Section 3 of the Junior Classics, Volume 3, Tales from Greece and Rome, edited by William Patton, 1868 to 1936. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Gillian Hendry. Pegasus, The Winged Horse by Nathaniel Hawthorne Once, in the old, old times, a fountain gushed out of a hillside in the marvellous land of Greece. And for ought I know, after so many thousand years, it is still gushing out of the very self-same spot. At any rate, there was the pleasant fountain, welling freshly forth and sparkling down the hillside in the golden sunset, when a handsome young man named Pelerophon drew near its margin. In his hand he held a bridle, studied with brilliant gems, and adorned with a golden bit. Seeing an old man, and another of middle age, and a little boy near the fountain, and likewise a maiden, who was dipping up some of the water in a pitcher, he paused and begged that he might refresh himself with a draft. This is very delicious water, he said to the maiden, as he rinsed and filled her pitcher after drinking out of it. Will you be kind enough to tell me whether the fountain has any name? Yes, it is called the Fountain of Prireni, answered the maiden, and then she added, My grandmother has told me that this clear fountain was once a beautiful woman, and when her son was killed by the arrows of the huntress Diana, she melted all away into tears, and so the water which you find so cool and sweet is the sorrow of that poor mother's heart. I should not have dreamed, observed the young stranger, that so clear a wellspring, with its gush and gurgle and its cheery dance out of the shade and into the sunlight, so much as one teardrop in its bosom, and this then is Prireni. I thank you, pretty maiden, for telling me its name. I have come from a far away country to find this very spot. A middle-aged country fellow, he had driven his cow to drink out of the spring, stared hard at young Belerophon and at the handsome bridle which he carried in his hand. The water-courses must be getting low, friend, in your part of the world, remarked he, if you come so far only to find the Fountain of Prireni. But pray, have you lost a horse? I see you carry the bridle in your hand, and a very pretty one it is with that double row of bright stones upon it. If the horse was as fine as the bridle, you are much to be pitied for losing him. I have lost no horse, said Belerophon, with a smile, but I happen to be seeking a very famous one, which, as wise people have informed me, must be found hereabouts, if anywhere. Do you know whether the winged horse Pegasus still haunts the Fountain of Prireni, as he used to do in your forefathers' days? But then the country fellow laughed. Some of you, my little friends, have probably heard that this Pegasus was a snow-white steed with beautiful silvery wings who spent much of his time on the summit of Mount Helicon. He was as wild and as swift and as buoyant in his flight through the air as any eagle that ever soared into the clouds.  He had no mate. He never had been becked or bridled by a master, and for many a long year he led a solitary and a happy life. Oh, how fine a thing it is to be a winged horse! Sleeping at night as he did on a lofty mountaintop and passing the greater part of the day in the air, Pegasus seemed hardly to be a creature of the earth. Whenever he was seen, up very high above people's heads, with the sunshine on his silvery wings, you would have thought that he belonged to the sky, and that, skimming a little too low, he had got a stray among our mists and vapours and was seeking his way back again. It was very pretty to behold him plunge into the fleecy bosom of a bright cloud and be lost in it for a moment or two and then break forth from the other side or in a sullen rainstorm when there was a grey pavement of clouds over the whole sky. It would sometimes happen that the winged horse descended right through it and the glad light of the upper region would gleam after him. In another instant it is true both Pegasus and the pleasant light would be gone away together, but anyone that was fortunate enough to see this wondrous spectacle felt cheerful the whole day afterward and as much longer as the storm lasted. In the summertime and in the beautifulest of weather, Pegasus often alighted on the solid earth and closing his silvery wings would gallop over hill and dale for pastime as fleekly as the wind. Oftener than in any other place, he had been seen near the fountain of Perene, drinking the delicious water or rolling himself upon the soft grass of the margin. Sometimes too, but Pegasus was very dainty in his food, he would crop a few of the clover blossoms that happened to be sweetest. To the fountain of Perene, therefore, people's great-grandfathers had been in the habit of going as long as they were youthful and retained their faith in winged horses in hopes of getting a glimpse at the beautiful Pegasus. But of late years he had been very seldom seen. Indeed, there were many of the country folks dwelling within half an hour's walk of the fountain who had never beheld Pegasus and did not believe that there was any such creature in existence. The country fellow to whom Balerophon was speaking chanced to be one of those incredulous persons and that was the reason why he laughed. Pegasus indeed, cried he, turning up his nose as high as such a flat nose could be turned up. Pegasus indeed, a winged horse truly. My friend, are you in your senses? Of what use would wings be to a horse? Could he drag the plow so well, thank you? To be sure there might be a little saving in the expense of shoes, but then how would a man like to see his horse flying out of the stable window, yes or whisking him up above the clouds when he only wanted to ride to the mill? No, no, I don't believe in Pegasus. There never was such a ridiculous kind of a horse-fell maid. I have some reason to think otherwise, said Balerophon quietly. And then he turned to an old grey man who was leaning on a staff and listening very attentively with his head stretched forward and one hand at his ear because for the last twenty years he had been getting rather deaf. And what say you, venerable sir? inquired he. In your younger days I should imagine you must frequently have seen the winged steed. Ah, young stranger, my memory is very poor, said the aged man. When I was a lad, if I remember rightly, I used to believe there was such a horse and so did everybody else, but nowadays I hardly know what to think and very seldom think about the winged horse at all. If I ever saw the creature it was a long, long while ago and to tell you the truth I doubt whether I ever did see him. One day to be sure when I was quite a youth I remember seeing some hoof trumps round about the brink of the fountain. Pegasus might have made those hoof marks and so might some other horse. And have you never seen him, my fair maiden? asked Belerophon of the girl who stood with the picture on her head while his talk went on. You certainly could see Pegasus, if anybody can, for your eyes are very bright. Once I thought I saw him, replied the maiden with a smile and a blush. It was either Pegasus or a large white bird a very great way up in the air and one other time as I was coming to the fountain with my picture I heard a nae oh such a brisk and melodious nae as that was my very heart leaped with delight at the sound but it startled me nevertheless so that I ran home without feeling my picture.  Well my little fellow cried Belerophon playfully pulling one of his curls I suppose you have often seen the winged horse. That I have! answered the child very readily. I saw him yesterday and many times before.  Come tell me all about it. Why? replied the child. I often come here to sail little boats in the fountain and to gather pretty pebbles out of its basin and sometimes when I look down into the water I see the image of the winged horse in the picture of the sky that is there. I wish he would come down and take me on his back and let me ride him up to the moon but if I so much as stir to look at him he flies far away out of sight and Belerophon put his faith in the child who had seen the image of Pegasus in the water and in the maiden who had heard him nay so melodiously rather than in the middle aged clown who believed only in cart horses or in the old man who had forgotten the beautiful things of his youth. Therefore he haunted about the fountain of Pirini for a great many days afterward. He kept continually on the watch looking upward at the sky or else down into the water hoping forever that he should see either the reflected image of the winged horse or the marvellous reality. He held the bridle with its bright gems and golden bit always ready in his hand. The rustic people who dwelt in the neighbourhood and drove their cattle to the fountain to drink would often laugh at Curb Belerophon and sometimes take him pretty severely to task. They told him that an able bodied young man like himself ought to have better business than to be wasting his time in such an idle pursuit. They offered to sell him a horse if he wanted one and when Belerophon declined the purchase they tried to drive a bargain with him for his fine bridle. Even the country boys thought him so very foolish that they used to have a great deal of sport about him and were rude enough not to care a fig although Belerophon saw and heard it. One little urchin for example would play Pegasus and cut the oddest imaginable capers by way of flying while one of his school fellows would scamper after him holding forth a twist of bullrushes which was intended to represent Belerophon's ornamental bridle. But the gentle child who had seen the picture of Pegasus in the water comforted the young stranger more than all the naughty boys could torment him. The dear little fellow in his play hours often sat down beside him and without speaking a word would look down into the fountain and up toward the sky with so innocent of faith that Belerophon could not help feeling encouraged. Now you will perhaps wish to be told why it was that Belerophon had undertaken to catch the winged horse and we shall find no better opportunity to speak about this matter than while he is waiting for Pegasus to appear. If I were to relate to the whole of Belerophon's previous adventures they might easily grow into a very long story. It will be quite enough to say that in a certain country in Asia a terrible monster called a chimera had made its appearance and was doing more mischief than could be talked about between now and sunset. According to the best accounts which I have been able to obtain this chimera was nearly, if not quite, the ugliest and most poisonous creature and the strangest and unaccountableist and the hardest to fight with and the difficult to run away from that ever came out of the earth's inside. It had a tail like a bow constrictor its body was like I do not care what and it had three separate heads one of which was a lion's, the second a goat's and the third an abominably great snake's and a hot blast of fire came flaming out of each of its three mouths. So quickly monster I doubt whether it had any wings but wings or no it ran like a goat and a lion and wriggled along like a serpent and thus contrived to make about as much speed as all the three together.  It laid waste the whole country round about and used to eat up people and animals alive and cook them afterward in the burning oven of its stomach.  While the hateful beast if a beast we can any wise call it was doing all these horrible things it so chanced that Belerophon came to that part of the world on a visit to the king. The king's name was Yobates and Lycea was the country which he ruled over. Belerophon was one of the bravest youths in the world and desired nothing so much as to do some valiant and beneficent deed such as would make all mankind admire and love him. In those days the only way for a young man to distinguish himself was by fighting battles either with the enemies of his country or with wicked giants or with troublesome dragons or with wild beasts when you could find nothing more dangerous to encounter. King Yobates perceiving the courage of this youthful visitor proposed to him to go and fight the chimera which everybody else was afraid of and which unless it should be soon killed was likely to convert Lycea into a desert. Belerophon hesitated not a moment but assured the king that he would either slay this dreaded chimera or perish in the attempt. But in the first place as the monster was so prodigiously swift he thought himself that he should never win the victory by fighting on foot. The wisest thing he could do therefore was to get the very best and flittest horse that could anywhere be found. And what other horse in all the world was half so fleet as the marvellous horse Pegasus who had wings as well as legs and was even more active in the air than on the earth. To be sure a great many people denied that there was any such horse with wings and said that the stories about him were all poetry and nonsense. But wonderful as it appeared Belerophon believed that Pegasus was a real steed and hoped that he himself might be fortunate enough to find him and once fairly mounted on his back he would be able to fight the chimera at better advantage. And this was the purpose with which he had travelled from Lycea to Greece and had brought the beautifully ornamental bridle in his hand. It was an enchanted bridle if he could only succeed in putting the golden bit into the mouth of Pegasus the winged horse would be submissive and would own Belerophon for his master and fly whither so ever he might choose to turn the rain. But indeed it was a weary and anxious time while Belerophon waited and waited for Pegasus in hopes that he would come and drink at the fountain of Pereni. He was afraid lest King Iobites should imagine that he had fled from the chimera. It pained him too to think how much mischief the monster was doing while he himself instead of fighting with it was compelled to sit idly pouring over the bright waters of Pereni as they gushed out of the sparkling sand. And as Pegasus came thither so seldom in these latter years and scarcely alighted there more than once in a lifetime Belerophon feared that he might grow an old man with no strength left in his arms nor courage in his heart before the winged horse would appear. Oh how heavily passes the time while an adventurous youth is yearning to do his part in life and to gather in the harvest of his renown how hard a lesson it is to wait our life is brief and how much of it is spent in teaching us only this. Well was it for Belerophon that the gentle child had grown so fond of him and was never weary of keeping him company? Every morning the child gave him a new hope to put in his bosom instead of yesterday's withered one. Dear Belerophon, he would cry looking up hopefully into his face I think we shall see Pegasus today. And at length if it had not been for the little boy's unwavering faith Belerophon would have given up all hope and would have gone back to Lycea and have done his best to slay the Chimera without the help of the winged horse and in that case poor Belerophon would at least have been terribly scorched by the creature's breath and would most probably have been killed and devoured. Nobody should ever try to fight an earth-born Chimera unless he can first get upon the back of an aerial state. One morning the child spoke to Belerophon even more hopefully than usual Dear, dear Belerophon, cried he I know not why it is but I feel as if we should certainly see Pegasus today and all that day he would not stir a step from Belerophon's side so they ate a crust of bread together and drank some of the water off the fountain In the afternoon there they sat and Belerophon had thrown his arms around the child who likewise had put one of his little hands into Belerophon's The latter was lost in his own thoughts and was fixing his eyes vacantly on the trunks of the trees that overshadowed the fountain and on the grapevines that clambered up among their branches but the gentle child was gazing down into the water he was grieved for Belerophon's sake that the hope of another day should be deceived like so many before it and two or three quiet teardrops fell from his eyes and mingled with what were said to be the many tears of Perini when she wept for her slain children but when he least thought of it Belerophon felt the pressure of the child's little hand and heard a soft almost breathless whisper See there, dear Belerophon, there is an image in the water The young man looked down into the dimpling mirror of the fountain and saw what he took to be the reflection of a bird which seemed to be flying at a great height in the air with a gleam of sunshine on its snowy or silvery wings What a splendid bird it must be, said he and how very large it looks though it must really be flying higher than the clouds It makes me tremble, whispered the child I am afraid to look up into the air It is very beautiful and yet I dare only look at its image in the water Dear Belerophon, do you not see that it is no bird? It is the winged horse, Pegasus Belerophon's heart began to throb He gazed keenly upward but could not see the winged creature, whether bird or horse because just then it had plunged into the fleeting depths of a summer cloud It was but a moment however before the object reappeared sinking lightly down out of the cloud although still at a vast distance from the earth Belerophon caught the child in his arms and shrank back with him so that they were both hidden among the thick shrubbery which grew all round the fountain Not that he was afraid of any harm but he dreaded less if Pegasus caught a glimpse of them he would fly far away and alight in some inaccessible mountaintop for it was really the winged horse After they had expected him so long he was coming to quench his thirst with the water of Perene Nearer and nearer came the aerial wonder flying in great circles as you may have seen a dove when about to alight Downward came Pegasus in those wide sweeping circles which grew narrower and narrower still as he gradually approached the earth The nier the view of him the more beautiful he was and the more marvellous the sweep of his silvery wings At last with so light a pressure as hardly to bend the grass about the fountain or imprint a hoof-trump in the sand of its margin he alighted and stooping his wild head began to drink He drew in the water with long and pleasant size and tranquil pauses of enjoyment and then another draught and another and another For nowhere in the world or up among the clouds did Pegasus love any water as he loved this of Perene And when his thirst was slaked he cropped a few of the honey blossoms of the clover delicately tasting them but not caring to make a hearty meal because the herbage just beneath the clouds on the lofty sides of Mount Helicon suited his palate better than this ordinary grass After thus drinking to his heart's content and in his dainty fashion condescending to take a little food the winged horse began to caper to and fro and dance as it were out of mere idleness and sport There never was a more playful creature made than this very Pegasus So there he frisked thinking that it delights me to think about fluttering his great wings as lightly as ever did a linnet and running little races half on earth and half in the air and which I know not whether to call a flight or a gallop When a creature is perfectly able to fly he sometimes chooses to run just for the past time of the thing and so did Pegasus although it cost him some little trouble to keep his hooves so near the ground he thought it was a little fun meanwhile holding the child's hand peeped forth from the shrubbery and thought that never was any sight so beautiful as this nor ever a horse's eyes so wild and spirited as those of Pegasus It seemed a sin to think of bridling him and riding on his back Once or twice Pegasus stopped and snuffed the air creaking up his ears tossing his head and turning it on all sides some mischief or other saying nothing however and hearing no sound he soon began his antics again at length not that he was weary but only idle and luxurious Pegasus folded his wings and laid down on the soft green turf but being too full of aerial life to remain quiet for many moments together he soon rolled over on his back with his four slender legs in the air it was beautiful to see him this one solitary creature whose mate had never been created but who needed no companion and living a great many hundred years was as happy as the centuries were long the more he did such things as mortal horses are accustomed to do the less earthly and the more wonderful he seemed Belerophon and the child almost held their breath from a delightful all but still more because they dreaded lest the slightest stir or murmur should send him up with the speed of an arrow flight into the furthest blue of the sky finally when he had enough of rolling over and over Pegasus turned himself about and indolently like any other horse put out his four legs in order to rise from the ground and Belerophon guessed that he would do so darted suddenly from the thicket and leaped a stride of his back yes there he sat on the back of the winged horse but what a bound did Pegasus make when for the first time he felt the weight of a mortal man upon his loins a bound indeed before he had time to draw a breath Belerophon found himself five hundred feet aloft and still shooting upward while the winged horse snorted and trembled with terror and anger upward he went up up up until he plunged into the cold misty bosom of a cloud at which only a little while before Belerophon had been gazing and fancying it a very pleasant spot then again out of the heart of the cloud Pegasus shot down like a thunderbolt as if he meant to dash both himself and his rider headlong against a rock then he went through about a thousand of the wildest caprioles that had ever been performed either by a bird or a horse I cannot tell you half that he did he skimmed straight forward and sideways and backward he reared himself erect with his four legs on a wreath of mist and his hind legs on nothing at all he flung out his heels behind and put down his head between his legs with his wings pointing right upward at about two miles height above the earth he turned a sunset so that Belerophon's heels were where his head should have been and he seemed to look down into the sky instead of up he twisted his head about and looking Belerophon in the face with fire flashing from his eyes made a terrible attempt to bite him he fluttered his pinions so wildly that one of the silver feathers was shaken out and floating earthward was picked up by the child who kept it as long as he lived in memory of Pegasus and Belerophon but the latter who as you may judge was as good a horseman as ever galloped had been watching his opportunity and at last clapped the golden bit of the enchanted bridle between the winged steed's jaws no sooner was this done than Pegasus became as manageable as if he had taken food all his life out of Belerophon's hand to speak what I really feel it was almost a sadness to see so wild a creature grow suddenly so tame and Pegasus seemed to feel it so likewise he looked round to Belerophon with the tears in his beautiful eyes instead of the fire that so recently flashed from them but when Belerophon patted his head and spoke a few authoritative yet kind and soothing words another look came into the eyes of Pegasus for he was glad at heart after so many lonely centuries to have found a companion and a master thus it always is with winged horses and with all such wild and solitary creatures if you can catch and overcome them it is the surest way to win their love while Pegasus had been doing his utmost to shake Belerophon off his back he had flown a very long distance and he had come within sight of a lofty mountain by the time the bit was in his mouth Belerophon had seen this mountain before and knew it to be Helicon on the summit of which was the winged horses abode lither after looking gently into the rider's face as if to ask leave Pegasus now flew and a lighting waited patiently until Belerophon should please to dismount the young man accordingly leaped from his steed's back but still held him fast by the bridle meeting his eyes however he was so affected by the gentleness of his aspect and by the thought of the free life which Pegasus had hitherto lived that he could not bear to keep him a prisoner if he really desired his liberty obeying this generous impulse he slipped the enchanted bridle off the head of Pegasus and took the bit from his mouth leave me Pegasus said he either leave me or love me in an instant the winged horse shot almost out of sight soaring straight upward from the summit of Mount Helicon being long after sunset it was now twilight on the mountain top and dusky evening over all the country round about but Pegasus flew so high that he overtook the departed day and was bathed in the upper radiance of the sun ascending higher and higher he looked a bright speck and at last could no longer be seen in the hollow waist of the sky and Belerophon was afraid that he should never behold him more but while he was lamenting his own folly the bright speck reappeared nearer and nearer until it descended lower than the sunshine and behold Pegasus had come back after this trial there was no more fear of the winged horses making his escape he and Belerophon were friends and put loving faith in one another that night they lay down and slept together with Belerophon's arm about the neck of Pegasus not as a caution for kindness and they woke at people's day and bad one another good morning each in his own language in this manner Belerophon and the wondrous steed spent several days and grew better acquainted and fonder of each other all the time they went on long aerial journeys and sometimes ascended so high that the earth looked hardly bigger than the moon they visited distant countries and amazed the inhabitants who thought that the beautiful young man on the back of the winged horse must have come down out of the sky a thousand miles a day was no more than an easy space for the fleet Pegasus to pass over Belerophon was delighted with this kind of life and would have liked nothing better than to live always in the same way aloft in the clear atmosphere for it was always sunny weather up there however cheerless and rainy it might be in the lower region but he could not forget the horrible Chimaera which he had promised King Liobites to slay so at last when he had become well accustomed to feats of horsemanship in the air and could manage Pegasus with the least motion of his hand and had taught him to obey his voice he determined to attempt the performance of this perilous adventure at daybreak therefore as soon as he unclosed his eyes he gently pinched the winged horse's ear in order to arouse him Pegasus immediately started from the ground and pranced about a quarter of a mile aloft and made a grand sweep around the mountaintop by way of showing that he was wide awake and ready for any kind of an excursion during the whole of this little flight he uttered a loud brisk and melodious nay and finally came down at Belerophon's side as lightly as ever you saw a sparrow hop up on a twig well done dear Pegasus well done my sky skimmer cried Belerophon fondly stroking the horse's neck and now my fleet and beautiful friend we must break our fast today we are to fight the terrible chimera as soon as they had eaten their morning meal and drank some sparkling water from a spring called Hippocrine Pegasus held out his head on a cord so that his master might put on the bridle then with a great many playful leaps and airy caperings he showed his impatience to be gone while Belerophon was girding on his sword and hanging his shield about his neck and preparing himself for battle when everything was ready the rider mounted and as was his custom when going a long distance ascended five miles perpendicularly to see whether he was directing his course he then turned the head of Pegasus toward the east and set out for Lycea in their flight they overtook an eagle and came so nigh him before he could get out of their way that Belerophon might easily have caught him by the leg ascending onward at this rate it was still early in the forenoon when they beheld the lofty mountains of Lycea with their deep and shaggy valleys if Belerophon had been told truly it was in one of those dismal valleys that the hideous chimera had taken up its abode being now so near their journey's end the winged horse gradually descended with his rider and they took advantage of some clouds that were floating over the mountaintops in order to conceal themselves hovering on the upper surface of a cloud and peeping over its edge Belerophon had a pretty distinct view of the mountainous part of Lycea and could look into all its shadowy veils at once at first there appeared to be nothing remarkable it was a wild, savage and rocky tract of high and precipitous hills in the more level part of the country there were the ruins of houses that had been burned and here and there the carcasses of dead cattle strewn about the pastures where they had been feeding the chimera must have done this mischief thought Belerophon but where can the monster be? as I have already said there was nothing remarkable to be detected at first sight in any of the valleys and dels that lay among the precipitous heights of the mountains nothing at all unless indeed it were three spires of black smoke which issued from what seemed to be the mouth of a cavern and clambered sullenly into the atmosphere before reaching the mountaintop these three black smoke wreaths mingled themselves into one the cavern was almost directly beneath the winged horse and his rider at the distance of about a thousand feet the smoke as it crept heavily upward had an ugly, sulphurous stifling scent which caused pegasus to snort and Belerophon to sneeze so disagreeable was it to the marvellous steed who was accustomed to breathe only the purest air that he waved his wings and shot half a mile out of the range of this offensive vapour but on looking behind him Belerophon saw something that induced him first to draw the bridle and then to turn pegasus about he made a sign which the winged horse understood and sunk slowly through the air until his hooves were scarcely more than a man's height above the rocky bottom of the valley in front as far off as you could throw a stone was the cavern's mouth with the three smoke wreaths oozing out of it and what else did Belerophon behold there there seemed to be a heap of strange and terrible creatures curled up within the cavern their bodies lay so close together that Belerophon could not distinguish them apart but judging by their heads one of these creatures was a huge snake the second a fierce lion and the third an ugly goat the lion and the goat were asleep the snake was brought awake and kept staring around him with a great pair of fiery eyes but, and this was the most wonderful part of the matter the three spires of smoke evidently issued from the nostrils of these three heads so strange was the spectacle that Belerophon had been all along expecting it the truth did not immediately occur to him that here was the terrible three-headed chimera he had found out the chimera's cavern the snake, the lion and the goat as he supposed them to be were not three separate creatures but one monster the wicked hateful thing slumbering as two-thirds of it were it still held in its abominable claws the remnant of an unfortunate lamb or possibly, but I hate to think so it was a dear little boy which its three mouths had been gnawing before two of them fell asleep all at once Belerophon started as from a dream and knew it to be the chimera Pegasus seemed to know it at the same instant and sent forth a nae that sounded like the call of a trumpet to battle at this sound the three heads reared themselves erect and belched out great flashes of flame before Belerophon had time to consider what to do next the monster flung itself out of the cavern and sprang straight toward him with its immense claws extended and its snakey tail twisting itself venomously behind if Pegasus had not been as nimble as a bird both he and his rider would have been overthrown by the chimera's head-long rush thus the battle have been ended before it was well begun but the winged horse was not to be caught so in the twinkling of an eye he was up and aloft halfway to the clouds snorting with anger he shuddered too, not with a fright but with utter disgust at the loathsomeness of this poisonous thing with three heads the chimera on the other hand raised itself up so as to stand absolutely at the tip end of its tail with its talons pawing fiercely in the air and its three heads splittering fire at Pegasus and his rider my stars how it roared and hissed and bellowed Belerophon meanwhile was fitting his shield on his arm and drawing his sword now my beloved Pegasus he whispered in the winged horse's ear that must help me to slay this insufferable monster thou shalt fly back to thy solitary mountain peak without thy friend Belerophon for either the chimera dies or its three mouths shall gnaw this head of mine which has slumbered upon thy neck Pegasus whinnied and turning back his head rubbed his nose tenderly against his rider's cheek it was his way of telling him that though he had wings and was an immortal horse yet he would perish if it were possible for immortality to perish rather than leave Belerophon behind I thank you Pegasus answered Belerophon now then let us make a dash at the monster uttering these words he shook the bridle and Pegasus darted down a slant as swift as the flight of an arrow right towards the chimera's threefold head which all this time was poking itself as high as it could into the air as he came within arms length Belerophon made a cut at the monster but was carried onward by his steed before he could see whether the blow had been successful Pegasus continued his course but soon wheeled round at about the same distance from the chimera as before Belerophon then perceived that he had cut the goat's head of the monster almost off so that it dangled downward by the skin and seemed quite dead but to make amends the snake's head and the lion's head had taken all the fierceness of the dead one into themselves and spit flame and hissed and roared with a vast deal more fury than before Never mind my brave Pegasus cried Belerophon with another stroke like that we will stop either its hissing or its roaring and again he shook the bridle dashing a slant wise as before the winged horse made another arrow flight toward the chimera and Belerophon aimed another downright stroke at one of the two remaining heads as he shot by but this time neither he nor Pegasus escaped so well as at first with one of its claws the chimera had given the young man a deep scratch in his shoulder and had slightly damaged the left wing of the flying steed with the other on his part Belerophon had mortally wounded the lion's head of the monster in so much that it now hung downward with its fire almost extinguished and sending out gasps of thick black smoke the snake's head however which was the only one left now was twice as fierce and venomous as ever before it belched forth shoots of fire 500 yards long and emitted hisses so loud so harsh and so ear piercing that King Eobates heard them 50 miles off and trembled till the throne shook under him well indeed thought the poor king the chimera is certainly coming to devour me meanwhile Pegasus had again paused in the air and knade angrily while sparkles of a pure crystal flame darted out of his eyes how unlike the lurid fire of the chimera the aerial steed's spirit was all aroused and so was that of Belerophon does thou bleed my immortal horse? cried the young man caring less for his own hurt than for the anguish of this glorious creature that ought never to have tasted pain the execrable chimera shall pay for this mischief with his last head then he shook the bridle shouted loudly and guided Pegasus not as slant-wise as before but straight at the monster's hideous front so rapid was the onset that it seemed but a dazzle and a flash before Belerophon was at close gripes with his enemy the chimera by this time after losing its second head had got into a red-hot passion of pain and rampant rage it so flounced about half on earth and partly in the air that it was impossible to say which element it rested upon it opened its snake jaws to such an abominable width that Pegasus might almost I was going to say have flown right down its throat wings out-spread, rider and all at their approach it shot out a tremendous blast of its fiery breath and enveloped Belerophon and his steed in a perfect atmosphere of flame singeing the wings of Pegasus catching off one whole side of the young man's golden ringlets and making them both far hotter than was comfortable from head to foot but this was nothing to what followed when the airy rush of the winged horse had brought him within the distance of 100 yards the chimera gave a spring and flung its huge, awkward, venomous and utterly detestable carcass right upon poor Pegasus, clung around him with might and mane and tied up its snaky tail into a knot up flew the aerial steed higher, higher, higher above the mountain peaks above the clouds and almost out of sight of the solid earth but still the earth-born monster kept its hold and was born upward along with the creature of light and air Belerophon meanwhile turning about found himself face to face with the ugly grimness of the chimera's visage and could only avoid being scorched to death or bitten right in twain by holding up his shield over the upper edge of the shield he looked sternly into the savage eyes of the monster but the chimera was so mad and wild with pain that it did not guard itself so well as might else have been the case perhaps after all the best way to fight a chimera is by getting as close to it as you can just to stick its horrible iron claws into its enemy the creature left its own breast quite exposed and perceiving this Belerophon thrust his sword up to the hilt in its cruel heart immediately the snaky tail untied its knot the monster let go its hold of pegasus and fell from that vast height downward while the fire within its bosom instead of being put out burned future than ever and quickly began to consume the dead carcass thus it fell out of the sky all aflame and it being nightfall before it reached the earth was mistaken for a shooting star or a comet but at early sunrise some cottagers were going to their days labour and saw to their astonishment that several acres of ground were strewn with black ashes in the middle of a field there was a heap of whiteened bones a great deal higher than a haystack nothing else was ever seen of the dreadful chimera and when Belerophon had won the victory he bent forward and kissed pegasus while the tears stood in his eyes back now my beloved steed said he back to the fountain of Pyrene pegasus skimmed through the air quicker than ever he did before and reached the fountain in a very short time there he found the old man leaning on his staff and the countryfellow watering his cow and the pretty maiden filling her picture I remember now quoth the old man I saw this winged horse once before when I was quite a lad but he was ten times handsomer in those days I won a cart horse worth three of him said the countryfellow if this pony were mine it would be to clip his wings but the poor maiden said nothing for she had always the luck to be afraid at the wrong time so she ran away and let her picture tumble down and broke it where is the gentle child asked Belerophon who used to keep me company and never lost his faith and never was weary of gazing into the fountain here am I dear Belerophon for the little boy had spent day after day on the margin of Perini waiting for his friend to come back but when he perceived Belerophon descending through the clouds mounted on the winged horse he had shrunk back into the shrubbery he was a delicate and tender child and dreaded lest the old man and the countryfellow should see the tears gushing from his eyes that has won the victory said he joyfully running to the knees of Belerophon who still sat on the back of Pegasus I knew thou wouldst yes dear child replied Belerophon a lighting from the winged horse but if thy faith had not helped me I should never have waited for Pegasus and never have gone up above the clouds and never have conquered the terrible Chimera thou my beloved little friend has done it all and now let us give Pegasus his liberty so he slipped off the enchanted bridle from the head of the marvellous steed be free for evermore my Pegasus cried he with a shade of sadness in his tone be as free as thou art fleet but Pegasus rested his head on Belerophon's shoulder and would not be persuaded to take flight well then said Belerophon caressing the eerie horse thou shalt be with me as long as thou wilt and we will go together forthwith and tell King Eobates that the Chimera is destroyed then Belerophon embraced the gentle child and promised to come to him again and departed but in after years that child took higher flights upon the aerial steed than ever did Belerophon and achieved more honourable deeds than his friend's victory over the Chimera for gentle and tender as he was he grew to be a mighty poet end of section three section four of the junior classics volume three Tales from Greece and Rome edited by William Patton 1868 to 1936 this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gillian Hendry the heroes sail away in search of the Golden Fleece by Charles Kingsley this is a tale of heroes who sailed away into a distant land to win themselves renowned forever in the adventure of the Golden Fleece whether they sailed my children I cannot clearly tell it all happened long ago so long that it has all grown dim like a dream which you dreamed last year and why they went I cannot tell some say that it was to win gold it may be so but the noblest deeds which have been done on earth have not been done for gold the Spartans looked for no reward in money when they fought and died at Thermopylae and Socrates the wise asked no pay from his countrymen but lived poor and barefoot all his days only caring to make men good and there are heroes in our days also who do noble deeds but not for gold our discoverers did not go to make themselves rich when they sailed out one after another into the dreary frozen seas therefore we will believe why should we not of these same Argonauts of old that they too were noblemen who planned and did a noble deed and that therefore their fame has lived and been told in story and in song mixed up no doubt with dreams and fables and yet true and right at heart so we will honour these old Argonauts and listen to their story as it stands and we will try to be like them each of us in our place for each of us has a golden fleece to seek and a wild sea to sail over ere we reach it and dragons to fight ere it be ours and what was that first golden fleece I do not know nor care the old Greeks said that it hung in Colchis what we call the Circassian coast nailed to a beech tree in the war gods would and that it was the fleece of the wondrous ram who bore Frixus and Heli across the black sea for Frixus and Heli were the children of the cloud nymph and of Athamas the Minouan king and when a famine came upon the land their cruel stepmother Eno wished to kill them so that her young children might reign and said that they must be sacrificed on an altar to turn away the anger of the gods so the poor children were brought to the altar and the priest stood ready with his knife when out of the clouds came the golden ram and took them on his back and vanished then madness came upon that foolish king Athamas and ruin upon Eno and her children for Athamas killed one of them and Eno fled from him with the other in her arms and leaped from a cliff into the sea and was changed into a dolphin such as you have seen which wandered over the waves forever sighing with its little one clasped to its breast but the people drove out King Athamas because he had killed his child and he roamed about in his misery till he came to the oracle in Delphi and the oracle told him that he must wander for his sin till the wild beasts should feast him as their guest so he went on in hunger and sorrow for many a weary day till he saw a pack of wolves the wolves were tearing a sheep but when they saw Athamas they fled and left the sheep for him and he ate of it and then he knew that the oracle was fulfilled at last so he wondered no more but settled and built a town and became a king again but the ram carried the two children far away over land and sea till he came to the Thracian Cursonies and there Heli fell into the sea so the narrow straits are called Helispont after her and they bear that name until this day then the ram flew on with frixes to the northeast across the sea which we call the Black Sea now but the Greeks call it Uxion and at last they say he stopped at Colchis on the steep Thracian coast and there frixes married Calciope the daughter of Aetis the king and offered the ram in sacrifice and Aetis nailed the ram's fleece to a beach in the grove of Mars the war god after a while frixes died and was buried but his spirit had no rest for he was buried far from his native land and the pleasant hills of Greece so he came in dreams to the heroes of the Minoai and sadly by their beds come and set my spirit free that I may go home to my fathers and to my kinsfolk and the pleasant Minoan land and they asked how shall we set your spirit free you must sail over the sea to Colchis and bring home the golden fleece and then my spirit will come back with it and I shall sleep with my fathers and have rest often he came thus and called to them but when they woke they looked at each other and said who dares sail to Colchis or bring home the golden fleece and in all the country none was brave enough to try it for the man and the time were not come frixes had a cousin called Eson who was king in Yolcos by the sea there he ruled over the rich Minoan heroes as Athamas his uncle ruled in Biosha and like Athamas he was an unhappy man for he had a step-brother named Pelius of whom some said that he was a nymph's son and there were dark and sad tales about his birth when he was a babe he was cast out on the mountains and a wild mare came by and kicked him but a shepherd passing found the baby with its face all blackened by the blow and took him home and called him Pelius because his face was bruised and black and he grew up fierce and lawless and did many a fearful deed and at last he drove out Eson his step-brother and then his own brother Nelius and took the kingdom to himself and ruled over the rich Minoan heroes in Yolcos by the sea and Eson when he was driven out went sadly away out of the town leading his little son by the hand and he said to himself I must hide the child in the mountains or Pelius will surely kill him because he is the heir so he went up from the sea across the valley through the vineyards and the olive groves and across the torrent of Anorys towards Pelion the ancient mountain whose brows are white with snow he went up and up into the mountain over marsh and crag and down till the boy was tired and foot sore and Eson had to bear him in his arms till he came to the mouth of a lonely cave at the foot of a mighty cliff above the cliff the snow reeds hung dripping and cracking in the sun but at its foot around the cave's mouth grew all fair flowers and herbs as if in a garden ranged in order each sort by itself there they grew gaily in the sunshine and the spray of the torrent from above while from the cave came the sound of music and a man's voice singing to the harp then Eson the lad and whispered fear not but go in and whosoever you shall find lay your hands upon his knees and say in the name of Jupiter the father of gods and men I am your guest from this day forth then the lad went in without trembling for he too was a hero's son but when he was within he stopped in wonder to listen to that magic song and there he saw the singer walk on bearskins and fragrant bows Chiron the ancient centaur the wisest of all things beneath the sky down to the waist he was a man but below he was a noble horse his white hair rolled down over his broad shoulders and his white beard over his broad brown chest and his eyes were wise and mild and his forehead like a mountain wall and in his hands he held a harp of gold and struck it with a golden key and as he struck he sang till his eyes glittered and filled all the cave with light and he sang of the birth of time and of the heavens and the dancing stars of the ocean and the ether and the fire and the shaping of the wondrous earth and he sang of the treasures of the hills and the hidden jewels of the mine and the veins of fire and metal and the virtues of all healing herbs and of the speech of birds and of prophecy and of hidden things to come then he sang of health and strength and manhood and a valiant heart and of music and hunting and wrestling and all the games which heroes love and of travel and wars and sieges and a noble death in fight and then he sang of peace and plenty and of equal justice in the land and as he sang the boy listened wide-eyed and forgot his errand in the song and at the last old Kyron was silent and called the lad with a soft voice and the lad ran trembling to him and would have laid his hands upon his knees but Kyron smiled and said call hither your father Eson for I know you and all that has befallen and saw you both afar in the valley even before you left the town then Eson came in sadly and Kyron asked him why camest you not yourself to me Eson the Elid then Eson said I thought Kyron would pity the lad if he sees him come alone and I wish to try whether he was fearless and dare venture like a hero's son but now I entreat you by Father Jupiter let the boy be your guest till better times and train him among the sons of the heroes that he may avenge his father's house then Kyron smiled and drew the lad to him and laid his hand upon his golden locks and said are you afraid of my horses hooves fair boy or will you be my pupil from this day I would gladly have horses hooves like you if I could sing such songs as yours and Kyron laughed and said sit here by me till sundown when your playfellows will come home and you shall learn like them to be a king worthy to rule over gallant men then he turned to Eson and said go back in peace and bend before the storm like a prudent man this boy shall not cross the honoris again till he has become a glory to you and to the house of Eolus and Eson wept over his son and went away but the boy did not weep so full was his fancy of that strange cave and the center and his song and the playfellows whom he was to see then Kyron put the lyre into his hands and taught him how to play it till the sun sank low behind the cliff and a shout was heard outside and then in came the sons of the heroes Aeneas and Hercules and Palaeus and many other mighty name and great Kyron leaped up joyfully and his hoofs made the cave resound as they shouted come out Father Kyron come out and see our game and one cried I have killed two deer and another I took a wild cat among the crags and Hercules dragged a wild goat after him by its horns for he was as huge as a mountain crag and Aeneas carried a bear cub under each arm and laughed when they scratched and bit for neither tooth nor steel could wind him and Kyron praised them all each according to his desserts only one walked apart and silent is Galapius the two wise child carrying herbs and flowers and round his wrist a spotted snake he came with downcast eyes to Kyron and whispered how he had watched the snake cast its old skin and grow young again before his eyes and how he had gone down into a village in the Vale and cured a dying man with a herb which he had seen a sick goat eat and Kyron smiled and said to each Minerva and Apollo gave some gift and each is worthy in his place but to this child they have given an honour beyond all honours to cure and all honours kill then the lads brought in wood and split it and lighted a blazing fire and others skinned the deer and quartered them and set them to roast before the fire and while the venison was cooking they bathed in the snow torrent and washed away the dust and sweat and then all ate till they could eat no more for they had tasted nothing since the dawn and when the remnants were put away they all lay down upon the skins and leaves about the fire and each took the lyre in turn and sang and played with all his heart after a while they all went out to a plot of grass at the cave's mouth and there they boxed and ran and wrestled and laughed till the stones fell from the cliffs then Kyron took his lyre and all the lads joined hands and as he played they began to measure in and out and round and round there they danced hand in hand till the night fell over land and sea while the black glen shone with their broad white limbs and the gleam of their golden hair and the lads danced with them delighted and then slept a wholesome sleep upon fragrant leaves of bay and myrtle and marjoram and flowers of time and rose at the dawn in the torrent and became a school fellow to the hero's sons and forgot Iolcus and his father and all his former life but he grew strong and brave and cunning upon the pleasant downs of Pylion in the keen, hungry mountain air and he learned to wrestle and to box and to hunt and to play upon the harp and next he learned to ride for old Kyron used to mount him on his back and he learned the virtues of all herbs and how to cure all wounds and Kyron called him Jason the healer and that is his name until this day End of Section 4 Section 5 Of the junior classics, Volume 3 Tales from Greece and Rome edited by William Patton 1868-1936 This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gillian Hendry How Jason Lost His Sandal by Charles Kingsley 10 years came and went and Jason was grown to be a mighty man some of his fellows were gone and some were growing up by his side his Galapias was gone into Peloponias to work his wondrous cures on men and some say he used to raise the dead to life and Hercules was gone to Thebes to fulfil those famous labourers which have become a proverb among men Pilius had married a cenymph and his wedding is famous to this day and Aeneas was gone home to Troy and many a noble tale you will read of him and of all the other gallant heroes the scholars of Kyron the just Now it happened on a day that Jason stood on the mountain and looked north and south and east and west and Kyron stood by him and watched him for he knew that the time was come and Jason looked and saw the plains of Thessaly where the lepathy breed their horses and the lake of Boyby and the stream which runs northward to Pinius and Tempe and he looked north and saw the mountain wall which guards the magnesium shore Olympus the seat of the immortals and Osat and Pilius where he stood then he looked east and saw the bright blue sea which stretched away forever toward the dawn then he looked south and saw a pleasant land with white-walled towns and farms nestling along the shore of a land-locked bay while the smoke rose blue among the trees and he knew it for the bay of Pagasi and the rich lowlands of Hemonia and Iocos by the sea then he sighed and asked is it true what the heroes tell me that I am the heir of that fair land and what good would it be to you Jason if you were heir of that fair land I would take it and keep it a strong man has taken it and kept it long are you stronger than Pilius the terrible I can try my strength with his said Jason but Kairan sighed and said you have many a danger to go through before you rule in Iocos by the sea many a danger and many a woe and strange troubles in strange lands such as man never saw before the happier I said Jason to see what man never saw before and Kairan sighed again and said the iglet must leave the nest when it is fledged will you go to Iocos by the sea then promise me two things before you go Jason promised and Kairan answered speak harshly to no soul whom you may meet and stand by the word which you shall speak Jason wondered why Kairan asked this of him but he knew that the centaur was a prophet and saw things long before they came so he promised and leaped down the mountain to take his fortune like a man he went down through the Arbutus and across the downs of time till he came to the vineyard walls and the pomegranates and the olives and among the olives roared a Norris all foaming with a summer flood and on the bank of a Norris sat a woman all wrinkled grey and old her head shook pulsed on her breast and her hands shook pulsed on her knees and when she saw Jason she spoke whining who will carry me across the flood Jason was bold and hasty and was just going to leap into the flood he thought twice before he leaped so loud roared the torrent down all brown from the mountain rains and silver veined with melting snow while underneath he could hear the boulders rumbling like the tramp of horsemen or the roll of wheels as they ground along the narrow channel and shook the rocks on which he stood but the old women whined all the more I am weak and old fair youth for Juno's sake carry me over the torrent and Jason was going to answer her scornfully when Kyron's words came to his mind so he said for Juno's sake the queen of the immortals on Olympus I will carry you over the torrent unless we both are drowned midway then the old dame leaped on his back as nimbly as a goat and Jason staggered in wondering and the first step was up to his knees and the second step was up to his waist and the stones rolled about his feet and his feet slipped about the stones so he went on staggering and panting while the old women cried from off his back Phil you have wet my mantle do you make game of poor old souls like me Jason had half a mind to drop her and let her get through the torrent by herself but Kyron's words were in his mind and he said only patience mother the best horse may stumble someday at last he staggered to the shore and set her down upon the bank and a strong man he needed to have been or that wild water he never would have crossed he lay panting a while upon the bank and then leaped up to go upon his journey but he cast one look at the old women for he thought she should thank me once at least and as he looked she grew fairer than all women and taller than all men on earth and her garments shone like the summer sea and her jewels like the stars of heaven and over her forehead was a veil woven off the golden clouds of sunset and through the veil she looked down on him with great soft heifer's eyes with great eyes mild and awful which filled all the glen with light and Jason fell on his knees and hit his face between his hands and she spoke I am the queen of Olympus, Juno the wife of Jupiter as thou has done to me so will I do to thee call on me in the hour of need and try if the immortals can forget and when Jason looked up she rose from off the earth like a pillar of tall white cloud and floated away across the mountain toward Olympus the holy hill then a great fear fell on Jason but after a while he grew light of heart and he blessed old Chiron and said surely the centre is a profit and guessed what would come to pass when he bade me speak harshly to no soul whom I might meet then he went down toward Yalcos and as he walked he found that he had lost one of his sandals in the flood and as he went through the streets the people came out to look at him so tall and fair was he but some of the elders whispered together and at last one of them stopped Jason and called to him fair lad, who are you and whence come you and what is your errand in the town my name good father is Jason and I come from Pelion up above and my errand is to Pelius your king tell me then where his palace is but the old man started and grew pale and said do you not know the oracle my son that you go so boldly through the town with but one sandal on I am a stranger and no of no oracle but what of my one sandal I lost the other in a Norris while I was struggling with the flood then the old man looked back to his companions and one side and another smiled at last he said I will tell you lest you rush upon your ruin unawares the oracle in Delphi has said that a man wearing one sandal should take the kingdom from Pelius and keep it for himself therefore beware how you go up to the palace for he is the fiercest and most cunning of all kings then Jason laughed a great laugh like a war horse in his pride good news good father both for you and me at the very end I came into the town then he strode on toward the palace of Pelius while all the people wondered at his bearing and he stood in the doorway and cried come out come out Pelius the valiant and fight for your kingdom like a man Pelius came out wondering and who are you bold youth he cried I am Jason the son of Eson the heir of all this land then Pelius lifted up his hands and eyes and wept or seemed to weep and blessed the heavens which had brought his nephew to him never to leave him more for, said he I have but three daughters and no son to be my heir you shall be my heir then and rule the kingdom after me and marry which soever of my daughters you shall choose though a sad kingdom you will find it and who soever rules it but come in come in and feast so he drew Jason in whether he would or not and spoke to him so lovingly and feasted him so well that Jason's anger passed and after supper his three cousins came into the hall and Jason thought that he should like well enough to have one of them for his wife but at last he said to Pelius why do you look so sad my uncle and what did you mean just now when you said that this was a doleful kingdom and it's ruler a miserable man Pelius sighed heavily again and again and again like a man who had to tell some dreadful story and was afraid to begin but at last for seven long years and more have I never known a quiet night and no more will he who comes after me till the golden fleece be brought home then he told Jason the story of Frixus and of the golden fleece and told him too which was a lie that Frixus spirit tormented him calling to him day and night and his daughters came and told the same tale for their father had taught them their parts and wept and said oh who will bring home the golden fleece that our uncle's spirit may rest and that we may have rest also never let sleep in peace Jason sat a while sad and silent for he had often heard of that golden fleece but he looked on it as a thing hopeless and impossible for any mortal man to win but when Pelius saw him silent he began to talk of other things and courted Jason more and more speaking to him as if he was certain to be his heir and asking his advice about the kingdom till Jason who was young and simple could not help saying to himself surely he is not the dark man whom people call him yet why did he drive my father out and he asked Pelius boldly men say that you are terrible and a man of blood but I find you a kind and hospitable man and as you are to me so I will be to you yet why did you drive my father out and smile on side men have slandered me in that as in all things your father was growing old and weary and he gave the kingdom up to me of his own will you shall see him tomorrow and ask him and he will tell you the same Jason's heart leaped in him when he heard that he was to see his father and he believed all that Pelius said forgetting that his father might not dare to tell the truth one thing more there is said Pelius on which I need your advice for though you are young I see a new wisdom beyond your years there is one neighbour of mine whom I dread more than all men on earth I am stronger than he now and can command him but I know that if he stay among us he will work my ruin in the end can you give me a plan Jason by which I can rid myself of that man after a while Jason answered half laughing where are you? I would send him to fetch that same golden fleece for if he once set forth after it you would never be troubled with him more a bitter smile came across Pelius's lips and a flash of wicked joy into his eyes and Jason saw it and started and over his mind came the warning of the old man and his own one sandal and he saw that he was taken in a trap but Pelius only answered gently my son he shall be sent forth with you mean me? cried Jason starting up because I came here with one sandal and he lifted his fist angrily while Pelius stood up to him like a wolf at bay and whether of the two was the stronger and the fiercer it would be hard to tell after a moment Pelius spoke gently why then so rash my son you and not I have said what is said why blame me for what I have not done had you bid me love the man of whom I spoke and make him my son-in-law and heir I would have obeyed you and what if I obeyed you now and send the man to win himself immortal fame I have not harmed you or him at least I know that he will go and that gladly for he has a hero's heart within him loving glory and scourning to break the word which he has given Jason saw that he was entrapped but his second promise to Kyron came into his mind and he thought what if the center were a prophet in that also and meant that I should win the fleece then he cried aloud well spoken cunning uncle of mine I love glory and I dare keep to my word I will go and fetch this golden fleece promise me but this in return and keep your word as I keep mine treat my father lovingly while I am gone for the sake of all seeing Jupiter and give me up the kingdom for my own on the day that I bring back the golden fleece then Pelius looked at him and almost loved him in the midst of all his hate and said I promise and I will perform it will be no shame to give up my kingdom to the man who wins that fleece then they swore a great oath between them and afterward both went in and lay down to sleep but Jason could not sleep for thinking of his mighty oath and how he was to fulfill it all alone and without wealth or friends for a long time upon his bed and thought of this plan and of that and sometimes Frixus seemed to call him in a thin voice faint and low as if it came from far across the sea let me come home to my father's and have rest and sometimes he seemed to see the eyes of Juno and to hear her words again call on me in the hour of need and see if the immortals can forget and on the morrow he went to Pilius and said give me a victim that I may sacrifice to Juno so he went up and offered his sacrifice and as he stood by the altar Juno sent a thought into his mind and he went back to Pilius and said if you are indeed in earnest give me two heralds that they may go round to all the princes in the Manui who were pupils of the Centaur with me that we may fit out a ship together and take what shall befall at that Pilius praised his wisdom and hastened to send the heralds out for he said in his heart that all the princes go with him and like him never return for so I shall be lord of all the Manui and the greatest king in Greece End of Section 5 Section 6 of the Junior Classics Volume 3 Tales from Greece and Rome edited by William Patton 1868-1936 This Libri Vox recording is in the public domain Recording by Gillian Hendry How they built the ship Argo by Charles Kingsley So the heralds went out and cried to all the heroes of the Manui Who dare come to the adventure of the Golden Fleece and Juno stirred the hearts of all the princes and they came from all their valleys to the Yellow Sands of Pagasi and first came Hercules the Mighty with his lion's skin and club and behind him Hylas his young squire who bore his arrows and his bow and Typhus the skillful Steersman and Putis the fairest of all men and Castor and Pollux the twins the sons of the magic swan and Kinius the strongest of mortals and then there came Zetes and Calus the winged sons of the north wind and Pilius the father of Achilles whose bride was Silverfooted Thetis the goddess of the sea and then there came Telemon and Oilius the fathers of the two Iantes who fought upon the plains of Troy and Mopsis the wise Soothsayer who knew the speech of birds to whom Phoebus gave a tongue to prophesy of things to come and Anchaos who could read the stars and Argos the famed shipbuilder and many a hero more in helmets of brass and gold with tall dyed horse hair crests and embroidered shirts of linen beneath their coats of mail and greaves of polished tin to guard their knees in fight with each man his shield and his shoulder of many a fold of tough bulls hide and his sword of tempered bronze in his silver studded belt and in his right hand a pair of lances of the heavy white ash staves so they came down to Ioncos and all the city came out to meet them and were never tired with looking at their height and their beauty and their gallant bearing and the glitter of their inlaid arms and as some said never was such a gathering of the heroes since the Greeks conquered the land but the women sighed over them and whispered Alas they are all going to their death then they fell the pines on Pylion and shaped them with the axe and Argos taught them to build a galley the first long ship which ever sailed the seas they pierced her for 50 oars each hero of the crew and pitched her with coal black pitch and painted her bows with Bermilion and they named her Argo after Argos and worked at her all day long and at night Pylius feasted them like a king and they slept in his palace porch but Jason went away to the northward and into the land of Thrace till he found Orpheus the Prince of Minstrels where he dwelt in his cave under Rhodope among the savage Scycon tribes and he asked him will you leave your mountains Orpheus my fellow scholar in old times and cross Strymon once more with me to sail with the heroes of the Minui and bring home the golden fleece and charm for us all men and all monsters with your magic harp and song then Orpheus sighed have I not had enough of toil and of weary wandering far and wide since I lived in Chiron's cave above Iocos by the sea in vain is the skill and the voice which my goddess mother gave me in vain have I sung and laboured in vain I went down to the dead and charmed all the kings of Hades to win back Eurydice my bride for I won her my beloved and lost her again the same day and wandered away in my madness even to Egypt and the Libyan and the Isles of all the seas driven on by the terrible Godfly while I charmed in vain the hearts of men and the savage forest beasts and the trees and the lifeless stones with my magic harp and song giving rest but finding none but at last Calliope my mother delivered me and brought me home in peace and I dwell here in the cave alone among the savage Scon tribes softening their wild hearts with music and the gentle laws of Jupiter and now I must go out again to the ends of all the earth far away into the misty darkness to the last wave of the eastern sea but what is doomed must be and a friend's demand obeyed for prayers are the daughters of Jupiter and who honours them honours him then Orpheus rose up sighing and took his harp and went over Strymon and he led Jason to the south west up the banks of Haleakmon and over the spurs of Pindus to Dodona the town of Jupiter where it stood by the side of the sacred lake and the fountain which breathed out fire in the darkness of the ancient oakwood beneath the mountain of the hundred springs and he led them to the talking oak where the black dove settled in old times and was changed into the priestess of Jupiter and gave oracles to all nations round and he bad them cut down a bow and sacrificed to Juno and to Jupiter and they took the bow and came to Iolkos and nailed it to the beakhead of the ship at last the ship was finished and they tried to launch her down the beach but she was too heavy for them to move her and her keel sank deep into the sand then all the heroes looked at each other blushing but Jason spoke and said let us ask the magic bow perhaps it can help us in our need then a voice came from the bow and Jason heard the words it said and bad Orpheus play upon the harp while the heroes waited round holding the pine trunk rollers to help her toward the sea so Orpheus took his harp and began his magic song how sweet it is to ride upon the surges and to leap from wave to wave while the wind sings cheerful in the cordage and the oars flash fast among the foam how sweet it is to roam across the ocean and see new towns and wondrous lands and to come home laden with treasure and to win undying fame and the good ship Argo heard him and longed to be away and out at sea till she stirred in every timber and heaved from stem to stern and leaped up from the sand upon the rollers and plunged onward like a gallant horse and the heroes fed her path with pine trunks till she rushed into the whispering sea then they stored her well with food and water and pulled the ladder up on board and settled themselves each man to his oar and kept time to Orpheus's harp and away across the bay they rode southward while the people lined the cliffs and the women wept while the men shouted at the starting of that gallant crew End of section 6