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Various - Myths That Every Child Should Know

V >> Various >> Myths That Every Child Should Know




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's 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
have 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.

"One thing more there is," said Pelias, "on which I need your advice;
for though you are young, I see in you a 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 awhile, Jason answered, half laughing, "Were I 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."

And at that a bitter smile came across Pelias'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 the
oracle, and he saw that he was taken in a trap.

But Pelias only answered gently, "My son, he shall be sent forthwith."

"You mean me?" cried Jason, starting up, "because I came here with one
sandal?" And he lifted his fist angrily, while Pelias 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.

But after a moment Pelias 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 obey you
now, and send the man to win himself immortal fame? I have not harmed
you, or him. One thing at least I know, that he will go, and that
gladly; for he has a hero's heart within him; loving glory, and scorning
to break the word which he has given."

Jason saw that he was entrapped; but his second promise to Cheiron came
into his mind, and he thought, "What if the Centaur were a prophet in
that also, and meant that I should win the fleece!" Then he cried aloud:

"You have 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 the all-seeing Zeus; and give
me up the kingdom for my own, on the day that I bring back the golden
fleece."

Then Pelias 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 fulfil it, all alone, and without wealth or friends. So he tossed
a long time upon his bed, and thought of this plan and of that; and
sometimes Phrixus 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 fathers and
have rest." And sometimes he seemed to see the eyes of Hera, 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 Pelias, and said, "Give me a victim, that I
may sacrifice to Hera." So he went up, and offered his sacrifice; and
as he stood by the altar, Hera sent a thought into his mind; and he went
back to Pelias, and said:

"If you are indeed in earnest, give me two heralds, that they may go
round to all the princes of the Minuai who were pupils of the Centaur
with me, that we may fit out a ship together, and take what shall
befall."

At that Pelias praised his wisdom, and hastened to send the heralds out;
for he said in his heart: "Let all the princes go with him, and like
him, never return; for so I shall be lord of all the Minuai, and the
greatest king in Hellas."


PART III

_How They Built the Ship Argo in Iolcos_

So the heralds went out, and cried to all the heroes of the Minuai, "Who
dare come to the adventure of the golden fleece?"

And Hera stirred the hearts of all the princes, and they came from all
their valleys to the yellow sands of Pagasai. And first came Heracles
the mighty, with his lion's skin and club, and behind him Hylas his
young squire, who bore his arrows and his bow; and Tiphys, the skilful
steersman; and Butes, the fairest of all men; and Castor and Polydeuces
the twins, the sons of the magic swan; and Caineus, the strongest of
mortals, whom the Centaurs tried in vain to kill, and overwhelmed him
with trunks of pine trees, but even so he would not die; and thither
came Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the north wind; and Peleus,
the father of Achilles, whose bride was silver-footed Thetis the goddess
of the sea. And thither came Telamon and Oileus, the fathers of the two
Aiantes, who fought upon the plains of Troy; and Mopsus, the wise
soothsayer, who knew the speech of birds; and Idmon, to whom Phoebus
gave a tongue to prophesy of things to come; and Ancaios, who could read
the stars, and knew all the circles of the heavens; and Argus, the famed
shipbuilder, and many a hero more, in helmets of brass and gold with
tall dyed horsehair 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 upon his shoulder, of many a fold of
tough bull's 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 stave.

So they came down to Iolcos, 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 some
said, "Never was such a gathering of the heroes since the Hellenes
conquered the land." But the women sighed over them, and whispered,
"Alas! they are all going to the death."

Then they felled the pines on Pelion, and shaped them with the axe, and
Argus taught them to build a galley, the first long ship which ever
sailed the seas. They pierced her for fifty oars, an oar for each hero
of the crew, and pitched her with coal-black pitch, and painted her bows
with vermilion; and they named her Argo after Argus, and worked at her
all day long. And at night Pelias 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 Cicon 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 Minuai,
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 Cheiron's cave, above Iolcos 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 sands, and the isles of all
the seas, driven on by the terrible gadfly, 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 Cicon
tribes, softening their wild hearts with music and the gentle laws of
Zeus. 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 Zeus, 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 southwest, up the banks of Haliacmon and over
the spurs of Pindus, to Dodona the town of Zeus, where it stood by the
side of the sacred lake, and the fountain which breathed out fire, in
the darkness of the ancient oak wood, beneath the mountain of the
hundred springs. And he led him to the holy oak, where the black dove
settled in old times, and was changed into the priestess of Zeus, and
gave oracles to all nations round. And he bade him cut down a bough, and
sacrifice to Hera and to Zeus; and they took the bough and came to
Iolcos, and nailed it to the beak head of the ship.

And 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 in the sand. Then all the heroes looked at each other blushing; but
Jason spoke, and said, "Let us ask the magic bough; perhaps it can help
us in our need."

Then a voice came from the bough, and Jason heard the words it said, and
bade Orpheus play upon the harp, while the heroes waited round, holding
the pine-trunk rollers, to help her toward the sea.

Then 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
leapt 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 rowed southward, while the
people lined the cliffs; and the women wept while the men shouted, at
the starting of that gallant crew.


PART IV

_How the Argonauts Sailed to Colchis_

And what happened next, my children, whether it be true or not, stands
written in ancient songs, which you shall read for yourselves some day.
And grand old songs they are, written in grand old rolling verse; and
they call them the Songs of Orpheus, or the Orphics, to this day. And
they tell how the heroes came to Aphetai, across the bay, and waited for
the southwest wind, and chose themselves a captain from their crew: and
how all called for Heracles, because he was the strongest and most huge;
but Heracles refused, and called for Jason, because he was the wisest of
them all. So Jason was chosen captain: and Orpheus heaped a pile of wood
and slew a bull, and offered it to Hera, and called all the heroes to
stand round, each man's head crowned with olive, and to strike their
swords into the bull. Then he filled a golden goblet with the bull's
blood, and with wheaten flour, and honey, and wine, and the bitter salt
sea water, and bade the heroes taste. So each tasted the goblet, and
passed it round, and vowed an awful vow; and they vowed before the sun,
and the night, and the blue-haired sea who shakes the land, to stand by
Jason faithfully, in the adventure of the golden fleece; and whosoever
shrank back, or disobeyed, or turned traitor to his vow, then justice
should witness against him, and the Erinnes who track guilty men.

Then Jason lighted the pile, and burnt the carcass of the bull; and they
went to their ship and sailed eastward, like men who have a work to do;
and the place from which they went was called Aphetai, the sailing
place, from that day forth. Three thousand years ago and more they
sailed away, into the unknown Eastern seas; and great nations have come
and gone since then, and many a storm has swept the earth; and many a
mighty armament, to which Argo would be but one small boat, have sailed
those waters since; yet the fame of that small Argo lives forever, and
her name is become a proverb among men.

So they sailed past the Isle of Sciathos, with the Cape of Sepius on
their left, and turned to the northward toward Pelion, up the long
Magnesian shore. On their right hand was the open sea, and on their left
old Pelion rose, while the clouds crawled round his dark pine forests,
and his caps of summer snow. And their hearts yearned for the dear old
mountain, as they thought of pleasant days gone by, and of the sports of
their boyhood, and their hunting, and their schooling in the cave
beneath the cliff. And at last Peleus spoke: "Let us land here, friends,
and climb the dear old hill once more. We are going on a fearful
journey: who knows if we shall see Pelion again? Let us go up to Cheiron
our master, and ask his blessing ere we start. And I have a boy, too,
with him, whom he trains as he trained me once, the son whom Thetis
brought me, the silver-footed lady of the sea, whom I caught in the
cave, and tamed her though she changed her shape seven times. For she
changed, as I held her, into water, and to vapour, and to burning flame,
and to a rock, and to a black-maned lion, and to a tall and stately
tree. But I held her and held her ever till she took her own shape
again, and led her to my father's house, and won her for my bride. And
all the rulers of Olympus came to our wedding, and the heavens and the
earth rejoiced together, when an immortal wedded mortal man. And now let
me see my son; for it is not often I shall see him upon earth; famous he
will be, but short lived, and die in the flower of youth."

So Tiphys, the helmsman, steered them to the shore under the crags of
Pelion; and they went up through the dark pine forests toward the
Centaur's cave.

And they came into the misty hall, beneath the snow-crowned crag; and
saw the great Centaur lying with his huge limbs spread upon the rock;
and beside him stood Achilles, the child whom no steel could wound, and
played upon his harp right sweetly, while Cheiron watched and smiled.

Then Cheiron leapt up and welcomed them, and kissed them every one, and
set a feast before them, of swine's flesh, and venison, and good wine;
and young Achilles served them, and carried the golden goblet round. And
after supper all the heroes clapped their hands, and called on Orpheus
to sing; but he refused, and said, "How can I, who am the younger, sing
before our ancient host?" So they called on Cheiron to sing, and
Achilles brought him his harp; and he began a wondrous song; a famous
story of old time, of the fight between Centaurs and the Lapithai, which
you may still see carved in stone. He sang how his brothers came to ruin
by their folly, when they were mad with wine; and how they and the
heroes fought, with fists, and teeth, and the goblets from which they
drank; and how they tore up the pine trees in their fury, and hurled
great crags of stone, while the mountains thundered with the battle, and
the land was wasted far and wide; till the Lapithai drove them from
their home in the rich Thessalian plains to the lonely glens of Pindus,
leaving Cheiron all alone. And the heroes praised his song right
heartily; for some of them had helped in that great fight.

Then Orpheus took the lyre, and sang of Chaos, and the making of the
wondrous World, and how all things sprang from Love, who could not live
alone in the Abyss. And as he sang, his voice rose from the cave, above
the crags, and through the tree tops, and the glens of oak and pine. And
the trees bowed their heads when they heard it, and the gray rocks
cracked and rang, and the forest beasts crept near to listen, and the
birds forsook their nests and hovered round. And old Cheiron clapt his
hands together, and beat his hoofs upon the ground, for wonder at that
magic song.

Then Peleus kissed his boy, and wept over him, and they went down to the
ship; and Cheiron came down with them, weeping, and kissed them one by
one, and blest them, and promised to them great renown. And the heroes
wept when they left him, till their great hearts could weep no more; for
he was kind and just and pious, and wiser than all beasts and men. Then
he went up to a cliff, and prayed for them, that they might come home
safe and well; while the heroes rowed away, and watched him standing on
his cliff above the sea, with his great hands raised toward heaven, and
his white locks waving in the wind; and they strained their eyes to
watch him to the last, for they felt that they should look on him no
more.

So they rowed on over the long swell of the sea, past Olympus, the seat
of die immortals, and past the wooded bays of Athos, and Samothrace, the
sacred isle; and they came past Lemnos to the Hellespont, and through
the narrow strait of Abydos, and so on into the Propontis, which we call
Marmora now. And there they met with Cyzicus, ruling in Asia over the
Dolions, who, the songs say, was the son of AEneas, of whom you will hear
many a tale some day. For Homer tells us how he fought at Troy; and
Virgil how he sailed away and founded Rome; and men believed until late
years that from him sprang the old British kings. Now Cyzicus, the songs
say, welcomed the heroes; for his father had been one of Cheiron's
scholars; so he welcomed them, and feasted them, and stored their ship
with corn and wine, and cloaks and rugs, the songs say, and shirts, of
which no doubt they stood in need.

But at night, while they lay sleeping, came down on them terrible men,
who lived with the bears in the mountains, like Titans or giants in
shape; for each of them had six arms, and they fought with young firs
and pines. But Heracles killed them all before morn with his deadly
poisoned arrows; but among them, in the darkness, he slew Cyzicus the
kindly prince.

Then they got to their ship and to their oars, and Tiphys bade them cast
off the hawsers, and go to sea. But as he spoke a whirlwind came, and
spun the Argo round, and twisted the hawsers together, so that no man
could loose them. Then Tiphys dropped the rudder from his hand, and
cried, "This comes from the Gods above." But Jason went forward, and
asked counsel of the magic bough.

Then the magic bough spoke and answered: "This is because you have
slain Cyzicus your friend. You must appease his soul, or you will never
leave this shore."

Jason went back sadly, and told the heroes what he had heard. And they
leapt on shore, and searched till dawn; and at dawn they found the body,
all rolled in dust and blood, among the corpses of those monstrous
beasts. And they wept over their kind host, and laid him on a fair bed,
and heaped a huge mound over him, and offered black sheep at his tomb,
and Orpheus sang a magic song to him, that his spirit might have rest.
And then they held games at the tomb, after the custom of those times,
and Jason gave prizes to each winner. To Ancaeus he gave a golden cup,
for he wrestled best of all; and to Heracles a silver one, for he was
the strongest of all; and to Castor, who rode best, a golden crest; and
Polydeuces the boxer had a rich carpet, and to Orpheus for his song, a
sandal with golden wings. But Jason himself was the best of all the
archers, and the Minuai crowned him with an olive crown; and so, the
songs say, the soul of good Cyzicus was appeased, and the heroes went on
their way in peace.

But when Cyzicus's wife heard that he was dead, she died likewise of
grief; and her tears became a fountain of clear water, which flows the
whole year round.

Then they rowed away, the songs say, along the Mysian shore, and past
the mouth of Rhindacus, till they found a pleasant bay, sheltered by the
long ridges of Arganthus, and by high walls of basalt rock. And there
they ran the ship ashore upon the yellow sand, and furled the sail, and
took the mast down, and lashed it in its crutch. And next they let down
the ladder, and went ashore to sport and rest.

And there Heracles went away into the woods, bow in hand, to hunt wild
deer; and Hylas the fair boy slipt away after him, and followed him by
stealth, until he lost himself among the glens, and sat down weary to
rest himself by the side of a lake; and there the water nymphs came up
to look at him, and loved him, and carried him down under the lake to be
their playfellow, forever happy and young. And Heracles sought for him
in vain, shouting his name till all the mountains rang; but Hylas never
heard him, far down under the sparkling lake. So while Heracles wandered
searching for him, a fair breeze sprang up, and Heracles was nowhere to
be found; and the Argo sailed away, and Heracles was left behind, and
never saw the noble Phasian stream.

Then the Minuai came to a doleful land, where Amycus the giant ruled,
and cared nothing for the laws of Zeus, but challenged all strangers to
box with him, and those whom he conquered he slew. But Polydeuces the
boxer struck him a harder blow than he ever felt before, and slew him;
and the Minuai went on up the Bosphorus, till they came to the city of
Phineus, the fierce Bithynian king; for Zetes and Calais bade Jason land
there, because they had a work to do.

And they went up from the shore toward the city, through forests white
with snow; and Phineus came out to meet them with a lean and woeful
face, and said, "Welcome, gallant heroes, to the land of bitter blasts,
a land of cold and misery; yet I will feast you as best I can." And he
led them in, and set meat before them; but before they could put their
hands to their mouths, down came two fearful monsters, the like of whom
man never saw; for they had the faces and the hair of fair maidens, but
the wings and claws of hawks; and they snatched the meat from off the
table, and flew shrieking out above the roofs.

Then Phineus beat his breast and cried, "These are the Harpies, whose
names are the Whirlwind and the Swift, the daughters of Wonder and of
the Amber nymph, and they rob us night and day. They carried off the
daughters of Pandareus, whom all the Gods had blest; for Aphrodite fed
them on Olympus with honey and milk and wine; and Hera gave them beauty
and wisdom, and Athene skill in all the arts; but when they came to
their wedding, the Harpies snatched them both away, and gave them to be
slaves to the Erinnues, and live in horror all their days. And now they
haunt me, and my people, and the Bosphorus, with fearful storms; and
sweep away our food from off our tables, so that we starve in spite of
all our wealth."

Then up rose Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the North wind, and
said, "Do you not know us, Phineus, and these wings which grow upon our
backs?" And Phineus hid his face in terror; but he answered not a word.

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