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 drank of the clear spring
water, for wine is not fit for growing lads. 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.
And 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 Cheiron took his lyre, and all the lads joined hands;
and as be played, they danced to his 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 lad danced with them, delighted, and then slept a

wholesome sleep, upon fragrant leaves of bay, and myrtle, and
marjoram, and flowers of thyme; and rose at the dawn, and

bathed in the torrent, and became a schoolfellow to the
heroes' sons, and forgot Iolcos, and his father, and all his

former life. But he grew strong, and brave and cunning, upon
the pleasant downs of Pelion, in the keen hungry mountain

air. And he learnt to wrestle, and to box, and to hunt, and
to play upon the harp; and next he learnt to ride, for old

Cheiron used to mount him on his back; and he learnt the
virtues of all herbs and how to cure all wounds; and Cheiron

called him Jason the healer, and that is his name until this
day.

PART II - HOW JASON LOST HIS SANDAL IN ANAUROS
AND ten 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. Asclepius was gone into Peloponnese

to work his wondrous cures on men; and some say he used to
raise the dead to life. And Heracles was gone to Thebes to

fulfil those famous labours which have become a proverb among
men. And Peleus had married a sea-nymph, 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 Cheiron the just. And it
happened on a day that Jason stood on the mountain, and

looked north and south and east and west; and Cheiron 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
Lapithai breed their horses; and the lake of Boibe, and the

stream which runs northward to Peneus and Tempe; and he
looked north, and saw the mountain wall which guards the

Magnesian shore; Olympus, the seat of the Immortals, and
Ossa, and Pelion, where he stood. Then he looked east and saw

the bright blue sea, which stretched away for ever 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 Pagasai, and the rich lowlands
of Haemonia, and Iolcos by the sea.

Then he sighed, and asked, 'Is it true what the heroes tell
me - that I am 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 Pelias the terrible?'
'I can try my strength with his,' said Jason; but Cheiron

sighed, and said -
'You have many a danger to go through before you rule in

Iolcos 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 Cheiron sighed again, and said, 'The eaglet must leave
the nest when it is fledged. Will you go to Iolcos by the

sea? Then promise me two things before you go.'
Jason promised, and Cheiron answered, 'Speak harshly to no

soul whom you may meet, and stand by the word which you shall
speak.'

Jason wondered why Cheiron asked this of him; but he knew
that the Centaur was a prophet, and saw things long before

they came. So he promised, and leapt down the mountain, to
take his fortune like a man.

He went down through the arbutus thickets, and across the
downs of thyme, till he came to the vineyard walls, and the

pomegranates and the olives in the glen; and among the olives
roared Anauros, all foaming with a summer flood.

And on the bank of Anauros sat a woman, all wrinkled, gray,
and old; her head shook palsied on her breast, and her hands

shook palsied 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: and yet he thought twice before he leapt, 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 woman whined all the more, 'I am weak and old,

fair youth. For Hera's sake, carry me over the torrent.'
And Jason was going to answer her scornfully, when Cheiron's

words came to his mind.
So he said, 'For Hera'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 leapt upon his back, as nimbly as a goat;
and Jason staggered in, wondering; and the first step was up

to his knees.
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 woman cried from off his back -
'Fool, 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 Cheiron's words were in his mind,
and he said only, 'Patience, mother; the best horse may

stumble some day.'
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 awhile upon the bank, and then leapt up to go
upon his journey; but he cast one look at the old woman, 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 of 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 upon his knees, and hid his face between his
hands.

And she spoke, 'I am the Queen of Olympus, Hera the wife of
Zeus. As thou hast 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 peaks, 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 Cheiron, and said, 'Surely
the Centaur is a prophet, 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 Iolcos; 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 Pelias 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 here, and know of no oracle; but what of my

one sandal? I lost the other in Anauros, while I was
struggling with the flood.'

Then the old man looked back to his companions; and one
sighed, 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 Pelias, and keep it for himself. Therefore
beware how you go up to his 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. For
that very end I came into the town.'

Then he strode on toward the palace of Pelias, while all the
people wondered at his bearing.

And he stood in the doorway and cried, 'Come out, come out,
Pelias the valiant, and fight for your kingdom like a man.'

Pelias came out wondering, and 'Who are you, bold youth?' he
cried.

'I am Jason, the son of AEson, the heir of all this land.'
Then Pelias 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

whichsoever of my daughters you shall choose; though a sad
kingdom you will find it, and whosoever rules it a miserable

man. 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 Pelias, '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 its ruler a miserable man?'
Then Pelias 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 Phrixus, and of the golden

fleece; and told him, too, which was a lie, that Phrixus'
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, whom he never lets

sleep in peace?'
Jason sat awhile, 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 it.

But when Pelias 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 Pelias 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 will I be to you. Yet why did you drive
my father out?'

Pelias smiled, and sighed. '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 to-morrow, and ask him; and he will tell you the same.'

Jason's heart leapt in him when he heard that he was to see
his father; and he believed all that Pelias said, forgetting

that his father might not dare to tell the truth.