No More Learning

It seemed no force could wake him from his place ; But there came one, who with a kindred hand
Touched his wide shoulders, after bending low
With reverence, though to one who knew it not.
She was a Goddess of the infant world ;
By her in stature the tall Amazon
Had stood a pygmy's height : she would have ta'en Achilles by the hair and bent his neck ;
Or with a finger stayed Ixion's wheel.
Her face was large as that of Memphian sphinx, Pedestaled haply in a palace court,
When sages looked to Egypt for their lore.
But oh ! how unlike marble was that face :
How beautiful, if sorrow had not made
Sorrow more beautiful than Beauty's self.
There was a listening fear in her regard,
As if calamity had but begun 5
As if the vanward clouds of evil days
Had spent their malice, and the sullen rear
Was with its stored thunder laboring up.
One hand she pressed upon that aching spot
Where beats the human heart, as if just there,
Though an immortal, she felt cruel pain :
The other upon Saturn's bended neck
She laid, and to the level of his ear
Leaning with parted lips, some words she spake
In solemn tenor and deep organ tone :
Some mourning words, which in our feeble tongue Would come in these like accents ; O how frail
To that large utterance of the early Gods !
" Saturn, look up ! — though wherefore, poor old King ? I have no comfort for thee, no not one :
I cannot say, ' O wherefore sleepest thou ? '
For heaven is parted from thee, and the earth
Knows thee not, thus afflicted, for a God ;
And ocean too, with all its solemn noise,
Has from thy scepter passed ; and all the air
Is emptied of thine hoary majesty.
HYPERION.
Thy thunder, conscious of the new command, Rumbles reluctant o'er our fallen house ;
And thy sharp lightning in unpracticed hands Scorches and burns our once serene domain.
O aching time ! O moments big as years !
All as ye pass swell out the monstrous truth, And press it so upon our weary griefs
That unbelief has not a space to breathe. Saturn, sleep on : — O thoughtless, why did I Thus violate thy slumbrous solitude?
Why should I ope thy melancholy eyes? Saturn, sleep on! while at thy feet I weep. "
As when, upon a tranced summer night,
Those green-robed senators of mighty woods,
Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars, Dream, and so dream all night without a stir, Save from one gradual solitary gust
Which comes upon the silence, and dies off,
As if the ebbing air had but one wave ;
So came these words and went; the while in tears She touched her fair large forehead to the ground, Just where her falling hair might be outspread
A soft and silken mat for Saturn's feet.
One moon, with alteration slow, had shed
Her silver seasons four upon the night,
And still these two were postured motionless, Like natural sculpture in cathedral cavern;
The frozen God still couchant on the earth,
And the sad Goddess weeping at his feet :
Until at length old Saturn lifted up
His faded eyes, and saw his kingdom gone,
And all the gloom and sorrow of the place,
And that fair kneeling Goddess ; and then spake, As with a palsied tongue, and while his beard Shook horrid with such aspen malady : —
" O tender spouse of gold Hyperion,
Thea, I feel thee ere I see thy face ;
Look up, and let me see our doom in it;
Look up, and tell me if this feeble shape
Is Saturn's; tell me, if thou hear'st the voice
Of Saturn ; tell me, if this wrinkling brow, Naked and bare of its great diadem,
Peers like the front of Saturn. Who had power
HYPERION.
To make me desolate? whence came the strength? How was it nurtured to such bursting forth,
While Fate seemed strangled in my nervous grasp? But it is so ; and I am smothered up,
And buried from all godlike exercise
Of influence benign on planets pale,
Of admonitions to the winds and seas,
Of peaceful sway above man's harvesting, And all those acts which Deity supreme Doth ease its heart of love in. — I am gone
I have left
Away from my own bosom :
My strong identity, my real self,
Somewhere between the throne, and where I sit
Here on this spot of earth. Search, Thea, search! Open thine eyes eterne, and sphere them round
Upon all space: space starred, and lorn of light;
Space regioned with life air; and barren void;
Spaces of fire, and all the yawn of hell. —
Search, Thea, search ! and tell me, if thou seest
A certain shape or shadow, making way
With wings or chariot fierce to repossess
A heaven he lost erewhile : it must — it must
Be of ripe progress — Saturn must be King.
Yes, there must be a golden victory;
There must be Gods thrown down, and trumpets blown Of triumph calm, and hymns of festival
Upon the gold clouds metropolitan,
Voices of soft proclaim, and silver stir
Of strings in hollow shells ; and there shall be Beautiful things made new, for the surprise
Of the sky children; I will give command:
Thea! Thea! Thea! where is Saturn? "
This passion lifted him upon his feet,
And made his hands to struggle in the air,
His Druid locks to shake and ooze with sweat, His eyes to fever out, his voice to cease.
He stood, and heard not Thea's sobbing deep;
A little time, and then again he snatched Utterance thus. — "But cannot I create?
Cannot I form? Cannot I fashion forth
Another world, another universe,
To overbear and crumble this to naught?
Where is another chaos? Where? " — That word Found way unto Olympus, and made quake
HYPERION.
The rebel three. — Thea was startled up,
And in her bearing was a sort of hope,
As thus she quick-voiced spake, yet full of awe.
" This cheers our fallen house : come to our friends, O Saturn! come away, and give them heart;
1 know the covert, for thence came I hither. "
Thus brief; then with beseeching eyes she went
With backward footing through the shade a space :
He followed, and she turned to lead the way
Through aged boughs, that yielded like the mist Which eagles cleave upmounting from their nest.
Meanwhile in other realms big tears were shed, More sorrow like to this, and such like woe,
Too huge for mortal tongue or pen of scribe :
The Titans fierce, self -hid, or prison-bound, Groaned for the old allegiance once more,
And listened in sharp pain for Saturn's voice. But one of the whole mammoth-brood still kept His sov'reignty, and rule, and majesty; — Blazing Hyperion on his orbed fire
Still sat, still snuffed the incense, teeming up From man to the sun's God ; yet unsecure :
For as among us mortals omens drear
Fright and perplex, so also shuddered he —
Not at dog's howl, or gloom bird's hated screech, Or the familiar visiting of one
Upon the first toll of his passing bell,
Or prophesyings of the midnight lamp;
But horrors, portioned to a giant nerve,
Oft made Hyperion ache. His palace bright Bastioned with pyramids of glowing gold,
And touched with shade of bronzed obelisks,
Glared a blood-red through all its thousand courts, Arches, and domes, and fiery galleries;
And all its curtains of Aurorian clouds
Flushed angerly : while sometimes eagle's wings, Unseen before by Gods or wondering men,
Darkened the place; and neighing steeds were heard, Not heard before by Gods or wondering men.
Also, when he would taste the spicy wreaths
Of incense, breathed aloft from sacred hills,
Instead of sweets, his ample palate took
Savor of poisonous brass and metal sick :
And so, when harbored in the sleepy west,
HYPERION.
After the full completion of fair day, —
For rest divine upon exalted couch
And slumber in the arms of melody,
He paced away the pleasant hours of ease
With stride colossal, on from hall to hall ;
While far within each aisle and deep recess,
His winged minions in close clusters stood,
Amazed and full of fear; like anxious men
Who on wide plains gather in panting troops,
When earthquakes jar their battlements and towers. Even now, while Saturn, roused from icy trance, Went step for step with Thea through the woods, Hyperion, leaving twilight in the rear,
Came slope upon the threshold of the west; Then, as was wont, his palace door flew ope
In smoothest silence, save what solemn tubes, Blown by the serious Zephyrs, gave of sweet And wandering sounds, slow-breathed melodies; And like a rose in vermeil tint and shape,
In fragrance soft, and coolness to the eye, That inlet to severe magnificence
Stood full blown, for the God to enter in.
He entered, but he entered full of wrath;
His flaming robes streamed out beyond his heels, And gave a roar, as if of earthly fire,
That scared away the meek ethereal Hours
And made their dove wings tremble. On he flared, From stately nave to nave, from vault to vault, Through bowers of fragrant and enwreathed light, And diamond-paved lustrous long arcades,
Until he reached the great main cupola;
There standing fierce beneath, he stampt his foot, And from the basements deep to the high towers Jarred his own golden region; and before
The quavering thunder thereupon had ceased,
His voice leapt out, despite of godlike curb,
To this result: "O dreams of day and night!
O monstrous forms! O effigies of pain!
O specters busy in a cold, cold gloom !
O lank-eared Phantoms of black-weeded pools ! Why do I know ye? why have I seen ye? why
Is my eternal essence thus distraught
To see and to behold these horrors new?
Saturn is fallen, am I too to fall?
Am I to leave this haven of my rest,
HYPERION.
This cradle of my glory, this soft clime, This calm luxuriance of blissful light,
These crystalline pavilions, and pure fanes, Of all my lucent empire? It is left Deserted, void, nor any haunt of mine.
The blaze, the splendor, and the symmetry,
I cannot see — but darkness, death and darkness. Even here, into my center of repose,
The shady visions come to domineer,
Insult, and blind, and stifle up my pomp. —
Fall! — No, by Tellus and her briny robes!
Over the fiery frontier of my realms
I will advance a terrible right arm
Shall scare that infant thunderer, rebel Jove,
And bid old Saturn take his throne again. " —
He spake, and ceased, the while a heavier threat Held struggle with his throat but came not forth ; For as in theaters of crowded men " " Hubbub increases more they call out Hush !
So at Hyperion's words the Phantoms pale
Bestirred themselves, thrice horrible and cold;
And from the mirrored level where he stood
A mist arose, as from a scummy marsh.
At this, through all his bulk an agony
Crept gradual, from the feet unto the crown,
Like a lithe serpent vast and muscular
Making slow way, with head and neck convulsed From overstrained might. Released, he fled
To the eastern gates, and full six dewy hours
Before the dawn in season due should blush,
He breathed fierce breath against the sleepy portals, Cleared them of heavy vapors, burst them wide Suddenly on the ocean's chilly streams.
The planet orb of fire, whereon he rode
Each day from east to west the heavens through, Spun round in sable curtaining of clouds ;
Not therefore veiled quite, blindfold, and hid, But ever and anon the glancing spheres,
Circles, and arcs, and broad-belting colure,
Glowed through, and wrought upon the muffling dark Sweet-shaped lightnings from the nadir deep
Up to the zenith, — hieroglyphics old,
Which sages and keen-eyed astrologers
Then living on the earth, with laboring thought
Won from the gaze of many centuries :
HYPERION.
Now lost, save what we find on remnants huge
Of stone, or marble swart; their import gone,
Their wisdom long since fled. — Two wings this orb Possessed for glory, two fair argent wings,
Ever exalted at the God's approach :
And now, from forth the gloom their plumes immense Kose, one by one, till all outspreaded were;
While still the dazzling globe maintained eclipse, Awaiting for Hyperion's command.
Fain would he have commanded, fain took throne
And bid the day begin, if but for change.
He might not : — No, though a primeval God :
The sacred seasons might not be disturbed.
Therefore the operations of the dawn
Stayed in their birth, even as here 'tis told.
Those silver wings expanded sisterly,
Eager to sail their orb; the porches wide
Opened upon the dusk demesnes of night;
And the bright Titan, frenzied with new woes,
Unused to bend, by hard compulsion bent
His spirit to the sorrow of the time;
And all along a dismal rack of clouds,
Upon the boundaries of day and night,
He stretched himself in grief and radiance faint.
There as he lay, the Heaven with its stars
Looked down on him with pity, and the voice
Of Coelus, from the universal space,
Thus whispered low and solemn in his ear.
" O brightest of my children dear, earth-born
And sky -en gendered, Son of Mysteries
All unrevealed even to the powers
Which met at thy creating; at whose joys
And palpitations sweet, and pleasures soft,
I, Coelus, wonder, how they came and whence ;
And at the fruits thereof what shapes they be, Distinct, and visible; symbols divine,
Manifestations of that beauteous life
Diffused unseen throughout eternal space :
Of these new-formed art thou, O brightest child!
Of these, thy brethren and the Goddesses !
There is sad feud among ye, and rebellion
Of son against his sire. I saw him fall,
I saw my first-born tumbled from his throne !
To me his arms were spread, to me his voice
Found way from forth the thunders round his head !
"WHEN THE HOUNDS OF SPRING — "
Pale wox I, and in vapors hid my face.
Art thou, too, near such doom? vague fear there is: For I have seen my sons most unlike Gods.
Divine ye were created, and divine
In sad demeanor, solemn, undisturbed,
Unruffled, like high Gods, ye lived and ruled :
Now I behold in you fear, hope, and wrath;
Actions of rage and passion; even as
I see them, on the mortal world beneath, Inmenwhodie. —Thisisthegrief, OSon!
Sad sign of ruin, sudden dismay, and fall !
Yet do thou strive; as thou art capable,
As thou canst move about, an evident God ;
And canst oppose to each malignant hour
Ethereal presence: — I am but a voice;
My life is but the life of winds and tides,
No more than winds and tides can I avail : —
But thou canst. — Be thou therefore in the van
Of circumstance; yea, seize the arrow's barb
Before the tense string murmur. — To the earth! For there thou wilt find Saturn, and his woes. Meantime I will keep watch on thy bright sun,
And of thy seasons be a careful nurse. " —
Ere half this region whisper had come down, Hyperion arose, and on the stars
Lifted his curved lids, and kept them wide
Until it ceased; and still he kept them wide:
And still they were the same bright, patient stars. Then with a slow incline of his broad breast,
Like to a diver in the pearly seas,
Forward he stooped over the airy shore,
And plunged all noiseless into the deep night.
"WHEN THE HOUNDS OF SPRING — " By ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.
(Chorus from " Atalanta in Calydon. ")
29
[Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet and essayist, grandson of the third Earl of Ashburnham, was born April 5, 1837, in London. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and spent some time with Walter Savage Landor in Florence. His first works were two plays, "The Queen Mother" and "Rosamund. " "Atalanta in Calydon" came next. His "Poems and
30 "WHEN THE HOUNDS OF SPRING — "
Ballads" of 1866 were withdrawn from circulation on account of the uproar raised by their eroticism. His later volumes have been too many to detail here. He is considered one of the foremost of English poets in mastery of form and melodic effect. ]
When the hounds of Spring are on Winter's traces, The Mother of Months in meadow or plain
Fills the shadows and windy places
With lisp of leaves and ripple of rain ;
And the brown bright nightingale amorous
Is half assuaged for Itylus,
For the Thracian ships and the foreign faces, The tongueless vigil, and all the pain.
Come, with bows bent and with emptying of quivers, Maiden most perfect! Lady of Light I
With a noise of winds and many rivers,
With a clamor of waters, and with might :
Bind on thy sandals, O Thou most fleet !
Over the splendor and speed of thy feet :
For the faint East quickens, the wan West shivers, Round the feet of the Day and the feet of the Night
Where shall we find her ? how shall we sing to her, Fold our hands round her knees, and cling ?
O that man's heart were as fire and could spring to her, Fire, or the strength of the streams that spring !
For the stars and the winds are unto her
As raiment, as songs of the harp player :
For the risen stars and the fallen cling to her,
And the Southwest Wind and the West Wind sing.
For Winter's rains and ruins are over, And all the season of snows and sins ;
The days dividing lover and lover;
The light that loses, the night that wins ; And time remembered is grief forgotten ; And frosts are slain, and flowers begotten ; And in green underwood and cover Blossom by blossom the Spring begins.
The full streams feed on flower of rushes ; Ripe grasses trammel a traveling foot ;
The faint fresh flame of the young year flushes From leaf to flower and flower to fruit ;
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 31
And fruit and leaf are as gold and fire ; And the oat is heard above the lyre ; And the hoofed heel of a satyr crushes The chestnut husk at the chestnut root.
And Pan by noon, and Bacchus by night, Fleeter of foot than the fleet-foot kid, Follows with dancing, and fills with delight The Maenad and the Bassarid ;
And, soft as lips that laugh and hide,
The laughing leaves of the trees divide, And screen from seeing and leave in sight The God pursuing, the Maiden hid.
The ivy falls with the Bacchanal's hair
Over her eyebrows, hiding her eyes ;
The wild vine slipping down leaves bare
Her bright breast shortening into sighs ;
The wild vine slips with the weight of its leaves, But the berried ivy catches and cleaves
To the limbs that glitter, the feet that scare The wolf that follows, the fawn that flies.
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
[Nathawtbl Hawthokitb: American story-writer; born at Salem, Mass. , July 4, 1804 ; died at Plymouth, N. H. , May 19, 1864. His official positions, in the customhouse at Salem and as United States consul at Liverpool, furnished him with many opportunities for the study of human nature. His literary popularity was of slow growth, but was founded on the eternal verities. His most famous novels are " The Scarlet Letter" (1850), "The House of the Seven Gables" (1851), "The Blithedale Romance " (1852), "The Marble Faun "(1860), " Septimius Felton," posthumous. He wrote a great number of short stories, Inimitable in style and full of weird imagination. "Twice told Tales," first series appeared in 1837 ; "The Snow Image and Other Twice-told Tales," in 1852; "Tanglewood Tales," in 1853. ]
When Jason, the son of the dethroned king of Iolchos, was a little boy, he was sent away from his parents, and placed under the queerest schoolmaster that ever you heard of. This learned person was one of the people, or quadrupeds, called
32 THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
Centaurs. He lived in a cavern, and had the body and legs of a white horse, with the head and shoulders of a man. His name was Chiron ; and, in spite of his odd appearance, he was a very excellent teacher, and had several scholars, who after wards did him credit by making a great figure in the world. The famous Hercules was one, and so was Achilles, and Phi- loctetes, likewise, and jEsculapius, who acquired immense re pute as a doctor. The good Chiron taught his pupils how to play upon the harp, and how to cure diseases, and how to use the sword and shield, together with various other branches of education in which the lads of those days used to be instructed, instead of writing and arithmetic.
I have sometimes suspected that Master Chiron was not really very different from other people, but that, being a kind- hearted and merry old fellow, he was in the habit of making believe that he was a horse, and scrambling about the school room on all fours, and letting the little boys ride upon his back. And so, when his scholars had grown up, and grown old, and were trotting their grandchildren on their knees, they told them about the sports of their school days ; and these young folks took the idea that their grandfathers had been taught their letters by a Centaur, half man and half horse. Little children, not quite understanding what is said to them, often get such absurd notions into their heads, you know.
Be that as it may, it has always been told for a fact (and always will be told, as long as the world lasts), that Chiron, with the head of a schoolmaster, had the body and legs of a horse. Just imagine the grave old gentleman clattering and stamping into the schoolroom on his four hoofs, perhaps tread ing on some little fellow's toes, flourishing his switch tail instead of a rod, and, now and then, trotting out of doors to eat a mouthful of grass !
I wonder what the blacksmith charged him for a set of iron shoes.
So Jason dwelt in the cave, with this four-footed Chiron, from the time that he was an infant, only a few months old, until he had grown to the full height of a man. He became a very good harper, I suppose, and skillful in the use of weapons, and tolerably acquainted with herbs and other doctor's stuff, and, above all, an admirable horseman ; for, in teaching young people to ride, the good Chiron must have been without a rival among schoolmasters. At length, being now a tall and athletic youth, Jason resolved to seek his fortune in the world, without
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 38
asking Chiron's advice, or telling him anything about the mat ter. This was very unwise, to be sure ; and I hope none of you, my little hearers, will ever follow Jason's example. But, you are to understand, he had heard how that he himself was a prince royal, and how his father, King iEson, had been de prived of the kingdom of Iolchos by a certain Pelias, who would also have killed Jason, had he not been hidden in the Centaur's cave. And, being come to the strength of a man, Jason determined to set all this business to rights, and to punish the wicked Pelias for wronging his dear father, and to cast him down from the throne, and seat himself there instead.
With this intention, he took a spear in each hand, and threw a leopard's skin over his shoulders, to keep off the rain, and set forth on his travels, with his long yellow ringlets waving in the wind. The part of his dress on which he most prided himself was a pair of sandals, that had been his father's. They were handsomely embroidered, and were tied upon his feet with strings of gold. But his whole attire was such as people did not very often see ; and as he passed along, the women and children ran to the doors and windows, wondering whither this beautiful youth was journeying, with his leopard's skin and his golden-tied sandals, and what heroic deeds he meant to perform, with a spear in his right hand and another in his left.
I know not how far Jason had traveled, when he came to a turbulent river, which rushed right across his pathway, with specks of white foam among its black eddies, hurrying tumultu- ously onward, and roaring angrily as it went. Though not a very broad river in the dry seasons of the year, it was now swollen by heavy rains and by the melting of the snow on the sides of Mount Olympus ; and it thundered so loudly, and looked so wild and dangerous, that Jason, bold as he was, thought it prudent to pause upon the brink. The bed of the stream seemed to be strewn with sharp and rugged rocks, some of which thrust themselves above the water. By and by, an uprooted tree, with shattered branches, came drifting along the current, and got entangled among the rocks. Now and then, a drowned sheep, and once the carcass of a cow, floated past.
In short, the swollen river had already done a great deal of mischief. It was evidently too deep for Jason to wade, and too boisterous for him to swim ; he could see no bridge ; and as for a boat, had there been any, the rocks would have broken it to pieces in an instant.
vol. n. — 3
34 THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
" See the poor lad," said a cracked voice close to his side. " He must have had but a poor education, since he does not know how to cross a little stream like this. Or is he afraid of wetting his fine golden-stringed sandals ? It is a pity his four- footed schoolmaster is not here to carry him safely across on his back ! "
Jason looked round greatly surprised, for he did not know that anybody was near. But beside him stood an old woman, with a ragged mantle over her head, leaning on a staff, the top of which was carved into the shape of a cuckoo. She looked very aged, and wrinkled, and infirm ; and yet her eyes, which were as brown as those of an ox, were so extremely large and beautiful, that, when they were fixed on Jason's eyes, he could see nothing else but them. The old woman had a pomegranate in her hand, although the fruit was then quite out of season.
" Whither are you going, Jason ? " she now asked.
She seemed to know his name, you will observe ; and, indeed, those great brown eyes looked as if they had a knowledge of everything, whether past or to come. While Jason was gazing at her, a peacock strutted forward and took his stand at the old woman's side.
" I am going to Iolchos," answered the young man, " to bid the wicked King Pelias come down from my father's throne, and let me reign in his stead. "
" Ah, well, then," said the old woman, still with the same cracked voice, " if that is all your business, you need not be in a very great hurry. Just take me on your back, there's a good youth, and carry me across the river. I and my pea cock have something to do on the other side, as well as your self. "
" Good mother," replied Jason, " your business can hardly be so important as the pulling down a king from his throne. Besides, as you may see for yourself, the river is very bois terous ; and if I should chance to stumble, it would sweep both of us away more easily than it has carried off yonder uprooted tree. I would gladly help you if I could ; but I doubt whether I am strong enough to carry you across. "
" Then," said she, very scornfully, " neither are you strong enough to pull King Pelias off his throne. And, Jason, unless you will help an old woman at her need, you ought not to be a king. What are kings made for, save to succor the feeble and distressed? But do as you please. Either take me on
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 35
your back, or with my poor old limbs I shall try my best to struggle across the stream. "
Saying this, the old woman poked with her staff in the river, as if to find the safest place in its rocky bed where she might make the first step. But Jason, by this time, had grown ashamed of his reluctance to help her. He felt that he could never forgive himself, if this poor feeble creature should come to any harm in attempting to wrestle against the headlong current. The good Chiron, whether half horse or no, had taught him that the noblest use of his strength was to assist the weak ; and also that he must treat every young woman as if she were his sister, and every old one like a mother. Remembering these maxims, the vigorous and beau tiful young man knelt down, and requested the good dame to mount upon his back.
"The passage seems to me not very safe," he remarked.
" But as your business is so urgent, I will try to carry you across. If the river sweeps you away, it shall take me too. "
" That, no doubt, will be a great comfort to both of us," quoth the old woman. "But never fear. We shall get safely across. "
So she threw her arms around Jason's neck ; and lifting her from the ground, he stepped boldly into the raging and foamy current, and began to stagger away from the shore. As for the peacock, it alighted on the old dame's shoulder. Jason's two spears, one in each hand, kept him from stumbling, and enabled him to feel his way among the hidden rocks ; although, every instant, he expected that his companion and himself would go down the stream, together with the driftwood of shattered trees, and the carcasses of the sheep and cow. Down came the cold, snowy torrent from the steep side of Olympus, raging and thundering as if it had a real spite against Jason, or, at all events, were determined to snatch off his living burden from his shoulders. When he was halfway across, the uprooted tree (which I have already told you about) broke loose from among the rocks, and bore down upon him, with all its splintered branches sticking out like the hundred arms of the giant Briareus. It rushed past, however, without touching him. But the next moment, his foot was caught in a crevice between two rocks, and stuck there so fast, that, in the effort to get free, he lost one of his golden-stringed
sandals.
36 THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
At this accident Jason could not help uttering a cry of
vexation. "
" What is the matter, Jason ?
" Matter enough," said the young man. " I have lost a san
dal here among the rocks. And what sort of a figure shall I cut at the court of King Pelias, with a golden-stringed sandal on one foot, and the other foot bare ! "
" Do not take it to heart," answered his companion, cheerily. " You never met with better fortune than in losing that sandal. It satisfies me that you are the very person whom the Speaking Oak has been talking about. "
There was no time, just then, to inquire what the Speaking Oak had said. But the briskness of her tone encouraged the young man ; and besides, he had never in his life felt so vigor ous and mighty as since taking this old woman on his back. Instead of being exhausted, he gathered strength as he went on ; and, struggling up against the torrent, he at last gained the opposite shore, clambered up the bank, and set down the old dame and her peacock safely on the grass. As soon as this was done, however, he could not help looking rather despond ently at his bare foot, with only a remnant of the golden string of the sandal clinging round his ankle.
asked the old woman.
" You will get a handsomer pair of sandals by and by," said the old woman, with a kindly look out of her beautiful brown eyes. " Only let King Pelias get a glimpse of that bare foot, and you shall see him turn as pale as ashes, I promise you. There is your path. Go along, my good Jason, and my bless ing go with you. And when you sit on your throne, remem ber the old woman whom you helped over the river. "
With these words, she hobbled away, giving him a smile over her shoulder as she departed. Whether the light of her beautiful brown eyes threw a glory round about her, or what ever the cause might be, Jason fancied that there was some thing very noble and majestic in her figure, after all, and that, though her gait seemed to be a rheumatic hobble, yet she moved with as much grace and dignity as any queen on earth. Her peacock, which had now fluttered down from her shoulder, strutted behind her in prodigious pomp, and spread out its magnificent tail on purpose for Jason to admire it.
When the old dame and her peacock were out of sight, Jason set forward on his journey. After traveling a pretty long distance, he came to a town situated at the foot of a moun
THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
87
tain, and not a great way from the shore of the sea. On the outside of the town there was an immense crowd of people, not only men and women, but children, too, all in their best clothes, and evidently enjoying a holiday. The crowd was thickest towards the seashore ; and in that direction, over the people's heads, Jason saw a wreath of smoke curling upward to the blue sky. He inquired of one of the multitude what town it was, near by, and why so many persons were here assembled together.
" This is the kingdom of Iolchos," answered the man, " and we are the subjects of King Pelias. Our monarch has sum moned us together, that we may see him sacrifice a black bull to Neptune, who, they say, is his Majesty's father. Yonder is the king, where you see the smoke going up from the altar. "
While the man spoke he eyed Jason with great curiosity ; for his garb was quite unlike that of the Iolchians, and it looked very odd to see a youth with a leopard's skin over his shoulders, and each hand grasping a spear. Jason perceived, too, that the man stared particularly at his feet, one of which, you remem ber, was bare, while the other was decorated with his father's golden-stringed sandal. "
"Look at him ! only look at him !
next neighbor. " Do you see ? He wears but one sandal ! "
Upon this, first one person, and then another, began to stare at Jason, and everybody seemed to be greatly struck with some thing in his aspect ; though they turned their eyes much oftener towards his feet than to any other part of his figure. Besides, he could hear them whispering to one another.
" One sandal ! One sandal ! " they kept saying. " The man with one sandal ! Here he is at last ! Whence has he come ? What does he mean to do ? What will the king say to the one-sandaled man ? "
Poor Jason was greatly abashed, and made up his mind that the people of Iolchos were exceedingly ill bred, to take such pub lic notice of an accidental deficiency in his dress. Meanwhile, whether it were that they hustled him forward, or that Jason, of his own accord, thrust a passage through the crowd, it so happened that he soon found himself close to the smoking altar, where King Pelias was sacrificing the black bull. The mur mur and hum of the multitude, in their surprise at the spectacle of Jason with his one bare foot, grew so loud that it disturbed the ceremonies ; and the king, holding the great knife with
said the man to his
38 THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
which he was just going to cut the bull's throat, turned angrily about, and fixed his eyes on Jason. The people had now with drawn from around him, so that the youth stood in an open space near the smoking altar, front to front with the angry King Pelias. "
" Who are you ?
" And how dare you make this disturbance, while I am sacri ficing a black bull to my father Neptune ? "
cried the king, with a terrible frown.
" It is no fault of mine," answered Jason. " Your Majesty must blame the rudeness of your subjects, who have raised all this tumult because one of my feet happens to be bare. "
When Jason said this, the king gave a quick, startled glance down at his feet.
" Ha ! " muttered he, " here is the" one-sandaled fellow, sure enough ! What can I do with him ?
And he clutched more closely the great knife in his hand, as if he were half a mind to slay Jason instead of the black bull. The people round about caught up the king's words indistinctly as they were uttered ; and first there was a murmur among them, and then a loud shout.
" The one-sandaled man has come ! The prophecy must be fulfilled ! "
For you are to know that, many years before, King Pelias had been told by the Speaking Oak of Dodona, that a man with one sandal should cast him down from his throne. On this account, he had given strict orders that nobody should ever come into his presence, unless both sandals were securely tied upon his feet ; and he kept an officer in his palace, whose sole business it was to examine people's sandals, and to supply them with a new pair, at the expense of the royal treasury, as soon as the old ones began to wear out. In the whole course of the king's reign, he had never been thrown into such a fright and agitation as by the spectacle of poor Jason's bare foot. But, as he was naturally a bold and hard-hearted man, he soon took courage, and began to consider in what way he might rid himself of this terrible one-sandaled stranger.
" My good young man," said King Pelias, taking the softest tone imaginable, in order to throw Jason off his guard, " you are excessively welcome to my kingdom. Judging by your dress, you must have traveled a long distance; for it is not the fashion to wear leopard skins in this part of the world. Pray what may I call your name ? and where did you receive your education ? "
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 39
" My name is Jason," answered the young stranger. " Ever since my infancy, I have dwelt in the cave of Chiron the Centaur. He was my instructor, and taught me music, and horsemanship, and how to cure wounds, and likewise how to inflict wounds with my weapons ! "
" I have heard of Chiron the schoolmaster," replied King Pelias, " and how that there is an immense deal of learning and wisdom in his head, although it happens to be set on a horse's body. It gives me great delight to see one of his scholars at my court. But, to test how much you have profited under so excellent a teacher, will you allow me to ask you a single question ? "
" I do not pretend to be very wise," said Jason. " But ask me what you please, and I will answer to the best of my ability. "
Now King Pelias meant cunningly to entrap the young man, and to make him say something that should be the cause of mischief and destruction to himself. So with a crafty and evil smile upon his face, he spoke as follows : —
"What would you do, brave Jason," asked he, "if there were a man in the world, by whom, as you had reason to believe, you were doomed to be ruined and slain, — what would you do,"I say, if that man stood before you, and in your power ?
When Jason saw the malice and wickedness which King Pelias could not prevent from gleaming out of his eyes, he probably guessed that the king had discovered what he came for, and that he intended to turn his own words against him self. Still he scorned to tell a falsehood. Like an upright and honorable prince, as he was, he determined to speak out the real truth. Since the king had chosen to ask him the question, and since Jason had promised him an answer, there was no right way, save to tell him precisely what would be the most prudent thing to do, if he had his worst enemy in his power.
Therefore, after a moment's consideration, he spoke up, with a firm and manly voice.
" I would send such a man," said he, " in quest of the Golden Fleece ! "
This enterprise, you will understand, was, of all others, the most difficult and dangerous in the world. In the first place, it would be necessary to make a long voyage through unknown seas. There was hardly a hope, or a possibility, that any young
40 THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
man who should undertake this voyage would either succeed in obtaining the Golden Fleece, or would survive to return home and tell of the perils he had run. The eyes of King Pelias sparkled with joy, therefore, when he heard Jason's reply. "
"Well said, wise man with the one sandal !
"Go, then, and, at the peril of your life, bring me back the Golden Fleece. "
" I go," answered Jason, composedly. " If I fail, you need not fear that I will ever come back to trouble you again. But if I return to Iolchos with the prize, then, King Pelias, you must hasten down from your lofty throne, and give me your crown and scepter. "
" That I will," said the king, with a sneer. " Meantime, I will keep them very safely for you. "
The first thing that Jason thought of doing, after he left the king's presence, was to go to Dodona, and inquire of the Talking Oak what course it was best to pursue. This wonder ful tree stood in the center of an ancient wood. Its stately trunk rose up a hundred feet into the air, and threw a broad and dense shadow over more than an acre of ground. Standing beneath it, Jason looked up among the knotted branches and green leaves, and into the mysterious heart of the old tree, and spoke aloud, as if he were addressing some person who was hidden in the depths of the foliage.
At first there was a deep silence, not only within the shadow of the Talking Oak, but all through the solitary wood. In a moment or two, however, the leaves of the oak began to stir and rustle, as if a gentle breeze were wandering amongst them, although the other trees of the wood were perfectly still. The sound grew louder, and became like the roar of a high wind. By and by, Jason imagined that he could distinguish words, but very confusedly, because each separate leaf of the tree seemed to be a tongue, and the whole myriad of tongues were babbling at once. But the noise waxed broader and deeper, until it resembled a tornado sweeping through the oak, and making one great utterance out of the thousand and thousand of little murmurs which each leafy tongue had caused by its rustling. And now, though it still had the tone of mighty wind roaring among the branches, it was also like a deep bass
cried he.
" What shall I do," said he, " in order to win the Golden Fleece? "
THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
voice, speaking, as distinctly as a tree could be expected to speak, the following words : —
" Go to Argus, the shipbuilder, and bid him build a galley with fifty oars. "
Then the voice melted again into the indistinct murmur of the rustling leaves, and died gradually away. When it was quite gone, Jason felt inclined to doubt whether he had actu ally heard the words, or whether his fancy had not shaped them out of the ordinary sound made by a breeze, while passing through the thick foliage of the tree.
But on inquiry among the people of Iolchos, he found that there was really a man in the city, by the name of Argus, who was a very skillful builder of vessels. This showed some intel ligence in the oak ; else how should it have known that any such person existed? At Jason's request, Argus readily con sented to build him a galley so big that it should require fifty strong men to row it ; although no vessel of such a size and burden had heretofore been seen in the world. So the head carpenter, and all his journeymen and apprentices, began their work ; and for a good while afterwards, there they were, busily employed, hewing out the timbers, and making a great clatter with their hammers ; until the new ship, which was called the Argo, seemed to be quite ready for sea. And, as the Talking Oak had already given him such good advice, Jason thought that it would not be amiss to ask for a little more. He visited it again, therefore, and standing beside its huge, rough trunk, inquired what he should do next.
This time, there was no such universal quivering of the leaves, throughout the whole tree, as there had been before. But after a while, Jason observed that the foliage of a great branch which stretched above his head had begun to rustle, as if the wind were stirring that one bough, while all the other boughs of the oak were at rest.
" Cut me off ! " said the branch, as soon as it could speak distinctly, — " cut me off ! cut me off ! and carve me into a figurehead for your galley. "
Accordingly, Jason took the branch at its word, and lopped it off the tree. A carver in the neighborhood engaged to make the figurehead. He was a tolerably good workman, and had already carved several figureheads, in what he intended for feminine shapes, and looking pretty much like those which we see nowadays stuck up under a vessel's bowsprit, with great
42 THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
staring eyes, that never wink at the dash of the spray. But (what was very strange) the carver found that his hand was guided by some unseen power, and by a skill beyond his own, and that his tools shaped out an image which he had never dreamed of. When the work was finished, it turned out to be the figure of a beautiful woman with a helmet on her head, from beneath which the long ringlets fell down upon her shoulders. On the left arm was a shield, and in its center appeared a lifelike representation of the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. The right arm was extended, as if pointing onward. The face of this wonderful statue, though not angry or forbidding, was so grave and majestic, that perhaps you might call it severe ; and as for the mouth, it seemed just ready to unclose its lips, and utter words of the deepest wisdom.
Jason was delighted with the oaken image, and gave the carver no rest until it was completed and set up where a figurehead has always stood, from that time to this, in the vessel's prow.
"And now," cried he, as he stood gazing at the calm, majestic face of the statue, "I must go to the Talking Oak, and inquire what next to do. "
"There is no need of that, Jason," said a voice which, though it was far lower, reminded him of the mighty tones of the great oak. " When you desire good advice, you can seek it of me. "
Jason had been looking straight into the face of the image when these words were spoken. But he could hardly believe either his ears or his eyes. The truth was, however, that the oaken lips had moved, and, to all appearance, the voice had proceeded from the statue's mouth. Recovering a little from his surprise, Jason bethought himself that the image had been carved out of the wood of the Talking Oak, and that, there fore, it was really no great wonder, but on the contrary, the most natural thing in the world, that it should possess the faculty of speech. It would have been very odd, indeed, if it had not. But certainly it was a great piece of good fortune that he should be able to carry so wise a block of wood along with him in his perilous voyage.
"Tell me, wondrous image," exclaimed Jason, — "sinoe you inherit the wisdom of the Speaking Oak of Dodona, whose daughter you are, — tell me, where shall I find fifty bold
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 43
youths, who will take each of them an oar of my galley ? They must have sturdy arms to row, and brave hearts to encounter perils, or we shall never win the Golden Fleece. "
" Go," replied the oaken image, — " go, summon all the heroes of Greece. "
And, in fact, considering what a great deed was to be done, could any advice be wiser than this which Jason received from the figurehead of his vessel ? He lost no time in sending mes sengers to all the cities, and making known to the whole people of Greece that Prince Jason, the son of King ^Eson, was going in quest of the Fleece of Gold, and that he desired the help of forty-nine of the bravest and strongest young men alive, to row his vessel and share his dangers. And Jason himself would be the fiftieth.
At this news, the adventurous youths, all over the country, began to bestir themselves. Some of them had already fought with giants, and slain dragons ; and the younger ones, who had not yet met with such good fortune, thought it a shame to have lived so long without getting astride of a flying serpent, or sticking their spears into a Chimera, or, at least, thrusting their right arms down a monstrous lion's throat. There was a fair prospect that they would meet with plenty of such ad ventures before finding the Golden Fleece. As soon as they could furbish up their helmets and shields, therefore, and gird on their trusty swords, they came thronging to Iolchos, and clambered on board the new galley. Shaking hands with Jason, they assured him that they did not care a pin for their lives, but would help row the vessel to the remotest edge of the world, and as much farther as he might think it best to go.
Many of these brave fellows had been educated by Chiron, the four-footed pedagogue, and were therefore old schoolmates of Jason, and knew him to be a lad of spirit. The mighty Hercules, whose shoulders afterwards held up the sky, was one of them. And there were Castor and Pollux, the twin brothers, who were never accused of being chicken-hearted, although they had been hatched out of an egg ; and Theseus, who was so renowned for killing the Minotaur j and Lynceus, with his wonderfully sharp eyes, which could see through a millstone, or look right down into the depths of the earth, and discover the treasures that were there ; and Orpheus, the very best of harpers, who sang and played upon his lyre so sweetly, that the brute beasts stood upon their hind legs, and capered
44 THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
merrily to the music. Yes, and at some of his more moving tunes, the rocks bestirred their moss-grown bulk out of the ground, and a grove of forest trees uprooted themselves, and, nodding their tops to one another, performed a country dance.
One of the rowers was a beautiful young woman, named Atalanta, who had been nursed among the mountains by a bear. So light of foot was this fair damsel that she could step from one foamy crest of a wave to the foamy crest of another, without wetting more than the sole of her sandal. She had grown up in a very wild way, and talked much about the rights of women, and loved hunting and war far better than her needle. But, in my opinion, the most remarkable of this famous company were two sons of the North Wind (airy youngsters, and of rather a blustering disposition), who had wings on their shoulders, and, in case of a calm, could puff out their cheeks, and blow almost as fresh a breeze as their father. I ought not to forget the prophets and conjurers, of whom there were several in the crew, and who could foretell what would happen to-morrow, or the next day, or a hundred years hence, but were generally quite unconscious of what was passing at the moment.
Jason appointed Tiphys to be helmsman, because he was a stargazer, and knew the points of the compass. Lynceus, on account of his sharp sight, was stationed as a lookout in the prow, where he saw a whole day's sail ahead, but was rather apt to overlook things that lay directly under his nose. If the sea only happened to be deep enough, however, Lynceus could tell you exactly what kind of rocks or sands were at the bottom of it ; and he often cried out to his companions, that they were sailing over heaps of sunken treasure, which yet he was none the richer for beholding. To confess the truth, few people believed him when he said it.
Well! But when the Argonauts, as these fifty brave adventurers were called, had prepared everything for the voyage, an unforeseen difficulty threatened to end it before it was begun. The vessel, you must understand, was so long, and broad, and ponderous, that the united force of all the fifty was insufficient to shove her into the water. Hercules, I suppose, had not grown to his full strength, else he might have set her afloat as easily as a little boy launches his boat upon a puddle. But here were these fifty heroes pushing, and strain ing, and growing red in the face, without making the Argo
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 45
start an inch. At last, quite wearied out, they sat themselves down on the shore, exceedingly disconsolate, and thinking that the vessel must be left to rot and fall in pieces, and that they must either swim across the sea or lose the Golden Fleece.
All at once, Jason bethought himself of the galley's miracu lous figurehead.
" O daughter of the Talking Oak," cried he, " how shall we set to work to get our vessel into the water ? "
" Seat yourselves," answered the image (for it had known what ought to be done from the very first, and was only wait ing for the question to be put), — " seat yourselves, and handle your oars, and let Orpheus play upon his harp. "
Immediately the fifty heroes got on board, and seizing their oars, held them perpendicularly in the air, while Orpheus (who liked such a task far better than rowing) swept his fingers across the harp. At the first ringing note of the music, they felt the vessel stir. Orpheus thrummed away briskly, and the galley slid at once into the sea, dipping her prow so deeply that the figurehead drank the wave with its marvelous lips, and rose again as buoyant as a swan. The rowers plied their fifty oars ; the white foam boiled up before the prow ; the water gurgled and bubbled in their wake ; while Orpheus continued to play so lively a strain of music, that the vessel seemed to dance over the billows by way of keeping time to it.