to the oracle and asked\nApollo what they should do to have their guilt taken away. Apollo made\nanswer that they should make peace with Minos and fulfill all his demands.\n\n  All this Theseus now heard, learning for the first time that behind the\nwars and troubles in Athens there was a deed of evil that \u00c6geus, his\nfather, had some guilt in.\n\n  The demands that King Minos made upon Athens were terrible. He demanded\nthat the Athenians should send into Crete every year seven youths and\nseven maidens as a price for the life of his son. And these youths and\nmaidens were not to meet death merely, nor were they to be reared in\nslavery\u2014they were to be sent that a monster called the Minotaur might\ndevour them.\n\n  Youths and maidens had been sent, and for the third time the messengers\nof King Minos were coming to Athens. The tribute for the Minotaur was to\nbe chosen by lot. The fathers and mothers were in fear and trembling, for\neach man and woman thought that his or her son or daughter would be taken\nfor a prey for the Minotaur.\n\n  They came together, the people of Athens, and they drew the lots\nfearfully. And on the throne above them all sat their pale-faced king,\n\u00c6geus, the father of Theseus.\n\n  Before the first lot was drawn Theseus turned to all of them and said,\n\u201cPeople of Athens, it is not right that your children should go and that\nI, who am the son of King \u00c6geus, should remain behind. Surely, if any of\nthe youths of Athens should face the dread monster of Crete, I should face\nit. There is one lot that you may leave undrawn. I will go to Crete.\u201d\n\n  His father, on hearing the speech of Theseus, came down from his throne\nand pleaded with him, begging him not to go. But the will of Theseus was\nset; he would go with the others and face the Minotaur. And he reminded\nhis father of how the people had complained, saying that if \u00c6geus had done\nthe duty of a king, Minos\u2019s son would not have been slain and the tribute\nto the Minotaur would have not been demanded. It was the passing about of\nsuch complaints that had led to the war and troubles that Theseus found on\nhis coming to Athens.\n\n  Also Theseus told his father and told the people that he had hope in his\nhands\u2014that the hands that were strong enough to slay Sinnias and\nProcrustes, the giant robbers, would be strong enough to slay the dread\nmonster of Crete. His father at last consented to his going. And Theseus\nwas able to make the people willing to believe that he would be able to\novercome the Minotaur, and so put an end to the terrible tribute that was\nbeing exacted from them.\n\n  With six other youths and seven maidens Theseus went on board of the\nship that every year brought to Crete the grievous tribute. This ship\nalways sailed with black sails. But before it sailed this time King \u00c6geus\ngave to Nausitheus, the master of the ship, a white sail to take with him.\nAnd he begged Theseus, that in case he should be able to overcome the\nmonster, to hoist the white sail he had given. Theseus promised he would\ndo this. His father would watch for the return of the ship, and if the\nsail were black he would know that the Minotaur had dealt with his son as\nit had dealt with the other youths who had gone from Athens. And if the\nsail were white \u00c6geus would have indeed cause to rejoice.\n\n\n\nIII\n\n  And now the black-sailed ship had come to Crete, and the youths and\nmaidens of Athens looked from its deck on Knossos, the marvelous city that\nD\u00e6dalus the builder had built for King Minos. And they saw the palace of\nthe king, the red and black palace in which was the labyrinth, made also\nby D\u00e6dalus, where the dread Minotaur was hidden.\n\n  In fear they looked upon the city and the palace. But not in fear did\nTheseus look, but in wonder at the magnificence of it all\u2014the harbor with\nits great steps leading up into the city, the far-spreading palace all red\nand black, and the crowds of ships with their white and red sails. They\nwere brought through the city of Knossos to the palace of the king. And\nthere Theseus looked upon Minos. In a great red chamber on which was\npainted the sign of the axe, King Minos sat.\n\n  On a low throne he sat, holding in his hand a scepter on which a bird\nwas perched. Not in fear, but steadily, did Theseus look upon the king.\nAnd he saw that Minos had the face of one who has thought long upon\ntroublesome things, and that his eyes were strangely dark and deep. The\nking noted that the eyes of Theseus were upon him, and he made a sign with\nhis head to an attendant and the attendant laid his hand upon him and\nbrought Theseus to stand beside the king. Minos questioned him as to who\nhe was and what lands he had been in, and when he learned that Theseus was\nthe son of \u00c6geus, the King of Athens, he said the name of his son who had\nbeen slain, \u201cAndrogeus, Androgeus,\u201d over and over again, and then spoke no\nmore.\n\n  While he stood there beside the king there came into the chamber three\nmaidens; one of them, Theseus knew, was the daughter of Minos. Not like\nthe maidens of Greece were the princess and her two attendants: instead of\nhaving on flowing garments and sandals and wearing their hair bound, they\nhad on dresses of gleaming material that were tight at the waists and\nbell-shaped; the hair that streamed on their shoulders was made wavy; they\nhad on high shoes of a substance that shone like glass. Never had Theseus\nlooked upon maidens who were so strange.\n\n  They spoke to the king in the strange Cretan language; then Minos\u2019s\ndaughter made reverence to her father, and they went from the chamber.\nTheseus watched them as they went through a long passage, walking slowly\non their high-heeled shoes.\n\n  Through the same passage the youths and maidens of Athens were afterward\nbrought. They came into a great hall. The walls were red and on them were\npaintings in black\u2014pictures of great bulls with girls and slender youths\nstruggling with them. It was a place for games and shows, and Theseus\nstood with the youths and maidens of Athens and with the people of the\npalace and watched what was happening.\n\n  They saw women charming snakes; then they saw a boxing match, and\nafterward they all looked on a bout of wrestling. Theseus looked past the\nwrestlers and he saw, at the other end of the hall, the daughter of King\nMinos and her two attendant maidens.\n\n  One broad-shouldered and bearded man overthrew all the wrestlers who\ncame to grips with him. He stood there boastfully, and Theseus was made\nangry by the man\u2019s arrogance. Then, when no other wrestler would come\nagainst him, he turned to leave the arena.\n\n  But Theseus stood in his way and pushed him back. The boastful man laid\nhands upon him and pulled him into the arena. He strove to throw Theseus\nas he had thrown the others; but he soon found that the youth from Greece\nwas a wrestler, too, and that he would have to strive hard to overthrow\nhim.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  More eagerly than they had watched anything else the people of the\npalace and the youths and maidens of Athens watched the bout between\nTheseus and the lordly wrestler. Those from Athens who looked upon him now\nthought that they had never seen Theseus look so tall and so conquering\nbefore; beside the slender, dark-haired people of Crete he looked like a\nstatue of one of the gods.\n\n  Very adroit was the Cretan wrestler, and Theseus had to use all his\nstrength to keep upon his feet; but soon he mastered the tricks that the\nwrestler was using against him. Then the Cretan left aside his tricks and\nbegan to use all his strength to throw Theseus.\n\n  Steadily Theseus stood and the Cretan wrestler was spent and gasping in\nthe effort to throw him. Then Theseus made him feel his grip. He bent him\nbackward, and then, using all his strength suddenly, forced him to the\nground. All were filled with wonder at the strength and power of this\nyouth from overseas.\n\n  Food and wine were given the youths and maidens of Athens, and they with\nTheseus were let wander through the grounds of the palace. But they could\nmake no escape, for guards followed them and the way to the ships was\nfilled with strangers who would not let them pass. They talked to each\nother about the Minotaur, and there was fear in every word they said. But\nTheseus went from one to the other, telling them that perhaps there was a\nway by which he could come to the monster and destroy it. And the youths\nand maidens, remembering how he had overthrown the lordly wrestler, were\ncomforted a little, thinking that Theseus might indeed be able to destroy\nthe Minotaur and so save all of them.\n\n\n\nIV\n\n  Theseus was awakened by some one touching him. He arose and he saw a\ndark-faced servant, who beckoned to him. He left the little chamber where\nhe had been sleeping, and then he saw outside one who wore the strange\ndress of the Cretans.\n\n  When Theseus looked full upon her he saw that she was none other than\nthe daughter of King Minos. \u201cI am Ariadne,\u201d she said, \u201cand, O youth from\nGreece, I have come to save you from the dread Minotaur.\u201d\n\n  He looked upon Ariadne\u2019s strange face with its long, dark eyes, and he\nwondered how this girl could think that she could save him and save the\nyouths and maidens of Athens from the Minotaur. Her hand rested upon his\narm, and she led him into the chamber where Minos had sat. It was lighted\nnow by many little lamps.\n\n  \u201cI will show the way of escape to you,\u201d said Ariadne.\n\n  Then Theseus looked around, and he saw that none of the other youths and\nmaidens were near them, and he looked on Ariadne again, and he saw that\nthe strange princess had been won to help him, and to help him only.\n\n  \u201cWho will show the way of escape to the others?\u201d asked Theseus.\n\n  \u201cAh,\u201d said the Princess Ariadne, \u201cfor the others there is no way of\nescape.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThen,\u201d said Theseus, \u201cI will not leave the youths and maidens of Athens\nwho came with me to Crete to be devoured by the Minotaur.\u201d\n\n  \u201cAh, Theseus,\u201d said Ariadne, \u201cthey cannot escape the Minotaur. One only\nmay escape, and I want you to be that one. I saw you when you wrestled\nwith Deucalion, our great wrestler, and since then I have longed to save\nyou.\u201d\n\n  \u201cI have come to slay the Minotaur,\u201d said Theseus, \u201cand I cannot hold my\nlife as my own until I have slain it.\u201d\n\n  Said Ariadne, \u201cIf you could see the Minotaur, Theseus, and if you could\nmeasure its power, you would know that you are not the one to slay it. I\nthink that only Talos, that giant who was all of bronze, could have slain\nthe Minotaur.\u201d\n\n  \u201cPrincess,\u201d said Theseus, \u201ccan you help me to come to the Minotaur and\nlook upon it so that I can know for certainty whether this hand of mine\ncan slay the monster?\u201d\n\n  \u201cI can help you to come to the Minotaur and look upon it,\u201d said Ariadne.\n\n  \u201cThen help me, princess,\u201d cried Theseus; \u201chelp me to come to the\nMinotaur and look upon it, and help me, too, to get back the sword that I\nbrought with me to Crete.\u201d\n\n  \u201cYour sword will not avail you against the Minotaur,\u201d said Ariadne;\n\u201cwhen you look upon the monster you will know that it is not for your hand\nto slay.\u201d\n\n  \u201cOh, but bring me my sword, princess,\u201d cried Theseus, and his hands went\nout to her in supplication.\n\n  \u201cI will bring you your sword,\u201d said she.\n\n  She took up a little lamp and went through a doorway, leaving Theseus\nstanding by the low throne in the chamber of Minos. Then after a little\nwhile she came back, bringing with her Theseus\u2019s great ivory-hilted sword.\n\n  \u201cIt is a great sword,\u201d she said; \u201cI marked it before because it is your\nsword, Theseus. But even this great sword will not avail against the\nMinotaur.\u201d\n\n  \u201cShow me the way to come to the Minotaur, O Ariadne,\u201d cried Theseus.\n\n  He knew that she did not think that he would deem himself able to strive\nwith the Minotaur, and that when he looked upon the dread monster he would\nreturn to her and then take the way of his escape.\n\n  She took his hand and led him from the chamber of Minos. She was not\ntall, but she stood straight and walked steadily, and Theseus saw in her\nsomething of the strange majesty that he had seen in Minos the king.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  They came to high bronze gates that opened into a vault. \u201cHere,\u201d said\nAriadne, \u201cthe labyrinth begins. Very devious is the labyrinth, built by\nD\u00e6dalus, in which the Minotaur is hidden, and without the clue none could\nfind a way through the passages. But I will give you the clue so that you\nmay look upon the Minotaur and then come back to me. Theseus, now I put\ninto your hand the thread that will guide you through all the windings of\nthe labyrinth. And outside the place where the Minotaur is you will find\nanother thread to guide you back.\u201d\n\n  A cone was on the ground and it had a thread fastened to it. Ariadne\ngave Theseus the thread and the cone to wind it around. The thread as he\nheld it and wound it around the cone would bring him through all the\nwindings and turnings of the labyrinth.\n\n  She left him, and Theseus went on. Winding the thread around the cone he\nwent along a wide passage in the vault. He turned and came into a passage\nthat was very long. He came to a place in this passage where a door seemed\nto be, but within the frame of the doorway there was only a blank wall.\nBut below that doorway there was a flight of six steps, and down these\nsteps the thread led him. On he went, and he crossed the marks that he\nhimself had made in the dust, and he thought he must have come back to the\nplace where he had parted from Ariadne. He went on, and he saw before him\na flight of steps. The thread did not lead up the steps; it led into the\nmost winding of passages. So sudden were the turnings in it that one could\nnot see three steps before one. He was dazed by the turnings of this\npassage, but still he went on. He went up winding steps and then along a\nnarrow wall. The wall overhung a broad flight of steps, and Theseus had to\njump to them. Down the steps he went and into a wide, empty hall that had\ndoorways to the right hand and to the left hand. Here the thread had its\nend. It was fastened to a cone that lay on the ground, and beside this\ncone was another\u2014the clue that was to bring him back.\n\n  Now Theseus, knowing he was in the very center of the labyrinth, looked\nall around for sight of the Minotaur. There was no sight of the monster\nhere. He went to all the doors and pushed at them, and some opened and\nsome remained fast. The middle door opened. As it did Theseus felt around\nhim a chilling draft of air.\n\n  That chilling draft was from the breathing of the monster. Theseus then\nsaw the Minotaur. It lay on the ground, a strange, bull-faced thing.\n\n  When the thought came to Theseus that he would have to fight that\nmonster alone and in that hidden and empty place all delight left him; he\ngrew like a stone; he groaned, and it seemed to him that he heard the\nvoice of Ariadne calling him back. He could find his way back through the\nlabyrinth and come to her. He stepped back, and the door closed on the\nMinotaur, the dread monster of Crete.\n\n  In an instant Theseus pushed the door again. He stood within the hall\nwhere the Minotaur was, and the heavy door shut behind him. He looked\nagain on that dark, bull-faced thing. It reared up as a horse rears and\nTheseus saw that it would crash down on him and tear him with its dragon\nclaws. With a great bound he went far away from where the monster crashed\ndown. Then Theseus faced it: he saw its thick lips and its slobbering\nmouth; he saw that its skin was thick and hard.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  He drew near the monster, his sword in his hand. He struck at its eyes,\nand his sword made a great dint. But no blood came, for the Minotaur was a\nbloodless monster. From its mouth and nostrils came a draft that covered\nhim with a chilling slime.\n\n  Then it rushed upon him and overthrew him, and Theseus felt its terrible\nweight upon him. But he thrust his sword upward, and it reared up again,\nscreaming with pain. Theseus drew himself away, and then he saw it\nsearching around and around, and he knew he had made it sightless. Then it\nfaced him; all the more fearful it was because from its wounds no blood\ncame.\n\n  Anger flowed into Theseus when he saw the monster standing frightfully\nbefore him; he thought of all the youths and maidens that this bloodless\nthing had destroyed, and all the youths and maidens that it would destroy\nif he did not slay it now. Angrily he rushed upon it with his great sword.\nIt clawed and tore him, and it opened wide its most evil mouth as if to\ndraw him into it. But again he sprang at it; he thrust his great sword\nthrough its neck, and he left his sword there.\n\n  With the last of his strength he pulled open the heavy door and he went\nout from the hall where the Minotaur was. He picked up the thread and he\nbegan to wind it as he had wound the other thread on his way down. On he\nwent, through passage after passage, through chamber after chamber. His\nmind was dizzy, and he had little thought for the way he was going. His\nwounds and the chill that the monster had breathed into him and his horror\nof the fearful and bloodless thing made his mind almost forsake him. He\nkept the thread in his hand and he wound it as he went on through the\nlabyrinth. He stumbled and the thread broke. He went on for a few steps\nand then he went back to find the thread that had fallen out of his hands.\nIn an instant he was in a part of the labyrinth that he had not been in\nbefore.\n\n  He walked a long way, and then he came on his own footmarks as they\ncrossed themselves in the dust. He pushed open a door and came into the\nair. He was now by the outside wall of the palace, and he saw birds flying\nby him. He leant against the wall of the palace, thinking that he would\nstrive no more to find his way through the labyrinth.\n\n\n\nV\n\n  That day the youths and maidens of Athens were brought through the\nlabyrinth and to the hall where the Minotaur was. They went through the\npassages weeping and lamenting. Some cried out for Theseus, and some said\nthat Theseus had deserted them. The heavy door was opened. Then those who\nwere with the youths and maidens saw the Minotaur lying stark and stiff\nwith Theseus\u2019s sword through its neck. They shouted and blew trumpets and\nthe noise of their trumpets filled the labyrinth. Then they turned back,\nbringing the youths and maidens with them, and a whisper went through the\nwhole palace that the Minotaur had been slain. The youths and maidens were\nlodged in the chamber where Minos gave his judgments.\n\n\n\nVI\n\n  Theseus, wearied and overcome, fell into a deep sleep by the wall of the\npalace. He awakened with a feeling that the claw of the Minotaur was upon\nhim. There were stars in the sky above the high palace wall, and he saw a\ndark-robed and ancient man standing beside him. Theseus knew that this was\nD\u00e6dalus, the builder of the palace and the labyrinth. D\u00e6dalus called and a\nslim youth came\u2014Icarus, the son of D\u00e6dalus. Minos had set father and son\napart from the rest of the palace, and Theseus had come near the place\nwhere they were confined. Icarus came and brought him to a winding\nstairway and showed him a way to go.\n\n  A dark-faced servant met and looked him full in the face. Then, as if he\nknew that Theseus was the one whom he had been searching for, he led him\ninto a little chamber where there were three maidens. One started up and\ncame to him quickly, and Theseus again saw Ariadne.\n\n  She hid him in the chamber of the palace where her singing birds were,\nand she would come and sit beside him, asking about his own country and\ntelling him that she would go with him there. \u201cI showed you how you might\ncome to the Minotaur,\u201d she said, \u201cand you went there and you slew the\nmonster, and now I may not stay in my father\u2019s palace.\u201d\n\n  And Theseus thought all the time of his return, and of how he might\nbring the youths and maidens of Athens back to their own people. For\nAriadne, that strange princess, was not dear to him as Medea was dear to\nJason, or Atalanta the Huntress to young Meleagrus.\n\n  One sunset she led him to a roof of the palace and she showed him the\nharbor with the ships, and she showed him the ship with the black sail\nthat had brought him to Knossos. She told him she would take him aboard\nthat ship, and that the youths and maidens of Athens could go with them.\nShe would bring to the master of the ship the seal of King Minos, and the\nmaster, seeing it, would set sail for whatever place Theseus desired to\ngo.\n\n  Then did she become dear to Theseus because of her great kindness, and\nhe kissed her eyes and swore that he would not go from the palace unless\nshe would come with him to his own country. The strange princess smiled\nand wept as if she doubted what he said. Nevertheless, she led him from\nthe roof and down into one of the palace gardens. He waited there, and the\nyouths and maidens of Athens were led into the garden, all wearing cloaks\nthat hid their forms and faces. Young Icarus led them from the grounds of\nthe palace and down to the ships. And Ariadne went with them, bringing\nwith her the seal of her father, King Minos.\n\n  And when they came on board of the black-sailed ship they showed the\nseal to the master, Nausitheus, and the master of the ship let the sail\ntake the breeze of the evening, and so Theseus went away from Crete.\n\n\n\nVII\n\n  To the Island of Naxos they sailed. And when they reached that place the\nmaster of the ship, thinking that what had been done was not in accordance\nwith the will of King Minos, stayed the ship there. He waited until other\nships came from Knossos. And when they came they brought word that Minos\nwould not slay nor demand back Theseus nor the youths and maidens of\nAthens. His daughter, Ariadne, he would have back, to reign with him over\nCrete.\n\n  Then Ariadne left the black-sailed ship, and went back to Crete from\nNaxos. Theseus let the princess go, although he might have struggled to\nhold her. But more strange than dear did Ariadne remain to Theseus.\n\n  And all this time his father, \u00c6geus, stayed on the tower of his palace,\nwatching for the return of the ship that had sailed for Knossos. The life\nof the king wasted since the departure of Theseus, and now it was but a\nthread. Every day he watched for the return of the ship, hoping against\nhope that Theseus would return alive to him. Then a ship came into the\nharbor. It had black sails. \u00c6geus did not know that Theseus was aboard of\nit, and that Theseus in the hurry of his flight and in the sadness of his\nparting from Ariadne had not thought of taking out the white sail that his\nfather had given to Nausitheus.\n\n  Joyously Theseus sailed into the harbor, having slain the Minotaur and\nlifted for ever the tribute put upon Athens. Joyously he sailed into the\nharbor, bringing back to their parents the youths and maidens of Athens.\nBut the king, his father, saw the black sails on his ship, and straightway\nthe thread of his life broke, and he died on the roof of the tower which\nhe had built to look out on the sea.\n\n  Theseus landed on the shore of his own country. He had the ship drawn up\non the beach and he made sacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods. Then he\nsent messengers to the city to announce his return. They went toward the\ncity, these joyful messengers, but when they came to the gate they heard\nthe sounds of mourning and lamentation. The mourning and the lamentation\nwere for the death of the king, Theseus\u2019s father. They hurried back and\nthey came to Theseus where he stood on the beach. They brought a wreath of\nvictory for him, but as they put it into his hand they told him of the\ndeath of his father. Then Theseus left the wreath on the ground, and he\nwept for the death of \u00c6geus\u2014of \u00c6geus, the hero, who had left the sword\nunder the stone for him before he was born.\n\n  The men and women who came to the beach wept and laughed as they clasped\nin their arms the children brought back to them. And Theseus stood there,\nsilent and bowed; the memory of his last moments with his father, of his\nfight with the Minotaur, of his parting with Ariadne\u2014all flowed back upon\nhim. He stood there with head bowed, the man who might not put upon his\nbrows the wreath of victory that had been brought to him.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n\nVIII\n\n  There had come into the city a youth of great valor whose name was\nPeirithous: from a far country he had come, filled with a desire of\nmeeting Theseus, whose fame had come to him. The youth was in Athens at\nthe time Theseus returned. He went down to the beach with the townsfolk,\nand he saw Theseus standing alone with his head bowed down. He went to him\nand he spoke, and Theseus lifted his head and he saw before him a young\nman of strength and beauty. He looked upon him, and the thought of high\ndeeds came into his mind again. He wanted this young man to be his comrade\nin dangers and upon quests. And Peirithous looked upon Theseus, and he\nfelt that he was greater and nobler than he had thought. They became\nfriends and sworn brothers, and together they went into far countries.\n\n  Now there was in Epirus a savage king who had a very fair daughter. He\nhad named this daughter Persephone, naming her thus to show that she was\nheld as fast by him as that other Persephone was held who ruled in the\nUnderworld. No man might see her, and no man might wed her. But Peirithous\nhad seen the daughter of this king, and he desired above all things to\ntake her from her father and make her his wife. He begged Theseus to help\nhim enter that king\u2019s palace and carry off the maiden.\n\n  So they came to Epirus, Theseus and Peirithous, and they entered the\nking\u2019s palace, and they heard the bay of the dread hound that was there to\nlet no one out who had once come within the walls. Suddenly the guards of\nthe savage king came upon them, and they took Theseus and Peirithous and\nthey dragged them down into dark dungeons.\n\n  Two great chairs of stone were there, and Theseus and Peirithous were\nleft seated in them. And the magic powers that were in the chairs of stone\nwere such that the heroes could not lift themselves out of them. There\nthey stayed, held in the great stone chairs in the dungeons of that savage\nking.\n\n  Then it so happened that Heracles came into the palace of the king. The\nharsh king feasted Heracles and abated his savagery before him. But he\ncould not forbear boasting of how he had trapped the heroes who had come\nto carry off Persephone. And he told how they could not get out of the\nstone chairs and how they were held captive in his dark dungeon. Heracles\nlistened, his heart full of pity for the heroes from Greece who had met\nwith such a harsh fate. And when the king mentioned that one of the heroes\nwas Theseus, Heracles would feast no more with him until he had promised\nthat the one who had been his comrade on the _Argo_ would be let go.\n\n  The king said he would give Theseus his liberty if Heracles would carry\nthe stone chair on which he was seated out of the dungeon and into the\nouter world. Then Heracles went down into the dungeon. He found the two\nheroes in the great chairs of stone. But one of them, Peirithous, no\nlonger breathed. Heracles took the great chair of stone that Theseus was\nseated in, and he carried it up, up, from the dungeon and out into the\nworld. It was a heavy task even for Heracles. He broke the chair in\npieces, and Theseus stood up, released.\n\n  Thereafter the world was before Theseus. He went with Heracles, and in\nthe deeds that Heracles was afterward to accomplish Theseus shared.\n\n\n\n\nIV. The Life and Labors of Heracles\n\n\nI\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_H_ERACLES was the son of Zeus, but he was born into the family of a\nmortal king. When he was still a youth, being overwhelmed by a madness\nsent upon him by one of the goddesses, he slew the children of his brother\nIphicles. Then, coming to know what he had done, sleep and rest went from\nhim: he went to Delphi, to the shrine of Apollo, to be purified of his\ncrime.\n\n  At Delphi, at the shrine of Apollo, the priestess purified him, and when\nshe had purified him she uttered this prophecy: \u201cFrom this day forth thy\nname shall be, not Alcides, but Heracles. Thou shalt go to Eurystheus, thy\ncousin, in Mycen\u00e6, and serve him in all things. When the labors he shall\nlay upon thee are accomplished, and when the rest of thy life is lived\nout, thou shalt become one of the immortals.\u201d Heracles, on hearing these\nwords, set out for Mycen\u00e6.\n\n  He stood before his cousin who hated him; he, a towering man, stood\nbefore a king who sat there weak and trembling. And Heracles said, \u201cI have\ncome to take up the labors that you will lay upon me; speak now,\nEurystheus, and tell me what you would have me do.\u201d\n\n  Eurystheus, that weak king, looking on the young man who stood as tall\nand as firm as one of the immortals, had a heart that was filled with\nhatred. He lifted up his head and he said with a frown:\n\n  \u201cThere is a lion in Nemea that is stronger and more fierce than any lion\nknown before. Kill that lion, and bring the lion\u2019s skin to me that I may\nknow that you have truly performed your task.\u201d So Eurystheus said, and\nHeracles, with neither shield nor arms, went forth from the king\u2019s palace\nto seek and to combat the dread lion of Nemea.\n\n  He went on until he came into a country where the fences were overthrown\nand the fields wasted and the houses empty and fallen. He went on until he\ncame to the waste around that land: there he came on the trail of the\nlion; it led up the side of a mountain, and Heracles, without shield or\narms, followed the trail.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  He heard the roar of the lion. Looking up he saw the beast standing at\nthe mouth of a cavern, huge and dark against the sunset. The lion roared\nthree times, and then it went within the cavern.\n\n  Around the mouth were strewn the bones of creatures it had killed and\ncarried there. Heracles looked upon them when he came to the cavern. He\nwent within. Far into the cavern he went, and then he came to where he saw\nthe lion. It was sleeping.\n\n  Heracles viewed the terrible bulk of the lion, and then he looked upon\nhis own knotted hands and arms. He remembered that it was told of him\nthat, while still a child of eight months, he had strangled a great\nserpent that had come to his cradle to devour him. He had grown and his\nstrength had grown too.\n\n  So he stood, measuring his strength and the size of the lion. The breath\nfrom its mouth and nostrils came heavily to him as the beast slept, gorged\nwith its prey. Then the lion yawned. Heracles sprang on it and put his\ngreat hands upon its throat. No growl came out of its mouth, but the great\neyes blazed while the terrible paws tore at Heracles. Against the rock\nHeracles held the beast; strongly he held it, choking it through the skin\nthat was almost impenetrable. Terribly the lion struggled; but the strong\nhands of the hero held around its throat until it struggled no more.\n\n  Then Heracles stripped off that impenetrable skin from the lion\u2019s body;\nhe put it upon himself for a cloak. Then, as he went through the forest,\nhe pulled up a young oak tree and trimmed it and made a club for himself.\nWith the lion\u2019s skin over him\u2014that skin that no spear or arrow could\npierce\u2014and carrying the club in his hand he journeyed on until he came to\nthe palace of King Eurystheus.\n\n  The king, seeing coming toward him a towering man all covered with the\nhide of a monstrous lion, ran and hid himself in a great jar. He lifted\nthe lid up to ask the servants what was the meaning of this terrible\nappearance. And the servants told him that it was Heracles come back with\nthe skin of the lion of Nemea. On hearing this Eurystheus hid himself\nagain.\n\n  He would not speak with Heracles nor have him come near him, so fearful\nwas he. But Heracles was content to be left alone. He sat down in the\npalace and feasted himself.\n\n  The servants came to the king; Eurystheus lifted the lid of the jar and\nthey told him how Heracles was feasting and devouring all the goods in the\npalace. The king flew into a rage, but still he was fearful of having the\nhero before him. He issued commands through his heralds ordering Heracles\nto go forth at once and perform the second of his tasks.\n\n  It was to slay the great water snake that made its lair in the swamps of\nLerna. Heracles stayed to feast another day, and then, with the lion\u2019s\nskin across his shoulders and the great club in his hands, he started off.\nBut this time he did not go alone; the boy Iolaus went with him.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n\n  Heracles and Iolaus went on until they came to the vast swamp of Lerna.\nRight in the middle of the swamp was the water snake that was called the\nHydra. Nine heads it had, and it raised them up out of the water as the\nhero and his companion came near. They could not cross the swamp to come\nto the monster, for man or beast would sink and be lost in it.\n\n  The Hydra remained in the middle of the swamp belching mud at the hero\nand his companion. Then Heracles took up his bow and he shot flaming\narrows at its heads. It grew into such a rage that it came through the\nswamp to attack him. Heracles swung his club. As the Hydra came near he\nknocked head after head off its body.\n\n  But for every head knocked off two grew upon the Hydra. And as he\nstruggled with the monster a huge crab came out of the swamp, and gripping\nHeracles by the foot tried to draw him in. Then Heracles cried out. The\nboy Iolaus came; he killed the crab that had come to the Hydra\u2019s aid.\n\n  Then Heracles laid hands upon the Hydra and drew it out of the swamp.\nWith his club he knocked off a head and he had Iolaus put fire to where it\nhad been, so that two heads might not grow in that place. The life of the\nHydra was in its middle head; that head he had not been able to knock off\nwith his club. Now, with his hands he tore it off, and he placed this head\nunder a great stone so that it could not rise into life again. The Hydra\u2019s\nlife was now destroyed. Heracles dipped his arrows into the gall of the\nmonster, making his arrows deadly; no thing that was struck by these\narrows afterward could keep its life.\n\n  Again he came to Eurystheus\u2019s palace, and Eurystheus, seeing him, ran\nagain and hid himself in the jar. Heracles ordered the servants to tell\nthe king that he had returned and that the second labor was accomplished.\n\n  Eurystheus, hearing from the servants that Heracles was mild in his\nways, came out of the jar. Insolently he spoke. \u201cTwelve labors you have to\naccomplish for me,\u201d said he to Heracles, \u201cand eleven yet remain to be\naccomplished.\u201d\n\n  \u201cHow?\u201d said Heracles. \u201cHave I not performed two of the labors? Have I\nnot slain the lion of Nemea and the great water snake of Lerna?\u201d\n\n  \u201cIn the killing of the water snake you were helped by Iolaus,\u201d said the\nking, snapping out his words and looking at Heracles with shifting eyes.\n\u201cThat labor cannot be allowed you.\u201d\n\n  Heracles would have struck him to the ground. But then he remembered\nthat the crime that he had committed in his madness would have to be\nexpiated by labors performed at the order of this man. He looked full upon\nEurystheus and he said, \u201cTell me of the other labors, and I will go forth\nfrom Mycen\u00e6 and accomplish them.\u201d\n\n  Then Eurystheus bade him go and make clean the stables of King Augeias.\nHeracles came into that king\u2019s country. The smell from the stables was\nfelt for miles around. Countless herds of cattle and goats had been in the\nstables for years, and because of the uncleanness and the smell that came\nfrom it the crops were withered all around. Heracles told the king that he\nwould clean the stables if he were given one tenth of the cattle and the\ngoats for a reward.\n\n  The king agreed to this reward. Then Heracles drove the cattle and the\ngoats out of the stables; he broke through the foundations and he made\nchannels for the two rivers Alpheus and Peneius. The waters flowed through\nthe stables, and in a day all the uncleanness was washed away. Then\nHeracles turned the rivers back into their own courses.\n\n  He was not given the reward he had bargained for, however.\n\n  He went back to Mycen\u00e6 with the tale of how he had cleaned the stables.\n\u201cTen labors remain for me to do now,\u201d he said.\n\n  \u201cEleven,\u201d said Eurystheus. \u201cHow can I allow the cleaning of King\nAugeias\u2019s stables to you when you bargained for a reward for doing it?\u201d\n\n  Then while Heracles stood still, holding himself back from striking him,\nEurystheus ran away and hid himself in the jar. Through his heralds he\nsent word to Heracles, telling him what the other labors would be.\n\n  He was to clear the marshes of Stymphalus of the man-eating birds that\ngathered there; he was to capture and bring to the king the golden-horned\ndeer of Coryneia; he was also to capture and bring alive to Mycen\u00e6 the\nboar of Erymanthus.\n\n  Heracles came to the marshes of Stymphalus. The growth of jungle was so\ndense that he could not cut his way through to where the man-eating birds\nwere; they sat upon low bushes within the jungle, gorging themselves upon\nthe flesh they had carried there.\n\n  For days Heracles tried to hack his way through. He could not get to\nwhere the birds were. Then, thinking he might not be able to accomplish\nthis labor, he sat upon the ground in despair.\n\n  It was then that one of the immortals appeared to him; for the first and\nonly time he was given help from the gods.\n\n  It was Athena who came to him. She stood apart from Heracles, holding in\nher hands brazen cymbals. These she clashed together. At the sound of this\nclashing the Stymphalean birds rose up from the low bushes behind the\njungle. Heracles shot at them with those unerring arrows of his. The\nman-eating birds fell, one after the other, into the marsh.\n\n  Then Heracles went north to where the Coryneian deer took her pasture.\nSo swift of foot was she that no hound nor hunter had ever been able to\novertake her. For the whole of a year Heracles kept Golden Horns in chase,\nand at last, on the side of the Mountain Artemision, he caught her.\nArtemis, the goddess of the wild things, would have punished Heracles for\ncapturing the deer, but the hero pleaded with her, and she relented and\nagreed to let him bring the deer to Mycen\u00e6 and show her to King\nEurystheus. And Artemis took charge of Golden Horns while Heracles went\noff to capture the Erymanthean boar.\n\n  He came to the city of Psophis, the inhabitants of which were in deadly\nfear because of the ravages of the boar. Heracles made his way up the\nmountain to hunt it. Now on this mountain a band of centaurs lived, and\nthey, knowing him since the time he had been fostered by Chiron, welcomed\nHeracles. One of them, Pholus, took Heracles to the great house where the\ncentaurs had their wine stored.\n\n  Seldom did the centaurs drink wine; a draft of it made them wild, and so\nthey stored it away, leaving it in the charge of one of their band.\nHeracles begged Pholus to give him a draft of wine; after he had begged\nagain and again the centaur opened one of his great jars.\n\n  Heracles drank wine and spilled it. Then the centaurs that were without\nsmelt the wine and came hammering at the door, demanding the drafts that\nwould make them wild. Heracles came forth to drive them away. They\nattacked him. Then he shot at them with his unerring arrows and he drove\nthem away. Up the mountain and away to far rivers the centaurs raced,\npursued by Heracles with his bow.\n\n  One was slain, Pholus, the centaur who had entertained him. By accident\nHeracles dropped a poisoned arrow on his foot. He took the body of Pholus\nup to the top of the mountain and buried the centaur there. Afterward, on\nthe snows of Erymanthus, he set a snare for the boar and caught him there.\n\n  Upon his shoulders he carried the boar to Mycen\u00e6 and he led the deer by\nher golden horns. When Eurystheus had looked upon them the boar was slain,\nbut the deer was loosed and she fled back to the Mountain Artemision.\n\n  King Eurystheus sat hidden in the great jar, and he thought of more\nterrible labors he would make Heracles engage in. Now he would send him\noversea and make him strive with fierce tribes and more dread monsters.\nWhen he had it all thought out he had Heracles brought before him and he\ntold him of these other labors.\n\n  He was to go to savage Thrace and there destroy the man-eating horses of\nKing Diomedes; afterward he was to go amongst the dread women, the\nAmazons, daughters of Ares, the god of war, and take from their queen,\nHippolyte, the girdle that Ares had given her; then he was to go to Crete\nand take from the keeping of King Minos the beautiful bull that Poseidon\nhad given him; afterward he was to go to the Island of Erytheia and take\naway from Geryoneus, the monster that had three bodies instead of one, the\nherd of red cattle that the two-headed hound Orthus kept guard over; then\nhe was to go to the Garden of the Hesperides, and from that garden he was\nto take the golden apples that Zeus had given to Hera for a marriage\ngift\u2014where the Garden of the Hesperides was no mortal knew.\n\n  So Heracles set out on a long and perilous quest. First he went to\nThrace, that savage land that was ruled over by Diomedes, son of Ares, the\nwar god. Heracles broke into the stable where the horses were; he caught\nthree of them by their heads, and although they kicked and bit and\ntrampled he forced them out of the stable and down to the seashore, where\nhis companion, Abderus, waited for him. The screams of the fierce horses\nwere heard by the men of Thrace, and they, with their king, came after\nHeracles. He left the horses in charge of Abderus while he fought the\nThracians and their savage king. Heracles shot his deadly arrows amongst\nthem, and then he fought with their king. He drove them from the seashore,\nand then he came back to where he had left Abderus with the fierce horses.\n\n  They had thrown Abderus upon the ground, and they were trampling upon\nhim. Heracles drew his bow and he shot the horses with the unerring arrows\nthat were dipped with the gall of the Hydra he had slain. Screaming, the\nhorses of King Diomedes raced toward the sea, but one fell and another\nfell, and then, as it came to the line of the foam, the third of the\nfierce horses fell. They were all slain with the unerring arrows.\n\n  Then Heracles took up the body of his companion and he buried it with\nproper rights, and over it he raised a column. Afterward, around that\ncolumn a city that bore the name of Heracles\u2019s friend was built.\n\n  Then toward the Euxine Sea he went. There, where the River Themiscyra\nflows into the sea he saw the abodes of the Amazons. And upon the rocks\nand the steep place he saw the warrior women standing with drawn bows in\ntheir hands. Most dangerous did they seem to Heracles. He did not know how\nto approach them; he might shoot at them with his unerring arrows, but\nwhen his arrows were all shot away, the Amazons, from their steep places,\nmight be able to kill him with the arrows from their bows.\n\n  While he stood at a distance, wondering what he might do, a horn was\nsounded and an Amazon mounted upon a white stallion rode toward him. When\nthe warrior-woman came near she cried out, \u201cHeracles, the Queen Hippolyte\npermits you to come amongst the Amazons. Enter her tent and declare to the\nqueen what has brought you amongst the never-conquered Amazons.\u201d\n\n  Heracles came to the tent of the queen. There stood tall Hippolyte with\nan iron crown upon her head and with a beautiful girdle of bronze and\niridescent glass around her waist. Proud and fierce as a mountain eagle\nlooked the queen of the Amazons: Heracles did not know in what way he\nmight conquer her. Outside the tent the Amazons stood; they struck their\nshields with their spears, keeping up a continuous savage din.\n\n  \u201cFor what has Heracles come to the country of the Amazons?\u201d Queen\nHippolyte asked.\n\n  \u201cFor the girdle you wear,\u201d said Heracles, and he held his hands ready\nfor the struggle.\n\n  \u201cIs it for the girdle given me by Ares, the god of war, that you have\ncome, braving the Amazons, Heracles?\u201d asked the queen.\n\n  \u201cFor that,\u201d said Heracles.\n\n  \u201cI would not have you enter into strife with the Amazons,\u201d said Queen\nHippolyte. And so saying she drew off the girdle of bronze and iridescent\nglass, and she gave it into his hands.\n\n  Heracles took the beautiful girdle into his hands. Fearful he was that\nsome piece of guile was being played upon him, but then he looked into the\nopen eyes of the queen and he saw that she meant no guile. He took the\ngirdle and he put it around his great brows; then he thanked Hippolyte and\nhe went from the tent. He saw the Amazons standing on the rocks and the\nsteep places with bows bent; unchallenged he went on, and he came to his\nship and he sailed away from that country with one more labor\naccomplished.\n\n  The labor that followed was not dangerous. He sailed over sea and he\ncame to Crete, to the land that King Minos ruled over. And there he found,\ngrazing in a special pasture, the bull that Poseidon had given King Minos.\nHe laid his hands upon the bull\u2019s horns and he struggled with him and he\noverthrew him. Then he drove the bull down to the seashore.\n\n  His next labor was to take away the herd of red cattle that was owned by\nthe monster Geryoneus. In the Island of Erytheia, in the middle of the\nStream of Ocean, lived the monster, his herd guarded by the two-headed\nhound Orthus\u2014that hound was the brother of Cerberus, the three-headed\nhound that kept guard in the Underworld.\n\n  Mounted upon the bull given Minos by Poseidon, Heracles fared across the\nsea. He came even to the straits that divide Europe from Africa, and there\nhe set up two pillars as a memorial of his journey\u2014the Pillars of Heracles\nthat stand to this day. He and the bull rested there. Beyond him stretched\nthe Stream of Ocean; the Island of Erytheia was there, but Heracles\nthought that the bull would not be able to bear him so far.\n\n  And there the sun beat upon him, and drew all strength away from him,\nand he was dazed and dazzled by the rays of the sun. He shouted out\nagainst the sun, and in his anger he wanted to strive against the sun.\nThen he drew his bow and shot arrows upward. Far, far out of sight the\narrows of Heracles went. And the sun god, Helios, was filled with\nadmiration for Heracles, the man who would attempt the impossible by\nshooting arrows at him; then did Helios fling down to Heracles his great\ngolden cup.\n\n  Down, and into the Stream of Ocean fell the great golden cup of Helios.\nIt floated there wide enough to hold all the men who might be in a ship.\nHeracles put the bull of Minos into the cup of Helios, and the cup bore\nthem away, toward the west, and across the Stream of Ocean.\n\n  Thus Heracles came to the Island of Erytheia. All over the island\nstraggled the red cattle of Geryoneus, grazing upon the rich pastures.\nHeracles, leaving the bull of Minos in the cup, went upon the island; he\nmade a club for himself out of a tree and he went toward the cattle.\n\n  The hound Orthus bayed and ran toward him; the two-headed hound that was\nthe brother of Cerberus sprang at Heracles with poisonous foam upon his\njaws. Heracles swung his club and struck the two heads off the hound. And\nwhere the foam of the hound\u2019s jaws dropped down a poisonous plant sprang\nup. Heracles took up the body of the hound, and swung it around and flung\nit far out into the Ocean.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Then the monster Geryoneus came upon him. Three bodies he had instead of\none; he attacked Heracles by hurling great stones at him. Heracles was\nhurt by the stones. And then the monster beheld the cup of Helios, and he\nbegan to hurl stones at the golden thing, and it seemed that he might sink\nit in the sea, and leave Heracles without a way of getting from the\nisland. Heracles took up his bow and he shot arrow after arrow at the\nmonster, and he left him dead in the deep grass of the pastures.\n\n  Then he rounded up the red cattle, the bulls and the cows, and he drove\nthem down to the shore and into the golden cup of Helios where the bull of\nMinos stayed. Then back across the Stream of Ocean the cup floated, and\nthe bull of Crete and the cattle of Geryoneus were brought past Sicily and\nthrough the straits called the Hellespont. To Thrace, that savage land,\nthey came. Then Heracles took the cattle out, and the cup of Helios sank\nin the sea. Through the wild lands of Thrace he drove the herd of\nGeryoneus and the bull of Minos, and he came into Mycen\u00e6 once more.\n\n  But he did not stay to speak with Eurystheus. He started off to find the\nGarden of the Hesperides, the Daughters of the Evening Land. Long did he\nsearch, but he found no one who could tell him where the garden was. And\nat last he went to Chiron on the Mountain Pelion, and Chiron told Heracles\nwhat journey he would have to make to come to the Hesperides, the\nDaughters of the Evening Land.\n\n  Far did Heracles journey; weary he was when he came to where Atlas\nstood, bearing the sky upon his weary shoulders. As he came near he felt\nan undreamt-of perfume being wafted toward him. So weary was he with his\njourney and all his toils that he would fain sink down and dream away in\nthat evening land. But he roused himself, and he journeyed on toward where\nthe perfume came from. Over that place a star seemed always about to rise.\n\n  He came to where a silver lattice fenced a garden that was full of the\nquiet of evening. Golden bees hummed through the air, and there was the\nsound of quiet waters. How wild and laborious was the world he had come\nfrom, Heracles thought! He felt that it would be hard for him to return to\nthat world.\n\n  He saw three maidens. They stood with wreaths upon their heads and\nblossoming branches in their hands. When the maidens saw him they came\ntoward him crying out: \u201cO man who has come into the Garden of the\nHesperides, go not near the tree that the sleepless dragon guards!\u201d Then\nthey went and stood by a tree as if to keep guard over it. All around were\ntrees that bore flowers and fruit, but this tree had golden apples amongst\nits bright green leaves.\n\n  Then he saw the guardian of the tree. Beside its trunk a dragon lay, and\nas Heracles came near the dragon showed its glittering scales and its\ndeadly claws.\n\n  The apples were within reach, but the dragon, with its glittering scales\nand claws, stood in the way. Heracles shot an arrow; then a tremor went\nthrough Ladon, the sleepless dragon; it screamed and then lay stark. The\nmaidens cried in their grief; Heracles went to the tree, and he plucked\nthe golden apples and he put them into the pouch he carried. Down on the\nground sank the Hesperides, the Daughters of the Evening Land, and he\nheard their laments as he went from the enchanted garden they had guarded.\n\n  Back from the ends of the earth came Heracles, back from the place where\nAtlas stood holding the sky upon his weary shoulders. He went back through\nAsia and Libya and Egypt, and he came again to Mycen\u00e6 and to the palace of\nEurystheus.\n\n  He brought to the king the herd of Geryoneus; he brought to the king the\nbull of Minos; he brought to the king the girdle of Hippolyte; he brought\nto the king the golden apples of the Hesperides. And King Eurystheus, with\nhis thin white face, sat upon his royal throne and he looked over all the\nwonderful things that the hero had brought him. Not pleased was\nEurystheus; rather was he angry that one he hated could win such wonderful\nthings.\n\n  He took into his hands the golden apples of the Hesperides. But this\nfruit was not for such as he. An eagle snatched the branch from his hand,\nand the eagle flew and flew until it came to where the Daughters of the\nEvening Land wept in their garden. There the eagle let fall the branch\nwith the golden apples, and the maidens set it back upon the tree, and\nbehold! it grew as it had been growing before Heracles plucked it.\n\n  The next day the heralds of Eurystheus came to Heracles and they told\nhim of the last labor that he would have to set out to accomplish\u2014this\ntime he would have to go down into the Underworld, and bring up from King\nAidoneus\u2019s realm Cerberus, the three-headed hound.\n\n  Heracles put upon him the impenetrable lion\u2019s skin and set forth once\nmore. This might indeed be the last of his life\u2019s labors: Cerberus was not\nan earthly monster, and he who would struggle with Cerberus in the\nUnderworld would have the gods of the dead against him.\n\n  But Heracles went on. He journeyed to the cave Tainaron, which was an\nentrance to the Underworld. Far into that dismal cave he went, and then\ndown, down, until he came to Acheron, that dim river that has beyond it\nonly the people of the dead. Cerberus bayed at him from the place where\nthe dead cross the river. Knowing that he was no shade, the hound sprang\nat Heracles, but he could neither bite nor tear through that impenetrable\nlion\u2019s skin. Heracles held him by the neck of his middle head so that\nCerberus was neither able to bite nor tear nor bellow.\n\n  Then to the brink of Acheron came Persephone, queen of the Underworld.\nShe declared to Heracles that the gods of the dead would not strive\nagainst him if he promised to bring Cerberus back to the Underworld,\ncarrying the hound downward again as he carried him upward.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  This Heracles promised. He turned around and he carried Cerberus, his\nhands around the monster\u2019s neck while foam dripped from his jaws. He\ncarried him on and upward toward the world of men. Out through a cave that\nwas in the land of Tr\u0153zen Heracles came, still carrying Cerberus by the\nneck of his middle head.\n\n  From Tr\u0153zen to Mycen\u00e6 the hero went and men fled before him at the sight\nof the monster that he carried. On he went toward the king\u2019s palace.\nEurystheus was seated outside his palace that day, looking at the great\njar that he had often hidden in, and thinking to himself that Heracles\nwould never appear to affright him again. Then Heracles appeared. He\ncalled to Eurystheus, and when the king looked up he held the hound toward\nhim. The three heads grinned at Eurystheus; he gave a cry and scrambled\ninto the jar. But before his feet touched the bottom of it Eurystheus was\ndead of fear. The jar rolled over, and Heracles looked upon the body that\nwas all twisted with fright. Then he turned around and made his way back\nto the Underworld. On the brink of Acheron he loosed Cerberus, and the\nbellow of the three-headed hound was heard again.\n\n\n\nII\n\n  It was then that Heracles was given arms by the gods\u2014the sword of\nHermes, the bow of Apollo, the shield made by Heph\u00e6stus; it was then that\nHeracles joined the Argonauts and journeyed with them to the edge of the\nCaucasus, where, slaying the vulture that preyed upon Prometheus\u2019s liver,\nhe, at the will of Zeus, liberated the Titan. Thereafter Zeus and\nPrometheus were reconciled, and Zeus, that neither might forget how much\nthe enmity between them had cost gods and men, had a ring made for\nPrometheus to wear; that ring was made out of the fetter that had been\nupon him, and in it was set a fragment of the rock that the Titan had been\nbound to.\n\n  The Argonauts had now won back to Greece. But before he saw any of them\nhe had been in Oichalia, and had seen the maiden Iole.\n\n  The king of Oichalia had offered his daughter Iole in marriage to the\nhero who could excel himself and his sons in shooting with arrows.\nHeracles saw Iole, the blue-eyed and childlike maiden, and he longed to\ntake her with him to some place near the Garden of the Hesperides. And\nIole looked on him, and he knew that she wondered to see him so tall and\nso strongly knit even as he wondered to see her so childlike and delicate.\n\n  Then the contest began. The king and his sons shot wonderfully well, and\nnone of the heroes who stood before Heracles had a chance of winning. Then\nHeracles shot his arrows. No matter how far away they moved the mark,\nHeracles struck it and struck the very center of it. The people wondered\nwho this great archer might be. And then a name was guessed at and went\naround\u2014Heracles!\n\n  When the king heard the name of Heracles he would not let him strive in\nthe contest any more. For the maiden Iole would not be given as a prize to\none who had been mad and whose madness might afflict him again. So the\nking said, speaking in judgment in the market place.\n\n  Rage came on Heracles when he heard this judgment given. He would not\nlet his rage master him lest the madness that was spoken of should come\nwith his rage. So he left the city of Oichalia declaring to the king and\nthe people that he would return.\n\n  It was then that, wandering down to Crete, he heard of the Argonauts\nbeing near. And afterward he heard of them being in Calydon, hunting the\nboar that ravaged \u0152neus\u2019s country. To Calydon Heracles went. The heroes\nhad departed when he came into the country, and all the city was in grief\nfor the deaths of Prince Meleagrus and his two uncles.\n\n  On the steps of the temple where Meleagrus and his uncles had been\nbrought Heracles saw Deianira, Meleagrus\u2019s sister. She was pale with her\ngrief, this tall woman of the mountains; she looked like a priestess, but\nalso like a woman who could cheer camps of men with her counsel, her\nbravery, and her good companionship; her hair was very dark and she had\ndark eyes.\n\n  Straightway she became friends with Heracles; and when they saw each\nother for a while they loved each other. And Heracles forgot Iole, the\nchildlike maiden whom he had seen in Oichalia.\n\n  He made himself a suitor for Deianira, and those who protected her were\nglad of Heracles\u2019s suit, and they told him they would give him the maiden\nto marry as soon as the mourning for Prince Meleagrus and his uncles was\nover. Heracles stayed in Calydon, happy with Deianira, who had so much\nbeauty, wisdom, and bravery.\n\n  But then a dreadful thing happened in Calydon; by an accident, while\nusing his strength unthinkingly, Heracles killed a lad who was related to\nDeianira. He might not marry her now until he had taken punishment for\nslaying one who was close to her in blood.\n\n  As a punishment for the slaying it was judged that Heracles should be\nsold into slavery for three years. At the end of his three years\u2019 slavery\nhe could come back to Calydon and wed Deianira.\n\n  And so Heracles and Deianira were parted. He was sold as a slave in\nLydia; the one who bought him was a woman, a widow named Omphale. To her\nhouse Heracles went, carrying his armor and wearing his lion\u2019s skin. And\nOmphale laughed to see this tall man dressed in a lion\u2019s skin coming to\nher house to do a servant\u2019s tasks for her.\n\n  She and all in her house kept up fun with Heracles. They would set him\nto do housework, to carry water, and set vessels on the tables, and clear\nthe vessels away. Omphale set him to spin with a spindle as the women did.\nAnd often she would put on Heracles\u2019s lion skin and go about dragging his\nclub, while he, dressed in woman\u2019s garb, washed dishes and emptied pots.\n\n  But he would lose patience with these servant\u2019s tasks, and then Omphale\nwould let him go away and perform some great exploit. Often he went on\nlong journeys and stayed away for long times. It was while he was in\nslavery to Omphale that he liberated Theseus from the dungeon in which he\nwas held with Peirithous, and it was while he still was in slavery that he\nmade his journey to Troy.\n\n  At Troy he helped to repair for King Laomedon the great walls that years\nbefore Apollo and Poseidon had built around the city. As a reward for this\nlabor he was offered the Princess Hesione in marriage; she was the\ndaughter of King Laomedon, and the sister of Priam, who was then called,\nnot Priam but Podarces. He helped to repair the wall, and two of the\nArgonauts were there to aid him: one was Peleus and the other was Telamon.\nPeleus did not stay for long: Telamon stayed, and to reward Telamon\nHeracles withdrew his own claim for the hand of the Princess Hesione. It\nwas not hard on Heracles to do this, for his thoughts were ever upon\nDeianira.\n\n  But Telamon rejoiced, for he loved Hesione greatly. On the day they\nmarried Heracles showed the two an eagle in the sky. He said it was sent\nas an omen to them\u2014an omen for their marriage. And in memory of that omen\nTelamon named his son \u201cAias\u201d; that is, \u201cEagle.\u201d\n\n  Then the walls of Troy were repaired and Heracles turned toward Lydia,\nOmphale\u2019s home. Not long would he have to serve Omphale now, for his three\nyears\u2019 slavery was nearly over. Soon he would go back to Calydon and wed\nDeianira.\n\n  As he went along the road to Lydia he thought of all the pleasantries\nthat had been made in Omphale\u2019s house and he laughed at the memory of\nthem. Lydia was a friendly country, and even though he had been in slavery\nHeracles had had his good times there.\n\n  He was tired with the journey and made sleepy with the heat of the sun,\nand when he came within sight of Omphale\u2019s house he lay down by the side\nof the road, first taking off his armor, and laying aside his bow, his\nquiver, and his shield. He wakened up to see two men looking down upon\nhim; he knew that these were the Cercopes, robbers who waylaid travelers\nupon this road. They were laughing as they looked down on him, and\nHeracles saw that they held his arms and his armor in their hands.\n\n  They thought that this man, for all his tallness, would yield to them\nwhen he saw that they had his arms and his armor. But Heracles sprang up,\nand he caught one by the waist and the other by the neck, and he turned\nthem upside down and tied them together by the heels. Now he held them\nsecurely and he would take them to the town and give them over to those\nwhom they had waylaid and robbed. He hung them by their heels across his\nshoulders and marched on.\n\n  But the robbers, as they were being bumped along, began to relate\npleasantries and mirthful tales to each other, and Heracles, listening,\nhad to laugh. And one said to the other, \u201cO my brother, we are in the\nposition of the frogs when the mice fell upon them with such fury.\u201d And\nthe other said, \u201cIndeed nothing can save us if Zeus does not send an ally\nto us as he sent an ally to the frogs.\u201d And the first robber said, \u201cWho\nbegan that conflict, the frogs or the mice?\u201d And thereupon the second\nrobber, his head reaching down to Heracles\u2019s waist, began:\n\n\n\nThe Battle of the Frogs and Mice\n\n\n  A warlike mouse came down to the brink of a pond for no other reason\nthan to take a drink of water. Up to him hopped a frog. Speaking in the\nvoice of one who had rule and authority, the frog said:\n\n  \u201cStranger to our shore, you may not know it, but I am Puff Jaw, king of\nthe frogs. I do not speak to common mice, but you, as I judge, belong to\nthe noble and kingly sort. Tell me your race. If I know it to be a noble\none I shall show you my kingly friendship.\u201d\n\n  The mouse, speaking haughtily, said: \u201cI am Crumb Snatcher, and my race\nis a famous one. My father is the heroic Bread Nibbler, and he married\nQuern Licker, the lovely daughter of a king. Like all my race I am a\nwarrior who has never been wont to flinch in battle. Moreover, I have been\nbrought up as a mouse of high degree, and figs and nuts, cheese and\nhoney-cakes is the provender that I have been fed on.\u201d\n\n  Now this reply of Crumb Snatcher pleased the kingly frog greatly. \u201cCome\nwith me to my abode, illustrious Crumb Snatcher,\u201d said he, \u201cand I shall\nshow you such entertainment as may be found in the house of a king.\u201d\n\n  But the mouse looked sharply at him. \u201cHow may I get to your house?\u201d he\nasked. \u201cWe live in different elements, you and I. We mice want to be in\nthe driest of dry places, while you frogs have your abodes in the water.\u201d\n\n  \u201cAh,\u201d answered Puff Jaw, \u201cyou do not know how favored the frogs are\nabove all other creatures. To us alone the gods have given the power to\nlive both in the water and on the land. I shall take you to my land palace\nthat is the other side of the pond.\u201d\n\n  \u201cHow may I go there with you?\u201d asked Crumb Snatcher the mouse,\ndoubtfully.\n\n  \u201cUpon my back,\u201d said the frog. \u201cUp now, noble Crumb Snatcher. And as we\ngo I will show you the wonders of the deep.\u201d\n\n  He offered his back and Crumb Snatcher bravely mounted. The mouse put\nhis forepaws around the frog\u2019s neck. Then Puff Jaw swam out. Crumb\nSnatcher at first was pleased to feel himself moving through the water.\nBut as the dark waves began to rise his mighty heart began to quail. He\nlonged to be back upon the land. He groaned aloud.\n\n  \u201cHow quickly we get on,\u201d cried Puff Jaw; \u201csoon we shall be at my land\npalace.\u201d\n\n  Heartened by this speech, Crumb Snatcher put his tail into the water and\nworked it as a steering oar. On and on they went, and Crumb Snatcher\ngained heart for the adventure. What a wonderful tale he would have to\ntell to the clans of the mice!\n\n  But suddenly, out of the depths of the pond, a water snake raised his\nhorrid head. Fearsome did that head seem to both mouse and frog. And\nforgetful of the guest that he carried upon his back, Puff Jaw dived down\ninto the water. He reached the bottom of the pond and lay on the mud in\nsafety.\n\n  But far from safety was Crumb Snatcher the mouse. He sank and rose, and\nsank again. His wet fur weighed him down. But before he sank for the last\ntime he lifted up his voice and cried out and his cry was heard at the\nbrink of the pond:\n\n  \u201cAh, Puff Jaw, treacherous frog! An evil thing you have done, leaving me\nto drown in the middle of the pond. Had you faced me on the land I should\nhave shown you which of us two was the better warrior. Now I must lose my\nlife in the water. But I tell you my death shall not go unavenged\u2014the\ncowardly frogs will be punished for the ill they have done to me who am\nthe son of the king of the mice.\u201d\n\n  Then Crumb Snatcher sank for the last time. But Lick Platter, who was at\nthe brink of the pond, had heard his words. Straightway this mouse rushed\nto the hole of Bread Nibbler and told him of the death of his princely\nson.\n\n  Bread Nibbler called out the clans of the mice. The warrior mice armed\nthemselves, and this was the grand way of their arming:\n\n  First, the mice put on greaves that covered their forelegs. These they\nmade out of bean shells broken in two. For shield, each had a lamp\u2019s\ncenterpiece. For spears they had the long bronze needles that they had\ncarried out of the houses of men. So armed and so accoutered they were\nready to war upon the frogs. And Bread Nibbler, their king, shouted to\nthem: \u201cFall upon the cowardly frogs, and leave not one alive upon the bank\nof the pond. Henceforth that bank is ours, and ours only. Forward!\u201d\n\n  And, on the other side, Puff Jaw was urging the frogs to battle. \u201cLet us\ntake our places on the edge of the pond,\u201d he said, \u201cand when the mice come\namongst us, let each catch hold of one and throw him into the pond. Thus\nwe will get rid of these dry bobs, the mice.\u201d\n\n  The frogs applauded the speech of their king, and straightway they went\nto their armor and their weapons. Their legs they covered with the leaves\nof mallow. For breastplates they had the leaves of beets. Cabbage leaves,\nwell cut, made their strong shields. They took their spears from the pond\nside\u2014deadly pointed rushes they were, and they placed upon their heads\nhelmets that were empty snail shells. So armed and so accoutered they were\nready to meet the grand attack of the mice.\n\n\n\n  When the robber came to this part of the story Heracles halted his\nmarch, for he was shaking with laughter. The robber stopped in his story.\nHeracles slapped him on the leg and said: \u201cWhat more of the heroic\nexploits of the mice?\u201d The second robber said, \u201cI know no more, but\nperhaps my brother at the other side of you can tell you of the mighty\ncombat between them and the frogs.\u201d Then Heracles shifted the first robber\nfrom his back to his front, and the first robber said: \u201cI will tell you\nwhat I know about the heroical combat between the frogs and the mice.\u201d And\nthereupon he began:\n\n\n\n  The gnats blew their trumpets. This was the dread signal for war.\n\n  Bread Nibbler struck the first blow. He fell upon Loud Crier the frog,\nand overthrew him. At this Loud Crier\u2019s friend, Reedy, threw down spear\nand shield and dived into the water. This seemed to presage victory for\nthe mice. But then Water Larker, the most warlike of the frogs, took up a\ngreat pebble and flung it at Ham Nibbler who was then pursuing Reedy. Down\nfell Ham Nibbler, and there was dismay in the ranks of the mice.\n\n  Then Cabbage Climber, a great-hearted frog, took up a clod of mud and\nflung it full at a mouse that was coming furiously upon him. That mouse\u2019s\nhelmet was knocked off and his forehead was plastered with the clod of\nmud, so that he was well-nigh blinded.\n\n  It was then that victory inclined to the frogs. Bread Nibbler again came\ninto the fray. He rushed furiously upon Puff Jaw the king.\n\n  Leeky, the trusted friend of Puff Jaw, opposed Bread Nibbler\u2019s\nonslaught. Mightily he drove his spear at the king of the mice. But the\npoint of the spear broke upon Bread Nibbler\u2019s shield, and then Leeky was\noverthrown.\n\n  Bread Nibbler came upon Puff Jaw, and the two great kings faced each\nother. The frogs and the mice drew aside, and there was a pause in the\ncombat. Bread Nibbler the mouse struck Puff Jaw the frog terribly upon the\ntoes.\n\n  Puff Jaw drew out of the battle. Now all would have been lost for the\nfrogs had not Zeus, the father of the gods, looked down upon the battle.\n\n  \u201cDear, dear,\u201d said Zeus, \u201cwhat can be done to save the frogs? They will\nsurely be annihilated if the charge of yonder mouse is not halted.\u201d\n\n  For the father of the gods, looking down, saw a warrior mouse coming on\nin the most dreadful onslaught of the whole battle. Slice Snatcher was the\nname of this warrior. He had come late into the field. He waited to split\na chestnut in two and to put the halves upon his paws. Then, furiously\ndashing amongst the frogs, he cried out that he would not leave the ground\nuntil he had destroyed the race, leaving the bank of the pond a playground\nfor the mice and for the mice alone.\n\n  To stop the charge of Slice Snatcher there was nothing for Zeus to do\nbut to hurl the thunderbolt that is the terror of gods and men.\n\n  Frogs and mice were awed by the thunder and the flame. But still the\nmice, urged on by Slice Snatcher, did not hold back from their onslaught\nupon the frogs.\n\n  Now would the frogs have been utterly destroyed; but, as they dashed on,\nthe mice encountered a new and a dreadful army. The warriors in these\nranks had mailed backs and curving claws. They had bandy legs and\nlong-stretching arms. They had eyes that looked behind them. They came on\nsideways. These were the crabs, creatures until now unknown to the mice.\nAnd the crabs had been sent by Zeus to save the race of the frogs from\nutter destruction.\n\n  Coming upon the mice they nipped their paws. The mice turned around and\nthey nipped their tails. In vain the boldest of the mice struck at the\ncrabs with their sharpened spears. Not upon the hard shells on the backs\nof the crabs did the spears of the mice make any dint. On and on, on their\nqueer feet and with their terrible nippers, the crabs went. Bread Nibbler\ncould not rally them any more, and Slice Snatcher ceased to speak of the\nmonument of victory that the mice would erect upon the bank of the pond.\n\n  With their heads out of the water they had retreated to, the frogs\nwatched the finish of the battle. The mice threw down their spears and\nshields and fled from the battleground. On went the crabs as if they cared\nnothing for their victory, and the frogs came out of the water and sat\nupon the bank and watched them in awe.\n\n\n\n  Heracles had laughed at the diverting tale that the robbers had told\nhim; he could not bring them then to a place where they would meet with\ncaptivity or death. He let them loose upon the highway, and the robbers\nthanked him with high-flowing speeches, and they declared that if they\nshould ever find him sleeping by the roadway again they would let him lie.\nSaying this they went away, and Heracles, laughing as he thought upon the\ngreat exploits of the frogs and mice, went on to Omphale\u2019s house.\n\n  Omphale, the widow, received him mirthfully, and then set him to do\ntasks in the kitchen while she sat and talked to him about Troy and the\naffairs of King Laomedon. And afterward she put on his lion\u2019s skin, and\nwent about in the courtyard dragging the heavy club after her. Mirthfully\nand pleasantly she made the rest of his time in Lydia pass for Heracles,\nand the last day of his slavery soon came, and he bade good-by to Omphale,\nthat pleasant widow, and to Lydia, and he started off for Calydon to claim\nhis bride Deianira.\n\n  Beautiful indeed Deianira looked now that she had ceased to mourn for\nher brother, for the laughter that had been under her grief always now\nflashed out even while she looked priestesslike and of good counsel; her\ndark eyes shone like stars, and her being had the spirit of one who\nwanders from camp to camp, always greeting friends and leaving friends\nbehind her. Heracles and Deianira wed, and they set out for Tiryns, where\na king had left a kingdom to Heracles.\n\n  They came to the River Evenus. Heracles could have crossed the river by\nhimself, but he could not cross it at the part he came to, carrying\nDeianira. He and she went along the river, seeking a ferry that might take\nthem across. They wandered along the side of the river, happy with each\nother, and they came to a place where they had sight of a centaur.\n\n  Heracles knew this centaur. He was Nessus, one of the centaurs whom he\nhad chased up the mountain the time when he went to hunt the Erymanthean\nboar. The centaurs knew him, and Nessus spoke to Heracles as if he had\nfriendship for him. He would, he said, carry Heracles\u2019s bride across the\nriver.\n\n  Then Heracles crossed the river, and he waited on the other side for\nNessus and Deianira. Nessus went to another part of the river to make his\ncrossing. Then Heracles, upon the other bank, heard screams\u2014the screams of\nhis wife, Deianira. He saw that the centaur was savagely attacking her.\n\n  Then Heracles leveled his bow and he shot at Nessus. Arrow after arrow\nhe shot into the centaur\u2019s body. Nessus loosed his hold on Deianira, and\nhe lay down on the bank of the river, his lifeblood streaming from him.\n\n  Then Nessus, dying, but with his rage against Heracles unabated, thought\nof a way by which the hero might be made to suffer for the death he had\nbrought upon him. He called to Deianira, and she, seeing he could do her\nno more hurt, came close to him. He told her that in repentance for his\nattack upon her he would bestow a great gift upon her. She was to gather\nup some of the blood that flowed from him; his blood, the centaur said,\nwould be a love philter, and if ever her husband\u2019s love for her waned it\nwould grow fresh again if she gave to him something from her hands that\nwould have this blood upon it.\n\n  Deianira, who had heard from Heracles of the wisdom of the centaurs,\nbelieved what Nessus told her. She took a phial and let the blood pour\ninto it. Then Nessus plunged into the river and died there as Heracles\ncame up to where Deianira stood.\n\n  She did not speak to him about the centaur\u2019s words to her, nor did she\ntell him that she had hidden away the phial that had Nessus\u2019s blood in it.\nThey crossed the river at another point and they came after a time to\nTiryns and to the kingdom that had been left to Heracles.\n\n  There Heracles and Deianira lived, and a son who was named Hyllos was\nborn to them. And after a time Heracles was led into a war with\nEurytus\u2014Eurytus who was king of Oichalia.\n\n  Word came to Deianira that Oichalia was taken by Heracles, and that the\nking and his daughter Iole were held captive. Deianira knew that Heracles\nhad once tried to win this maiden for his wife, and she feared that the\nsight of Iole would bring his old longing back to him.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  She thought upon the words that Nessus had said to her, and even as she\nthought upon them messengers came from Heracles to ask her to send him a\nrobe\u2014a beautifully woven robe that she had\u2014that he might wear it while\nmaking a sacrifice. Deianira took down the robe; through this robe, she\nthought, the blood of the centaur could touch Heracles and his love for\nher would revive. Thinking this she poured Nessus\u2019s blood over the robe.\n\n  Heracles was in Oichalia when the messengers returned to him. He took\nthe robe that Deianira sent, and he went to a mountain that overlooked the\nsea that he might make the sacrifice there. Iole went with him. Then he\nput on the robe that Deianira had sent. When it touched his flesh the robe\nburst into flame. Heracles tried to tear it off, but deeper and deeper\ninto his flesh the flames went. They burned and burned and none could\nquench them.\n\n  Then Heracles knew that his end was near. He would die by fire, and\nknowing that he piled up a great heap of wood and he climbed upon it.\nThere he stayed with the flaming robe burning into him, and he begged of\nthose who passed to fire the pile that his end might come more quickly.\n\n  None would fire the pile. But at last there came that way a young\nwarrior named Philoctetes, and Heracles begged of him to fire the pile.\nPhiloctetes, knowing that it was the will of the gods that Heracles should\ndie that way, lighted the pile. For that Heracles bestowed upon him his\ngreat bow and his unerring arrows. And it was this bow and these arrows,\nbrought from Philoctetes, that afterward helped to take Priam\u2019s city.\n\n  The pile that Heracles stood upon was fired. High up, above the sea, the\npile burned. All who were near that burning fled\u2014all except Iole, that\nchildlike maiden. She stayed and watched the flames mount up and up. They\nwrapped the sky, and the voice of Heracles was heard calling upon Zeus.\nThen a great chariot came and Heracles was borne away to Olympus. Thus,\nafter many labors, Heracles passed away, a mortal passing into an immortal\nbeing in a great burning high above the sea.\n\n\n\n\nV. Admetus\n\n\nI\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_I_T happened once that Zeus would punish Apollo, his son. Then he\nbanished him from Olympus, and he made him put off his divinity and appear\nas a mortal man. And as a mortal Apollo sought to earn his bread amongst\nmen. He came to the house of King Admetus and took service with him as his\nherdsman.\n\n  For a year Apollo served the young king, minding his herds of black\ncattle. Admetus did not know that it was one of the immortal gods who was\nin his house and in his fields. But he treated him in friendly wise, and\nApollo was happy whilst serving Admetus.\n\n  Afterward people wondered at Admetus\u2019s ever-smiling face and\never-radiant being. It was the god\u2019s kindly thought of him that gave him\nsuch happiness. And when Apollo was leaving his house and his fields he\nrevealed himself to Admetus, and he made a promise to him that when the\ngod of the Underworld sent Death for him he would have one more chance of\nbaffling Death than any mortal man.\n\n  That was before Admetus sailed on the _Argo_ with Jason and the\ncompanions of the quest. The companionship of Admetus brought happiness to\nmany on the voyage, but the hero to whom it gave the most happiness was\nHeracles. And often Heracles would have Admetus beside him to tell him\nabout the radiant god Apollo, whose bow and arrows Heracles had been\ngiven.\n\n  After that voyage and after the hunt in Calydon Admetus went back to his\nown land. There he wed that fair and loving woman, Alcestis. He might not\nwed her until he had yoked lions and leopards to the chariot that drew\nher. This was a feat that no hero had been able to accomplish. With\nApollo\u2019s aid he accomplished it. Thereafter Admetus, having the love of\nAlcestis, was even more happy than he had been before.\n\n  One day as he walked by fold and through pasture field he saw a figure\nstanding beside his herd of black cattle. A radiant figure it was, and\nAdmetus knew that this was Apollo come to him again. He went toward the\ngod and he made reverence and began to speak to him. But Apollo turned to\nAdmetus a face that was without joy.\n\n  \u201cWhat years of happiness have been mine, O Apollo, through your\nfriendship for me,\u201d said Admetus. \u201cAh, as I walked my pasture land to-day\nit came into my mind how much I loved this green earth and the blue sky!\nAnd all that I know of love and happiness has come to me through you.\u201d\n\n  But still Apollo stood before him with a face that was without joy. He\nspoke and his voice was not that clear and vibrant voice that he had once\nin speaking to Admetus. \u201cAdmetus, Admetus,\u201d he said, \u201cit is for me to tell\nyou that you may no more look on the blue sky nor walk upon the green\nearth. It is for me to tell you that the god of the Underworld will have\nyou come to him. Admetus, Admetus, know that even now the god of the\nUnderworld is sending Death for you.\u201d\n\n  Then the light of the world went out for Admetus, and he heard himself\nspeaking to Apollo in a shaking voice: \u201cO Apollo, Apollo, thou art a god,\nand surely thou canst save me! Save me now from this Death that the god of\nthe Underworld is sending for me!\u201d\n\n  But Apollo said, \u201cLong ago, Admetus, I made a bargain with the god of\nthe Underworld on thy behalf. Thou hast been given a chance more than any\nmortal man. If one will go willingly in thy place with Death, thou canst\nstill live on. Go, Admetus. Thou art well loved, and it may be that thou\nwilt find one to take thy place.\u201d\n\n  Then Apollo went up unto the mountaintop and Admetus stayed for a while\nbeside the cattle. It seemed to him that a little of the darkness had\nlifted from the world. He would go to his palace. There were aged men and\nwomen there, servants and slaves, and one of them would surely be willing\nto take the king\u2019s place and go with Death down to the Underworld.\n\n  So Admetus thought as he went toward the palace. And then he came upon\nan ancient woman who sat upon stones in the courtyard, grinding corn\nbetween two stones. Long had she been doing that wearisome labor. Admetus\nhad known her from the first time he had come into that courtyard as a\nlittle child, and he had never seen aught in her face but a heavy misery.\nThere she was sitting as he had first known her, with her eyes bleared and\nher knees shaking, and with the dust of the courtyard and the husks of the\ncorn in her matted hair. He went to her and spoke to her, and he asked her\nto take the place of the king and go with Death.\n\n  But when she heard the name of Death horror came into the face of the\nancient woman, and she cried out that she would not let Death come near\nher. Then Admetus left her, and he came upon another, upon a sightless man\nwho held out a shriveled hand for the food that the servants of the palace\nmight bestow upon him. Admetus took the man\u2019s shriveled hand, and he asked\nhim if he would not take the king\u2019s place and go with Death that was\ncoming for him. The sightless man, with howls and shrieks, said he would\nnot go.\n\n  Then Admetus went into the palace and into the chamber where his bed\nwas, and he lay down upon the bed and he lamented that he would have to go\nwith Death that was coming for him from the god of the Underworld, and he\nlamented that none of the wretched ones around the palace would take his\nplace.\n\n  A hand was laid upon him. He looked up and he saw his tall and\ngrave-eyed wife, Alcestis, beside him. Alcestis spoke to him slowly and\ngravely. \u201cI have heard what you have said, O my husband,\u201d said she. \u201cOne\nshould go in your place, for you are the king and have many great affairs\nto attend to. And if none other will go, I, Alcestis, will go in your\nplace, Admetus.\u201d\n\n  It had seemed to Admetus that ever since he had heard the words of\nApollo that heavy footsteps were coming toward him. Now the footsteps\nseemed to stop. It was not so terrible for him as before. He sprang up,\nand he took the hands of Alcestis and he said, \u201cYou, then, will take my\nplace?\u201d\n\n  \u201cI will go with Death in your place, Admetus,\u201d Alcestis said.\n\n  Then, even as Admetus looked into her face, he saw a pallor come upon\nher; her body weakened and she sank down upon the bed. Then, watching over\nher, he knew that not he but Alcestis would go with Death. And the words\nhe had spoken he would have taken back\u2014the words that had brought her\nconsent to go with Death in his place.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Paler and weaker Alcestis grew. Death would soon be here for her. No,\nnot here, for he would not have Death come into the palace. He lifted\nAlcestis from the bed and he carried her from the palace. He carried her\nto the temple of the gods. He laid her there upon the bier and waited\nthere beside her. No more speech came from her. He went back to the palace\nwhere all was silent\u2014the servants moved about with heads bowed, lamenting\nsilently for their mistress.\n\n\n\nII\n\n  As Admetus was coming back from the temple he heard a great shout; he\nlooked up and saw one standing at the palace doorway. He knew him by his\nlion\u2019s skin and his great height. This was Heracles\u2014Heracles come to visit\nhim, but come at a sad hour. He could not now rejoice in the company of\nHeracles. And yet Heracles might be on his way from the accomplishment of\nsome great labor, and it would not be right to say a word that might turn\nhim away from his doorway; he might have much need of rest and\nrefreshment.\n\n  Thinking this Admetus went up to Heracles and took his hand and welcomed\nhim into his house. \u201cHow is it with you, friend Admetus?\u201d Heracles asked.\nAdmetus would only say that nothing was happening in his house and that\nHeracles, his hero-companion, was welcome there. His mind was upon a great\nsacrifice, he said, and so he would not be able to feast with him.\n\n  The servants brought Heracles to the bath, and then showed him where a\nfeast was laid for him. And as for Admetus, he went within the chamber,\nand knelt beside the bed on which Alcestis had lain, and thought of his\nterrible loss.\n\n  Heracles, after the bath, put on the brightly colored tunic that the\nservants of Admetus brought him. He put a wreath upon his head and sat\ndown to the feast. It was a pity, he thought, that Admetus was not\nfeasting with him. But this was only the first of many feasts. And\nthinking of what companionship he would have with Admetus, Heracles left\nthe feasting hall and came to where the servants were standing about in\nsilence.\n\n  \u201cWhy is the house of Admetus so hushed to-day?\u201d Heracles asked.\n\n  \u201cIt is because of what is befalling,\u201d said one of the servants.\n\n  \u201cAh, the sacrifice that the king is making,\u201d said Heracles. \u201cTo what god\nis that sacrifice due?\u201d\n\n  \u201cTo the god of the Underworld,\u201d said the servant. \u201cDeath is coming to\nAlcestis the queen where she lies on a bier in the temple of the gods.\u201d\n\n  Then the servant told Heracles the story of how Alcestis had taken her\nhusband\u2019s place, going in his stead with Death. Heracles thought upon the\nsorrow of his friend, and of the great sacrifice that his wife was making\nfor him. How noble it was of Admetus to bring him into his house and give\nentertainment to him while such sorrow was upon him. And then Heracles\nfelt that another labor was before him.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  \u201cI have dragged up from the Underworld,\u201d he thought, \u201cthe hound that\nguards those whom Death brings down into the realm of the god of the\nUnderworld. Why should I not strive with Death? And what a noble thing it\nwould be to bring back this faithful woman to her house and to her\nhusband! This is a labor that has not been laid upon me, and it is a labor\nI will undertake.\u201d So Heracles said to himself.\n\n  He left the palace of Admetus and he went to the temple of the gods. He\nstood inside the temple and he saw the bier on which Alcestis was laid. He\nlooked upon the queen. Death had not touched her yet, although she lay so\nstill and so silent. Heracles would watch beside her and strive with Death\nfor her.\n\n  Heracles watched and Death came. When Death entered the temple Heracles\nlaid hands upon him. Death had never been gripped by mortal hands and he\nstrode on as if that grip meant nothing to him. But then he had to grip\nHeracles. In Death\u2019s grip there was a strength beyond strength. And upon\nHeracles a dreadful sense of loss came as Death laid hands upon him\u2014a\nsense of the loss of light and the loss of breath and the loss of\nmovement. But Heracles struggled with Death although his breath went and\nhis strength seemed to go from him. He held that stony body to him, and\nthe cold of that body went through him, and its stoniness seemed to turn\nhis bones to stone, but still Heracles strove with him, and at last he\noverthrew him and he held Death down upon the ground.\n\n  \u201cNow you are held by me, Death,\u201d cried Heracles. \u201cYou are held by me,\nand the god of the Underworld will be made angry because you cannot go\nabout his business\u2014either this business or any other business. You are\nheld by me, Death, and you will not be let go unless you promise to go\nforth from this temple without bringing one with you.\u201d And Death, knowing\nthat Heracles could hold him there, and that the business of the god of\nthe Underworld would be left undone if he were held, promised that he\nwould leave the temple without bringing one with him. Then Heracles took\nhis grip off Death, and that stony shape went from the temple.\n\n  Soon a flush came into the face of Alcestis as Heracles watched over\nher. Soon she arose from the bier on which she had been laid. She called\nout to Admetus, and Heracles went to her and spoke to her, telling her\nthat he would bring her back to her husband\u2019s house.\n\n\n\nIII\n\n  Admetus left the chamber where his wife had lain and stood before the\ndoor of his palace. Dawn was coming, and as he looked toward the temple he\nsaw Heracles coming to the palace. A woman came with him. She was veiled,\nand Admetus could not see her features.\n\n  \u201cAdmetus,\u201d Heracles said, when he came before him, \u201cAdmetus, there is\nsomething I would have you do for me. Here is a woman whom I am bringing\nback to her husband. I won her from an enemy. Will you not take her into\nyour house while I am away on a journey?\u201d\n\n  \u201cYou cannot ask me to do this, Heracles,\u201d said Admetus. \u201cNo woman may\ncome into the house where Alcestis, only yesterday, had her life.\u201d\n\n  \u201cFor my sake take her into your house,\u201d said Heracles. \u201cCome now,\nAdmetus, take this woman by the hand.\u201d\n\n  A pang came to Admetus as he looked at the woman who stood beside\nHeracles and saw that she was the same stature as his lost wife. He\nthought that he could not bear to take her hand. But Heracles pleaded with\nhim, and he took her by the hand.\n\n  \u201cNow take her across your threshold, Admetus,\u201d said Heracles.\n\n  Hardly could Admetus bear to do this\u2014hardly could he bear to think of a\nstrange woman being in his house and his own wife gone with Death. But\nHeracles pleaded with him, and by the hand he held he drew the woman\nacross his threshold.\n\n  \u201cNow raise her veil, Admetus,\u201d said Heracles.\n\n  \u201cThis I cannot do,\u201d said Admetus. \u201cI have had pangs enough. How can I\nlook upon a woman\u2019s face and remind myself that I cannot look upon\nAlcestis\u2019s face ever again?\u201d\n\n  \u201cRaise her veil, Admetus,\u201d said Heracles.\n\n  Then Admetus raised the veil of the woman he had taken across the\nthreshold of his house. He saw the face of Alcestis. He looked again upon\nhis wife brought back from the grip of Death by Heracles, the son of Zeus.\nAnd then a deeper joy than he had ever known came to Admetus. Once more\nhis wife was with him, and Admetus the friend of Apollo and the friend of\nHeracles had all that he cared to have.\n\n\n\n\nVI. How Orpheus the Minstrel Went Down to the World of the Dead\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_M_ANY were the minstrels who, in the early days, went through the world,\ntelling to men the stories of the gods, telling of their wars and their\nbirths. Of all these minstrels none was so famous as Orpheus who had gone\nwith the Argonauts; none could tell truer things about the gods, for he\nhimself was half divine.\n\n  But a great grief came to Orpheus, a grief that stopped his singing and\nhis playing upon the lyre. His young wife Eurydice was taken from him. One\nday, walking in the garden, she was bitten on the heel by a serpent, and\nstraightway she went down to the world of the dead.\n\n  Then everything in this world was dark and bitter for the minstrel\nOrpheus; sleep would not come to him, and for him food had no taste. Then\nOrpheus said: \u201cI will do that which no mortal has ever done before; I will\ndo that which even the immortals might shrink from doing: I will go down\ninto the world of the dead, and I will bring back to the living and to the\nlight my bride Eurydice.\u201d\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  Then Orpheus went on his way to the valley of Acherusia which goes down,\ndown into the world of the dead. He would never have found his way to that\nvalley if the trees had not shown him the way. For as he went along\nOrpheus played upon his lyre and sang, and the trees heard his song and\nthey were moved by his grief, and with their arms and their heads they\nshowed him the way to the deep, deep valley of Acherusia.\n\n  Down, down by winding paths through that deepest and most shadowy of all\nvalleys Orpheus went. He came at last to the great gate that opens upon\nthe world of the dead. And the silent guards who keep watch there for the\nrulers of the dead were affrighted when they saw a living being, and they\nwould not let Orpheus approach the gate.\n\n  But the minstrel, knowing the reason for their fear, said: \u201cI am not\nHeracles come again to drag up from the world of the dead your\nthree-headed dog Cerberus. I am Orpheus, and all that my hands can do is\nto make music upon my lyre.\u201d\n\n  And then he took the lyre in his hands and played upon it. As he played,\nthe silent watchers gathered around him, leaving the gate unguarded. And\nas he played the rulers of the dead came forth, Aidoneus and Persephone,\nand listened to the words of the living man.\n\n  \u201cThe cause of my coming through the dark and fearful ways,\u201d sang\nOrpheus, \u201cis to strive to gain a fairer fate for Eurydice, my bride. All\nthat is above must come down to you at last, O rulers of the most lasting\nworld. But before her time has Eurydice been brought here. I have desired\nstrength to endure her loss, but I cannot endure it. And I come before\nyou, Aidoneus and Persephone, brought here by Love.\u201d\n\n  When Orpheus said the name of Love, Persephone, the queen of the dead,\nbowed her young head, and bearded Aidoneus, the king, bowed his head also.\nPersephone remembered how Demeter, her mother, had sought her all through\nthe world, and she remembered the touch of her mother\u2019s tears upon her\nface. And Aidoneus remembered how his love for Persephone had led him to\ncarry her away from the valley in the upper world where she had been\ngathering flowers. He and Persephone bowed their heads and stood aside,\nand Orpheus went through the gate and came amongst the dead.\n\n  Still upon his lyre he played. Tantalus\u2014who, for his crimes, had been\ncondemned to stand up to his neck in water and yet never be able to\nassuage his thirst\u2014Tantalus heard, and for a while did not strive to put\nhis lips toward the water that ever flowed away from him; Sisyphus\u2014who had\nbeen condemned to roll up a hill a stone that ever rolled back\u2014Sisyphus\nheard the music that Orpheus played, and for a while he sat still upon his\nstone. And even those dread ones who bring to the dead the memories of all\ntheir crimes and all their faults, even the Eumenides had their cheeks wet\nwith tears.\n\n  In the throng of the newly come dead Orpheus saw Eurydice. She looked\nupon her husband, but she had not the power to come near him. But slowly\nshe came when Aidoneus called her. Then with joy Orpheus took her hands.\n\n  It would be granted them\u2014no mortal ever gained such privilege before\u2014to\nleave, both together, the world of the dead, and to abide for another\nspace in the world of the living. One condition there would be\u2014that on\ntheir way up through the valley of Acherusia neither Orpheus nor Eurydice\nshould look back.\n\n  They went through the gate and came amongst the watchers that are around\nthe portals. These showed them the path that went up through the valley of\nAcherusia. That way they went, Orpheus and Eurydice, he going before her.\n\n  Up and up through the darkened ways they went, Orpheus knowing that\nEurydice was behind him, but never looking back upon her. But as he went,\nhis heart was filled with things to tell\u2014how the trees were blossoming in\nthe garden she had left; how the water was sparkling in the fountain; how\nthe doors of the house stood open, and how they, sitting together, would\nwatch the sunlight on the laurel bushes. All these things were in his\nheart to tell her, to tell her who came behind him, silent and unseen.\n\n  And now they were nearing the place where the valley of Acherusia opened\non the world of the living. Orpheus looked on the blue of the sky. A\nwhite-winged bird flew by. Orpheus turned around and cried, \u201cO Eurydice,\nlook upon the world that I have won you back to!\u201d\n\n  He turned to say this to her. He saw her with her long dark hair and\npale face. He held out his arms to clasp her. But in that instant she\nslipped back into the depths of the valley. And all he heard spoken was a\nsingle word, \u201cFarewell!\u201d Long, long had it taken Eurydice to climb so far,\nbut in the moment of his turning around she had fallen back to her place\namongst the dead.\n\n  Down through the valley of Acherusia Orpheus went again. Again he came\nbefore the watchers of the gate. But now he was not looked at nor listened\nto, and, hopeless, he had to return to the world of the living.\n\n  The birds were his friends now, and the trees and the stones. The birds\nflew around him and mourned with him; the trees and stones often followed\nhim, moved by the music of his lyre. But a savage band slew Orpheus and\nthrew his severed head and his lyre into the River Hebrus. It is said by\nthe poets that while they floated in midstream the lyre gave out some\nmournful notes and the head of Orpheus answered the notes with song.\n\n  And now that he was no longer to be counted with the living, Orpheus\nwent down to the world of the dead, not going now by that steep descent\nthrough the valley of Acherusia, but going down straightway. The silent\nwatchers let him pass, and he went amongst the dead and saw his Eurydice\nin the throng. Again they were together, Orpheus and Eurydice, and as they\nwent through the place that King Aidoneus ruled over, they had no fear of\nlooking back, one upon the other.\n\n\n\n\nVII. Jason and Medea\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_J_ASON and Medea, unable to win to Iolcus, stayed at Corinth, at the\ncourt of King Creon. Creon was proud to have Jason in his city, but of\nMedea the king was fearful, for he had heard how she had brought about the\ndeath of Apsyrtus, her brother.\n\n  Medea wearied of this long waiting in the palace of King Creon. A\nlonging came upon her to exercise her powers of enchantment. She did not\nforget what Queen Arete had said to her\u2014that if she wished to appease the\nwrath of the gods she should have no more to do with enchantments. She did\nnot forget this, but still there grew in her a longing to use all her\npowers of enchantment.\n\n  And Jason, at the court of King Creon, had his longings, too. He longed\nto enter Iolcus and to show the people the Golden Fleece that he had won;\nhe longed to destroy Pelias, the murderer of his mother and father; above\nall he longed to be a king, and to rule in the kingdom that Cretheus had\nfounded.\n\n  Once Jason spoke to Medea of his longing. \u201cO Jason,\u201d Medea said, \u201cI have\ndone many things for thee and this thing also I will do. I will go into\nIolcus, and by my enchantments I will make clear the way for the return of\nthe _Argo_ and for thy return with thy comrades\u2014yea, and for thy coming to\nthe kingship, O Jason.\u201d\n\n  He should have remembered then the words of Queen Arete to Medea, but\nthe longing that he had for his triumph and his revenge was in the way of\nhis remembering. He said, \u201cO Medea, help me in this with all thine\nenchantments and thou wilt be more dear to me than ever before thou wert.\u201d\n\n  Medea then went forth from the palace of King Creon and she made more\nterrible spells than ever she had made in Colchis. All night she stayed in\na tangled place weaving her spells. Dawn came, and she knew that the\nspells she had woven had not been in vain, for beside her there stood a\ncar that was drawn by dragons.\n\n  Medea the Enchantress had never looked on these dragon shapes before.\nWhen she looked upon them now she was fearful of them. But then she said\nto herself, \u201cI am Medea, and I would be a greater enchantress and a more\ncunning woman than I have been, and what I have thought of, that will I\ncarry out.\u201d She mounted the car drawn by the dragons, and in the first\nlight of the day she went from Corinth.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  To the places where grew the herbs of magic Medea journeyed in her\ndragon-drawn car\u2014to the Mountains Ossa, Pelion, \u0152thrys, Pindus, and\nOlympus; then to the rivers Apidanus, Enipeus, and Peneus. She gathered\nherbs on the mountains and grasses on the rivers\u2019 banks; some she plucked\nup by the roots and some she cut with the curved blade of a knife. When\nshe had gathered these herbs and grasses she went back to Corinth on her\ndragon-drawn car.\n\n  Then Jason saw her; pale and drawn was her face, and her eyes were\nstrange and gleaming. He saw her standing by the car drawn by the dragons,\nand a terror of Medea came into his mind. He went toward her, but in a\nharsh voice she bade him not come near to disturb the brewing that she was\ngoing to begin. Jason turned away. As he went toward the palace he saw\nGlauce, King Creon\u2019s daughter; the maiden was coming from the well and she\ncarried a pitcher of water. He thought how fair Glauce looked in the light\nof the morning, how the wind played with her hair and her garments, and\nhow far away she was from witcheries and enchantments.\n\n  As for Medea, she placed in a heap beside her the magic herbs and\ngrasses she had gathered. Then she put them in a bronze pot and boiled\nthem in water from the stream. Soon froth came on the boiling, and Medea\nstirred the pot with a withered branch of an apple tree. The branch was\nwithered\u2014it was indeed no more than a dry stick, but as she stirred the\nherbs and grasses with it, first leaves, then flowers, and lastly, bright\ngleaming apples came on it. And when the pot boiled over and drops from it\nfell upon the ground, there grew up out of the dry earth soft grasses and\nflowers. Such was the power of renewal that was in the magical brew that\nMedea had made.\n\n  She filled a phial with the liquid she had brewed, and she scattered the\nrest in the wild places of the garden. Then, taking the phial and the\napples that had grown on the withered branch, she mounted the car drawn by\nthe dragons, and she went once more from Corinth.\n\n  On she journeyed in her dragon-drawn car until she came to a place that\nwas near to Iolcus. There the dragons descended. They had come to a dark\npool. Medea, making herself naked, stood in that dark pool. For a while\nshe looked down upon herself, seeing in the dark water her white body and\nher lovely hair. Then she bathed herself in the water. Soon a dread change\ncame over her: she saw her hair become scant and gray, and she saw her\nbody become bent and withered. She stepped out of the pool a withered and\nwitchlike woman; when she dressed herself the rich clothes that she had\nworn before hung loosely upon her, and she looked the more forbidding\nbecause of them. She bade the dragons go, and they flew through the air\nwith the empty car. Then she hid in her dress the phial with the liquid\nshe had brewed and the apples that had grown upon the withered branch. She\npicked up a stick to lean upon, and with the gait of an ancient woman she\nwent hobbling upon the road to Iolcus.\n\n  On the streets of the city the fierce fighting men that Pelias had\nbrought down from the mountains showed themselves; few of the men or women\nof the city showed themselves even in the daytime. Medea went through the\ncity and to the palace of King Pelias. But no one might enter there, and\nthe guards laid hands upon her and held her.\n\n  Medea did not struggle with them. She drew from the folds of her dress\none of the gleaming apples that she carried and she gave it to one of the\nguards. \u201cIt is for King Pelias,\u201d she said. \u201cGive the apple to him and then\ndo with me as the king would have you do.\u201d\n\n  The guards brought the gleaming apple to the king. When he had taken it\ninto his hand and had smelled its fragrance, old trembling Pelias asked\nwhere the apple had come from. The guards told him it had been brought by\nan ancient woman who was now outside seated on a stone in the courtyard.\n\n  He looked on the shining apple and he felt its fragrance and he could\nnot help thinking, old trembling Pelias, that this apple might be the\nmeans of bringing him back to the fullness of health and courage that he\nhad had before. He sent for the ancient woman who had brought it that she\nmight tell him where it had come from and who it was that had sent it to\nhim. Then the guards brought Medea before him.\n\n  She saw an old man, white-faced and trembling, with shaking hands and\neyes that looked on her fearfully. \u201cWho are you,\u201d he asked, \u201cand from\nwhence came the apple that you had them bring me?\u201d\n\n  Medea, standing before him, looked a withered and shrunken beldame, a\nwoman bent with years, but yet with eyes that were bright and living. She\ncame near him and she said: \u201cThe apple, O King, came from the garden that\nis watched over by the Daughters of the Evening Land. He who eats it has a\nlittle of the weight of old age taken from him. But things more wonderful\neven than the shining apples grow in that far garden. There are plants\nthere the juices of which make youthful again all aged and failing things.\nThe apple would bring you a little way toward the vigor of your prime. But\nthe juices I have can bring you to a time more wonderful\u2014back even to the\nstrength and the glory of your youth.\u201d\n\n  When the king heard her say this a light came into his heavy eyes, and\nhis hands caught Medea and drew her to him. \u201cWho are you?\u201d he cried, \u201cwho\nspeak of the garden watched over by the Daughters of the Evening Land? Who\nare you who speak of juices that can bring back one to the strength and\nglory of his youth?\u201d\n\n  Medea answered: \u201cI am a woman who has known many and great griefs, O\nking. My griefs have brought me through the world. Many have searched for\nthe garden watched over by the Daughters of the Evening Land, but I came\nto it unthinkingly, and without wanting them I gathered the gleaming\napples and took from the plants there the juices that can bring youth\nback.\u201d\n\n  Pelias said: \u201cIf you have been able to come by those juices, how is it\nthat you remain in woeful age and decrepitude?\u201d\n\n  She said: \u201cBecause of my many griefs, king, I would not renew my life. I\nwould be ever nearer death and the end of all things. But you are a king\nand have all things you desire at your hand\u2014beauty and state and power.\nSurely if any one would desire it, you would desire to have youth back to\nyou.\u201d\n\n  Pelias, when he heard her say this, knew that besides youth there was\nnothing that he desired. After crimes that had gone through the whole of\nhis manhood he had secured for himself the kingdom that Cretheus had\nfounded. But old age had come on him, and the weakness of old age, and the\npower he had won was falling from his hands. He would be overthrown in his\nweakness, or else he would soon come to die, and there would be an end\nthen to his name and to his kingship.\n\n  How fortunate above all kings he would be, he thought, if it could be\nthat some one should come to him with juices that would renew his youth!\nHe looked longingly into the eyes of the ancient-seeming woman before him,\nand he said: \u201cHow is it that you show no gains from the juices that you\nspeak of? You are old and in woeful decrepitude. Even if you would not win\nback to youth you could have got riches and state for that which you say\nyou possess.\u201d\n\n  Then Medea said: \u201cI have lost so much and have suffered so much that I\nwould not have youth back at the price of facing the years. I would sink\ndown to the quiet of the grave. But I hope for some ease before I die\u2014for\nthe ease that is in king\u2019s houses, with good food to eat, and rest, and\nservants to wait upon one\u2019s aged body. These are the things I desire, O\nPelias, even as you desire youth. You can give me such things, and I have\ncome to you who desire youth eagerly rather than to kings who have a less\neager desire for it. To you I will give the juices that bring one back to\nthe strength and the glory of youth.\u201d\n\n  Pelias said: \u201cI have only your word for it that you possess these\njuices. Many there are who come and say deceiving things to a king.\u201d\n\n  Said Medea: \u201cLet there be no more words between us, O king. To-morrow I\nwill show you the virtue of the juices I have brought with me. Have a\ngreat vat prepared\u2014a vat that a man could lay himself in with the water\ncovering him. Have this vat filled with water, and bring to it the oldest\ncreature you can get\u2014a ram or a goat that is the oldest of their flock. Do\nthis, O king, and you will be shown a thing to wonder at and to be hopeful\nover.\u201d\n\n  So Medea said, and then she turned around and left the king\u2019s presence.\nPelias called to his guards and he bade them take the woman into their\ncharge and treat her considerately. The guards took Medea away. Then all\nday the king mused on what had been told him and a wild hope kept beating\nabout his heart. He had the servants prepare a great vat in the lower\nchambers, and he had his shepherd bring him a ram that was the oldest in\nthe flock.\n\n  Only Medea was permitted to come into that chamber with the king; the\nways to it were guarded, and all that took place in it was secret. Medea\nwas brought to the closed door by her guard. She opened it and she saw the\nking there and the vat already prepared; she saw a ram tethered near the\nvat.\n\n  Medea looked upon the king. In the light of the torches his face was\nwhite and fierce and his mouth moved gaspingly. She spoke to him quietly,\nand said: \u201cThere is no need for you to hear me speak. You will watch a\ngreat miracle, for behold! the ram which is the oldest and feeblest in the\nflock will become young and invigorated when it comes forth from this\nvat.\u201d\n\n  She untethered the ram, and with the help of Pelias drew it to the vat.\nThis was not hard to do, for the beast was very feeble; its feet could\nhardly bear it upright, its wool was yellow and stayed only in patches on\nits shrunken body. Easily the beast was forced into the vat. Then Medea\ndrew the phial out of her bosom and poured into the water some of the brew\nshe had made in Creon\u2019s garden in Corinth. The water in the vat took on a\nstrange bubbling, and the ram sank down.\n\n  Then Medea, standing beside the vat, sang an incantation.\n\n  \u201cO Earth,\u201d she sang, \u201cO Earth who dost provide wise men with potent\nherbs, O Earth help me now. I am she who can drive the clouds; I am she\nwho can dispel the winds; I am she who can break the jaws of serpents with\nmy incantations; I am she who can uproot living trees and rocks; who can\nmake the mountains shake; who can bring the ghosts from their tombs. O\nEarth, help me now.\u201d At this strange incantation the mixture in the vat\nboiled and bubbled more and more. Then the boiling and bubbling ceased. Up\nto the surface came the ram. Medea helped it to struggle out of the vat,\nand then it turned and smote the vat with its head.\n\n  Pelias took down a torch and stood before the beast. Vigorous indeed was\nthe ram, and its wool was white and grew evenly upon it. They could not\ntether it again, and when the servants were brought into the chamber it\ntook two of them to drag away the ram.\n\n  The king was most eager to enter the vat and have Medea put in the brew\nand speak the incantation over it. But Medea bade him wait until the\nmorrow. All night the king lay awake, thinking of how he might regain his\nyouth and his strength and be secure and triumphant thereafter.\n\n  At the first light he sent for Medea and he told her that he would have\nthe vat made ready and that he would go into it that night. Medea looked\nupon him, and the helplessness that he showed made her want to work a\ngreater evil upon him, or, if not upon him, upon his house. How soon it\nwould have reached its end, all her plot for the destruction of this king!\nBut she would leave in the king\u2019s house a misery that would not have an\nend so soon.\n\n  So she said to the king: \u201cI would say the incantation over a beast of\nthe field, but over a king I could not say it. Let those of your own blood\nbe with you when you enter the vat that will bring such change to you.\nHave your daughters there. I will give them the juice to mix in the vat,\nand I will teach them the incantation that has to be said.\u201d\n\n  So she said, and she made Pelias consent to having his daughters and not\nMedea in the chamber of the vat. They were sent for and they came before\nMedea, the daughters of King Pelias.\n\n  They were women who had been borne down by the tyranny of their father;\nthey stood before him now, two dim-eyed creatures, very feeble and\nfearful. To them Medea gave the phial that had in it the liquid to mix in\nthe vat; also she taught them the words of the incantation, but she taught\nthem to use these words wrongly.\n\n  The vat was prepared in the lower chambers; Pelias and his daughters\nwent there, and the chamber was guarded, and what happened there was in\nsecret. Pelias went into the vat; the brew was thrown into it, and the vat\nboiled and bubbled as before. Pelias sank down in it. Over him then his\ndaughters said the magic words as Medea had taught them.\n\n  Pelias sank down, but he did not rise again. The hours went past and the\nmorning came, and the daughters of King Pelias raised frightened laments.\nOver the sides of the vat the mixture boiled and bubbled, and Pelias was\nto be seen at the bottom with his limbs stiffened in death.\n\n  Then the guards came, and they took King Pelias out of the vat and left\nhim in his royal chamber. The word went through the palace that the king\nwas dead. There was a hush in the palace then, but not the hush of grief.\nOne by one servants and servitors stole away from the palace that was\nhated by all. Then there was clatter in the streets as the fierce fighting\nmen from the mountains galloped away with what plunder they could seize.\nAnd through all this the daughters of King Pelias sat crouching in fear\nabove the body of their father.\n\n  And Medea, still an ancient woman seemingly, went through the crowds\nthat now came on the streets of the city. She told those she went amongst\nthat the son of \u00c6son was alive and would soon be in their midst. Hearing\nthis the men of the city formed a council of elders to rule the people\nuntil Jason\u2019s coming. In such way Medea brought about the end of King\nPelias\u2019s reign.\n\n  In triumph she went through the city. But as she was passing the temple\nher dress was caught and held, and turning around she faced the ancient\npriestess of Artemis, Iphias. \u201cThou art \u00c6etes\u2019s daughter,\u201d Iphias said,\n\u201cwho in deceit didst come into Iolcus. Woe to thee and woe to Jason for\nwhat thou hast done this day! Not for the slaying of Pelias art thou\nblameworthy, but for the misery that thou hast brought upon his daughters\nby bringing them into the guilt of the slaying. Go from the city, daughter\nof King \u00c6etes; never, never wilt thou come back into it.\u201d\n\n  But little heed did Medea pay to the ancient priestess, Iphias. Still in\nthe guise of an old woman she went through the streets of the city, and\nout through the gate and along the highway that led from Iolcus. To that\ndark pool she came where she had bathed herself before. But now she did\nnot step into the pool nor pour its water over her shrinking flesh;\ninstead she built up two altars of green sods\u2014an altar to Youth and an\naltar to Hecate, queen of the witches; she wreathed them with green boughs\nfrom the forest, and she prayed before each. Then she made herself naked,\nand she anointed herself with the brew she had made from the magical herbs\nand grasses. All marks of age and decrepitude left her, and when she stood\nover the dark pool and looked down on herself she saw that her body was\nwhite and shapely as before, and that her hair was soft and lovely.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n\n  She stayed all night between the tangled wood and the dark pool, and\nwith the first light the car drawn by the scaly dragons came to her. She\nmounted the car, and she journeyed back to Corinth.\n\n\n\n  Into Jason\u2019s mind a fear of Medea had come since the hour when he had\nseen her mount the car drawn by the scaly dragons. He could not think of\nher any more as the one who had been his companion on the _Argo_. He\nthought of her as one who could help him and do wonderful things for him,\nbut not as one whom he could talk softly and lovingly to. Ah, but if Jason\nhad thought less of his kingdom and less of his triumphing with the Fleece\nof Gold, Medea would not have had the dragons come to her.\n\n  And now that his love for Medea had altered, Jason noted the loveliness\nof another\u2014of Glauce, the daughter of Creon, the King of Corinth. And\nGlauce, who had red lips and the eyes of a child, saw in Jason who had\nbrought the Golden Fleece out of Colchis the image of every hero she had\nheard about in stories. Creon, the king, often brought Jason and Glauce\ntogether, for his hope was that the hero would wed his daughter and stay\nin Corinth and strengthen his kingdom. He thought that Medea, that strange\nwoman, could not keep a companionship with Jason.\n\n  Two were walking in the king\u2019s garden, and they were Jason and Glauce. A\nshadow fell between them, and when Jason looked up he saw Medea\u2019s dragon\ncar. Down flew the dragons, and Medea came from the car and stood between\nJason and the princess. Angrily she spoke to him. \u201cI have made the kingdom\nready for your return,\u201d she said, \u201cbut if you would go there you must\nfirst let me deal in my own way with this pretty maiden.\u201d And so fiercely\ndid Medea look upon her that Glauce shrank back and clung to Jason for\nprotection. \u201cO, Jason,\u201d she cried, \u201cthou didst say that I am such a one as\nthou didst dream of when in the forest with Chiron, before the adventure\nof the Golden Fleece drew thee away from the Grecian lands. Oh, save me\nnow from the power of her who comes in the dragon car.\u201d And Jason said: \u201cI\nsaid all that thou hast said, and I will protect thee, O Glauce.\u201d\n\n  And then Medea thought of the king\u2019s house she had left for Jason, and\nof the brother whom she had let be slain, and of the plot she had carried\nout to bring Jason back to Iolcus, and a great fury came over her. In her\nhand she took foam from the jaws of the dragons, and she cast the foam\nupon Glauce, and the princess fell back into the arms of Jason with the\ndragon foam burning into her.\n\n  Then, seeing in his eyes that he had forgotten all that he owed to\nher\u2014the winning of the Golden Fleece, and the safety of _Argo_, and the\ndestruction of the power of King Pelias\u2014seeing in his eyes that Jason had\nforgotten all this, Medea went into her dragon-borne car and spoke the\nwords that made the scaly dragons bear her aloft. She flew from Corinth,\nleaving Jason in King Creon\u2019s garden with Glauce dying in his arms. He\nlifted her up and laid her upon a bed, but even as her friends came around\nher the daughter of King Creon died.\n\n\n\n\n[Decorative first letter]\n_A_ND Jason? For long he stayed in Corinth, a famous man indeed, but one\nsorrowful and alone. But again there grew in him the desire to rule and to\nhave possessions. He called around him again the men whose home was in\nIolcus\u2014those who had followed him as bright-eyed youths when he first\nproclaimed his purpose of winning the Fleece of Gold. He called them\naround him, and he led them on board the _Argo_. Once more they lifted\nsails, and once more they took the _Argo_ into the open sea.\n\n  Toward Iolcus they sailed; their passage was fortunate, and in a short\ntime they brought the _Argo_ safely into the harbor of Pagas\u00e6. Oh, happy\nwere the crowds that came thronging to see the ship that had the famous\nFleece of Gold upon her masthead, and green and sweet smelling were the\ngarlands that the people brought to wreathe the heads of Jason and his\ncompanions! Jason looked upon the throngs, and he thought that much had\ngone from him, but he thought that whatever else had gone something\nremained to him\u2014to be a king and a great ruler over a people.\n\n  And so Jason came back to Iolcus. The _Argo_ he made a blazing pile of\nin sacrifice to Poseidon, the god of the sea. The Golden Fleece he hung in\nthe temple of the gods. Then he took up the rule of the kingdom that\nCretheus had founded, and he became the greatest of the kings of Greece.\n\n  And to Iolcus there came, year after year, young men who would look upon\nthe gleaming thing that was hung there in the temple of the gods. And as\nthey looked upon it, young man after young man, the thought would come to\neach that he would make himself strong enough and heroic enough to win for\nhis country something as precious as Jason\u2019s GOLDEN FLEECE. And for all\ntheir lives they kept in mind the words that Jason had inscribed upon a\npillar that was placed beside the Fleece of Gold\u2014the words that Triton\nspoke to the Argonauts when they were fain to win their way out of the\ninland sea:\u2014\n\n\n    THAT IS THE OUTLET TO THE SEA, WHERE THE DEEP WATER LIES UNMOVED\n    AND DARK; ON EACH SIDE ROLL WHITE BREAKERS WITH SHINING CRESTS;\n    AND THE WAY BETWEEN FOR YOUR PASSAGE OUT IS NARROW. BUT GO IN JOY,\n    AND AS FOR LABOR LET THERE BE NO GRIEVING THAT LIMBS IN YOUTHFUL\n    VIGOR SHOULD STILL TOIL.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTE\n\n\n  The book received a Newbery Honor Award (1922).\n\n  Illustrations in the original appear on separate, unnumbered pages. In\nthis transcription, wherever an illustration would break a paragraph, it\nwas moved after the paragraph.\n\n  Obvious typographical errors were silently corrected.","title":"The Golden Fleece and The Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":75650}