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 scrambling6 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 trotting8 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 Centaur1, 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 clattering11 and stamping into the school room on his four hoofs12, perhaps treading 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 skilful13 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 athletic14 youth, Jason resolved to seek his fortune in the world, without asking Chiron's advice, or telling him anything about the matter. 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 ?son, had been deprived 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 determined16 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 leopard17's skin over his shoulders, to keep off the rain, and set forth18 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 embroidered19, and were tied upon his feet with strings20 of gold. But his whole attire21 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 travelled when he came to a turbulent river, which rushed right across his pathway, with specks22 of white foam23 among its black eddies24, hurrying tumultuously onward26, and roaring angrily as it went. Though not a very broad river in the dry seasons of the year, it was now swollen28 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 prudent29 to pause upon the brink30. The bed of the stream seemed to be strewn with sharp and rugged31 rocks, some of which thrust themselves above the water. By and by, an uprooted32 tree, with shattered branches, came drifting along the current, and got entangled33 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 mischief34. It was evidently too deep for Jason to wade35, and too boisterous36 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.
"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 ragged37 mantle38 over her head, leaning on a staff, the top of which was carved into the shape of a cuckoo. She looked very aged39, 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 fixed40 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 strutted41 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 reign42 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 peacock have something to do on the other side, as well as yourself."
"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 boisterous; 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 succor44 the feeble and distressed45? But do as you please. Either take me on your back, or with my poor old limbs I shall try my best to struggle across the stream."
Saying this, the old woman poked46 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 reluctance47 to help her. He felt that he could never forgive himself, if this poor feeble creature should come to any harm in attempting to wrestle48 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 maxims49, the vigorous and beautiful young man knelt down, and requested the good dame50 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 foamy51 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 torrent52 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 half way 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 touching53 him. But the next moment, his foot was caught in a crevice54 between two rocks, and stuck there so fast, that, in the effort to get free he lost one of his golden-stringed sandals.
At this accident Jason could not help uttering a cry of vexation.
"What is the matter, Jason?" asked the old woman.
"Matter enough," said the young man. "I have lost a sandal 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 briskness55 of her tone encouraged the young man; and besides, he had never in his life felt so vigorous and mighty56 as since taking this old woman on his back. Instead of being exhausted57, 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 despondently58 at his bare foot, with only a remnant of the golden string of the sandal clinging round his ankle.
"You will get a handsomer pair of sandals by and by," said the old woman, with a kindly59 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 blessing60 go with you. And when you sit on your throne, remember the old woman whom you helped over the river."
With these words, she hobbled away, giving him a smile over her shoulders as she departed. Whether the light of her beautiful brown eyes threw a glory round about her, or whatever the cause might be, Jason fancied that there was something very noble and majestic61 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 prodigious63 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 travelling a pretty long distance, he came to a town situated64 at the foot of a mountain, 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 sea shore; 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 monarch65 has summoned us together, that we may see him sacrifice a black bull to Neptune66, who, they say, is his majesty67's father. Yonder is the king, where you see the smoke going up from the altar."
While the man spoke68 he eyed Jason with great curiosity; for his garb69 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 remember, was bare, while the other was decorated with his father's golden-stringed sandal.
"Look at him! only look at him!" said the man to his 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 something 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-sandalled man?"
Poor Jason was greatly abashed70, and made up his mind that the people of Iolchos were exceedingly ill bred, to take such public notice of an accidental deficiency in his dress. Meanwhile, whether it were that they hustled71 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 murmur72 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 which he was just going to cut the bull's throat, turned angrily about, and fixed his eyes on Jason. The people had now withdrawn73 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?" cried the king, with a terrible frown. "And how dare you make this disturbance75, while I am sacrificing a black bull to my father Neptune?"
"It is no fault of mine," answered Jason. "Your majesty must blame the rudeness of your subjects, who have raised all this tumult25 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-sandalled 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 slay76 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-sandalled 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 treasury77, 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 agitation78 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-sandalled 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 travelled 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?"
"My name is Jason," answered the young stranger. "Ever since my infancy79, I have dwelt in the cave of Chiron the Centaur. He was my instructor80, and taught me music, and horsemanship, and how to cure wounds, and likewise how to inflict81 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 entrap82 the young man, and to make him say something that should be the cause of mischief and destruction to himself. So, with a crafty83 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 doomed84 to be ruined and slain85—what would you do, I say, if that man stood before you, and in your power?"
When Jason saw the malice86 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 himself. 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 precisely87 what would be the most prudent thing to do, if he had his worst enemy in his power.
"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 man who should undertake this voyage would either succeed in obtaining the Golden Fleece, or would survive to return home, and tell of the perils90 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!" cried he. "Go, then, and at the peril89 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."
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 wonderful 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 dense92 shadow over more than an acre of ground. Standing9 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 foliage93.
"What shall I do?" said he.
"What shall I do," said he, "in order to win the Golden Fleece?"
At first there was a deep silence, not only within the shadow of the Talking Oak, but all through the solitary94 wood. In a moment or two, however, the leaves of the oak began to stir and rustle95, as if a gentle breeze were wandering amongst them, although the other trees of the wood were perfectly96 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 myriad97 of tongues were babbling98 at once. But the noise waxed broader and deeper, until it resembled a tornado99 sweeping100 through the oak, and making one great utterance101 out of the thousand and thousand of little murmurs102 which each leafy tongue had caused by its rustling103. And now, though it still had the tone of a mighty wind roaring among the branches, it was also like a deep bass104 voice, speaking, as distinctly as a tree could be expected to speak, the following words:—
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 actually 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 inquiry107 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 skilful builder of vessels108. This showed some intelligence in the oak; else how should it have known that any such person existed? At Jason's request, Argus readily consented to build him a galley so big that it should require fifty strong men to row it; although no vessel109 of such a size and burden had heretofore been seen in the world. So the head carpenter, and all his journeymen and apprentices110, began their work and for a good while afterwards, there they were, busily employed, hewing111 out the timbers, and making a great clatter10 with their hammers; until the new ship, which was called the Argo, seemed to be quite ready for the 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 bough112, while all the other boughs113 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 figure head 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 figure head. He was a tolerably good workman, and had already carved several figure heads, 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 staring eyes, that never wink114 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 figure head has always stood, from that time to this, in the vessel's prow115.
"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, therefore, it was really no great wonder, but, on the contrary, the most natural thing in the world, that it should possess the faculty116 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 perilous117 voyage.
"Tell me, wonderous image," exclaimed Jason,—"since you inherit the wisdom of the Speaking Oak of Dodona, whose daughter you are,—tell me, where shall I find fifty bold youths, who will take each of them an oar27 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 figure head of his vessel? He lost no time in sending messages to all the cities, and making known to the whole people of Greece, that Prince Jason, the son of King ?son, 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 adventurous118 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 Chim?ra, or, at least, thrusting their right arms down a monstrous120 lion's throat. There was a fair prospect121 that they would meet with plenty of such adventures 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 thronging123 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 pedagogue124, 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 renowned125 for killing126 the Minotaur; 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 brute127 beasts stood upon their hind62 legs, and capered128 merrily to the music. Yes, and at some of his more moving tunes129, the rocks bestirred their moss-grown bulk out of the ground, and a grove130 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 crest131 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 remarkable132 of this famous company were two sons of the North Wind, (airy youngsters, and of rather a blustering133 disposition,) who had wings on their shoulders, and, in case of a calm, could puff134 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 foretell135 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 star-gazer, and knew the points of the compass. Lynceus, on account of his sharp sight, was stationed as a lookout137 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 sand were at the bottom of it; and he often cried out to his companions, that they were sailing over heaps of sunken treasure, which he was none the richer for beholding138. 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 ponderous140, that the united force of all the fifty was insufficient141 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 puddle142. But here were these fifty heroes, pushing, and straining, and growing red in the face, without making the Argo start an inch. At last, quite wearied out, they sat themselves down on the shore, exceedingly disconsolate143, 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 miraculous144 figure head.
"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 had ought to be done from the very first, and was only waiting 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 perpendicularly145 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 figure head drank the wave with its marvellous lips, and rising again as buoyant as a swan. The rowers plied43 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. Thus triumphantly147 did the Argo sail out of the harbor, amidst the huzzahs and good wishes of everybody except the wicked old Pelias, who stood on a promontory148, scowling149 at her, and wishing that he could blow out of his lungs the tempest of wrath150 that was in his heart, and so sink the galley with all on board. When they had sailed above fifty miles over the sea, Lynceus happened to cast his sharp eyes behind, and said that there was this bad-hearted king, still perched upon the promontory, and scowling so gloomily that it looked like a black thunder cloud in that quarter of the horizon.
In order to make the time pass away more pleasantly during the voyage, the heroes talked about the Golden Fleece. It originally belonged, it appears, to a B?otian ram7, who had taken on his back two children, when in danger of their lives, and fled with them over land and sea, as far as Colchis. One of the children, whose name was Helle, fell into the sea and was drowned. But the other, (a little boy, named Phrixus) was brought safe ashore151 by the faithful ram, who, however, was so exhausted that he immediately lay down and died. In memory of this good deed, and as a token of his true heart, the fleece of the poor dead ram was miraculously152 changed to gold, and became one of the most beautiful objects ever seen on earth. It was hung upon a tree in a sacred grove, where it had now been kept I know not how many years, and was the envy of mighty kings, who had nothing so magnificent in any of their palaces.
If I were to tell you all the adventures of the Argonauts, it would take me till nightfall, and perhaps a great deal longer. There was no lack of wonderful events, as you may judge from what you have already heard. At a certain island they were hospitably153 received by King Cyzicus, its sovereign, who made a feast for them, and treated them like brothers. But the Argonauts saw that this good king looked downcast and very much troubled, and they therefore inquired of him what was the matter. King Cyzicus hereupon informed them that he and his subjects were greatly abused and incommoded by the inhabitants of a neighboring mountain, who made war upon them, and killed many people, and ravaged154 the country. And while they were talking about it, Cyzicus pointed136 to the mountain, and asked Jason and his companions what they saw there.
"I see some very tall objects," answered Jason; "but they are at such a distance that I cannot distinctly make out what they are. To tell your majesty the truth, they look so very strangely that I am inclined to think them clouds, which have chanced to take something like human shapes."
"I see them very plainly," remarked Lynceus, whose eyes, you know, were as far sighted as a telescope. "They are a band of enormous giants, all of whom have six arms apiece, and a club, a sword, or some other weapon in each of their hands."
"You have excellent eyes," said King Cyzicus. "Yes, they are six armed giants, as you say, and these are the enemies whom I and my subjects have to contend with."
The next day, when the Argonauts were about setting sail, down came these terrible giants, stepping a hundred yards at a stride, brandishing155 their six arms apiece and looking very formidable, so far aloft in the air. Each of these monsters was able to carry on a whole war by himself, for with one of his arms he could fling immense stones, and wield156 a club with another, and a sword with a third, while the fourth was poking157 a long spear at the enemy, and the fifth and sixth were shooting him with a bow and arrow. But, luckily, though the giants were so huge, and had so many arms, they had each but one heart, and that no bigger nor braver than the heart of an ordinary man. Besides, if they had been like the hundred-armed Briareus, the brave Argonauts would have given them their hands full of fight. Jason and his friends went boldly to meet them, slew158 a great many, and made the rest take to their heels, so that, if the giants had had six legs apiece instead of six arms, it would have served them better to run away with.
Another strange adventure happened when the voyagers came to Thrace, where they found a poor blind king, named Phineus, deserted159 by his subjects, and living in a very sorrowful way, all by himself. On Jason's inquiring whether they could do him any service, the king answered that he was terribly tormented160 by three great winged creatures, called Harpies, which had the faces of women, and the wings, bodies, and claws of vultures. These ugly wretches161 were in the habit of snatching away his dinner, and allowed him no peace of his life. Upon hearing this, the Argonauts spread a plentiful162 feast on the sea shore, well knowing, from what the blind king said of their greediness, that the Harpies would snuff up the scent163 of the victuals164, and quickly come to steal them away. And so it turned out; for, hardly was the table set, before the three hideous165 vulture women came flapping their wings, seized the food in their talons166, and flew off as fast as they could. But the two sons of the North Wind drew their swords, spread their pinions167, and set off through the air in pursuit of the thieves, whom they at last overtook among some islands, after a chase of hundreds of miles. The two winged youths blustered168 terribly at the Harpies, (for they had the rough temper of their father,) and so frightened them with their drawn74 swords, that they solemnly promised never to trouble King Phineus again.
Then the Argonauts sailed onward, and met with many other marvellous incidents, any one of which would make a story by itself. At one time, they landed on an island, and were reposing169 on the grass, when they suddenly found themselves assailed170 by what seemed a shower of steel-headed arrows. Some of them stuck in the ground, while others hit against their shields, and several penetrated171 their flesh. The fifty heroes started up, and looked about them for the hidden enemy, but could find none, nor see any spot, on the whole island, where even a single archer172 could lie concealed173. Still, however, the steel-headed arrows came whizzing among them, and, at last, happening to look upward, they beheld174 a large flock of birds, hovering175 and wheeling aloft, and shooting their feathers down upon the Argonauts. These feathers were the steel-headed arrows that had so tormented them. There was no possibility of making any resistance; and the fifty heroic Argonauts might all have been killed or wounded by a flock of troublesome birds, without ever setting eyes on the Golden Fleece, if Jason had not thought of asking the advice of the oaken image.
So he ran to the galley as fast as his legs would carry him.
"O, daughter of the Speaking Oak," cried he, all out of breath, "we need your wisdom more than ever before! We are in great peril from a flock of birds, who are shooting us with their steel-pointed feathers. What can we do to drive them away?"
"Make a clatter on your shields," said the image.
On receiving this excellent counsel, Jason hurried back to his companions, (who were far more dismayed than when they fought with the six-armed giants,) and bade them strike with their swords upon their brazen177 shields. Forthwith the fifty heroes set heartily178 to work, banging with might and main, and raised such a terrible clatter, that the birds made what haste they could to get away; and though they had shot half the feathers out of their wings, they were soon seen skimming among the clouds, a long distance off, and looking like a flock of wild geese. Orpheus celebrated179 this victory by playing a triumphant146 anthem180 on his harp, and sang so melodiously181 that Jason begged him to desist, lest, as the steel-feathered birds had been driven away by an ugly sound, they might be enticed182 back again by a sweet one.
While the Argonauts remained on this island, they saw a small vessel approaching the shore, in which were two young men of princely demeanor183, and exceedingly handsome, as young princes generally were, in those days. Now, who do you imagine these two voyagers turned out to be? Why, if you will believe me, they were the sons of that very Phrixus, who, in his childhood, had been carried to Colchis on the back of the golden-fleeced ram. Since that time, Phrixus had married the king's daughter; and the two young princes had been born and brought up at Colchis, and had spent their play days in the outskirts184 of the grove, in the center of which the Golden Fleece was hanging upon a tree. They were now on their way to Greece, in hopes of getting back a kingdom that had been wrongfully taken from their father.
When the princes understood whither the Argonauts were going, they offered to turn back, and guide them to Colchis. At the same time, however, they spoke as if it were very doubtful whether Jason would succeed in getting the Golden Fleece. According to their account, the tree on which it hung was guarded by a terrible dragon, who never failed to devour185, at one mouthful, every person who might venture within his reach.
"There are other difficulties in the way," continued the young princes. "But is not this enough? Ah, brave Jason, turn back before it is too late. It would grieve us to the heart, if you and your nine and forty brave companions should be eaten up, at fifty mouthfuls, by this execrable dragon."
"My young friends," quietly replied Jason, "I do not wonder that you think the dragon very terrible. You have grown up from infancy in the fear of this monster, and therefore still regard him with the awe186 that children feel for the bugbears and hobgoblins which their nurses have talked to them about. But, in my view of the matter, the dragon is merely a pretty large serpent, who is not half so likely to snap me up at one mouthful as I am to cut off his ugly head, and strip the skin from his body. At all events, turn back who may, I will never see Greece again, unless I carry with me the Golden Fleece."
"We will none of us turn back!" cried his nine and forty brave comrades. "Let us get on board the galley this instant; and if the dragon is to make a breakfast of us, much good may it do him."
And Orpheus (whose custom it was to set everything to music) began to harp and sing most gloriously, and made every mother's son of them feel as if nothing in this world were so delectable188 as to fight dragons, and nothing so truly honorable as to be eaten up at one mouthful, in case of the worst.
After this, (being now under the guidance of the two princes, who were well acquainted with the way,) they quickly sailed to Colchis. When the king of the country, whose name was ?etes, heard of their arrival, he instantly summoned Jason to court. The king was a stern and cruel-looking potentate189; and though he put on as polite and hospitable190 an expression as he could, Jason did not like his face a whit4 better than that of the wicked King Pelias, who dethroned his father.
"You are welcome, brave Jason," said King ?etes. "Pray, are you on a pleasure voyage?—or do you meditate191 the discovery of unknown islands?—or what other cause has procured192 me the happiness of seeing you at my court?"
"Great sir," replied Jason, with an obeisance193,—for Chiron had taught him how to behave with propriety194, whether to kings or beggars,—"I have come hither with a purpose which I now beg your majesty's permission to execute. King Pelias, who sits on my father's throne, (to which he has no more right than to the one on which your excellent majesty is now seated,) has engaged to come down from it, and give me his crown and scepter, provided I bring him the Golden Fleece. This, as your majesty is aware, is now hanging on a tree here at Colchis; and I humbly195 solicit196 your gracious leave to take it away."
In spite of himself, the king's face twisted itself into an angry frown; for, above all things else in the world, he prized the Golden Fleece and was even suspected of having done a very wicked act, in order to get it into his own possession. It put him into the worst possible humor, therefore, to hear that the gallant197 Prince Jason, and forty-nine of the bravest young warriors199 of Greece, had come to Colchis with the sole purpose of taking away his chief treasure.
"Do you know," asked King ?etes, eyeing Jason very sternly, "what are the conditions which you must fulfil before getting possession of the Golden Fleece?"
"I have heard," rejoined the youth, "that a dragon lies beneath the tree on which the prize hangs, and that whoever approaches him runs the risk of being devoured200 at a mouthful."
"True," said the king, with a smile that did not look particularly good-natured. "Very true, young man. But there are other things as hard, or perhaps a little harder, to be done, before you can even have the privilege of being devoured by the dragon. For example, you must first tame my two brazen-footed and brazen-lunged bulls, which Vulcan, the wonderful blacksmith, made for me. There is a furnace in each of their stomachs; and they breathe such hot fire out of their mouths and nostrils201, that nobody has hitherto gone nigh them without being instantly burned to a small, black cinder202. What do you think of this, my brave Jason?"
"I must encounter the peril," answered Jason, composedly, "since it stands in the way of my purpose."
"After taming the fiery203 bulls," continued King ?etes, who was determined to scare Jason if possible, "you must yoke204 them to a plough, and must plough the sacred earth in the grove of Mars, and sow some of the same dragon's teeth from which Cadmus raised a crop of armed men. They are an unruly set of reprobates205, those sons of the dragon's teeth; and unless you treat them suitably, they will fall upon you sword in hand. You and your nine and forty Argonauts, my bold Jason, are hardly numerous or strong enough to fight with such a host as will spring up."
"My master Chiron," replied Jason, "taught me, long ago, the story of Cadmus. Perhaps I can manage the quarrelsome sons of the dragon's teeth as well as Cadmus did."
"I wish the dragon had him," muttered King ?etes to himself, "and the four-footed pedant206, his schoolmaster, into the bargain. Why, what a foolhardy, self-conceited coxcomb207 he is! We'll see what my fire-breathing bulls will do for him. Well, Prince Jason," he continued, aloud, and as complaisantly as he could, "make yourself comfortable for to-day, and to-morrow morning, since you insist upon it, you shall try your skill at the plough."
While the king talked with Jason, a beautiful young woman was standing behind the throne. She fixed her eyes earnestly upon the youthful stranger, and listened attentively208 to every word that was spoken; and when Jason withdrew from the king's presence, this young woman followed him out of the room.
"I am the king's daughter," she said to him, "and my name is Medea. I know a great deal of which other young princesses are ignorant, and can do many things which they would be afraid so much as to dream of. If you will trust to me, I can instruct you how to tame the fiery bulls, and sow the dragon's teeth, and get the Golden Fleece."
"Indeed, beautiful princess," answered Jason, "if you will do me this service, I promise to be grateful to you my whole life long."
"I am the king's daughter."
Gazing at Medea, he beheld a wonderful intelligence in her face. She was one of those persons whose eyes are full of mystery; so that, while looking into them, you seem to see a very great way, as into a deep well, yet can never be certain whether you see into the farthest depths, or whether there be not something else hidden at the bottom. If Jason had been capable of fearing anything, he would have been afraid of making this young princess his enemy; for, beautiful as she now looked, she might, the very next instant, become as terrible as the dragon that kept watch over the Golden Fleece.
"Princess," he exclaimed, "you seem indeed very wise and very powerful. But how can you help me to do the things of which you speak? Are you an enchantress?"
"Yes, Prince Jason," answered Medea, with a smile, "you have hit upon the truth. I am an enchantress. Circe, my father's sister, taught me to be one, and I could tell you, if I pleased, who was the old woman with the peacock, the pomegranate, and the cuckoo staff, whom you carried over the river; and, likewise, who it is that speaks through the lips of the oaken image, that stands in the prow of your galley. I am acquainted with some of your secrets, you perceive. It is well for you that I am favorably inclined; for, otherwise, you would hardly escape being snapped, up by the dragon."
"I should not so much care for the dragon," replied Jason, "if I only knew how to manage the brazen-footed and fiery-lunged bulls."
"If you are as brave as I think you, and as you have need to be," said Medea, "your own bold heart will teach you that there is but one way of dealing209 with a mad bull. What it is I leave you to find out in the moment of peril. As for the fiery breath of these animals, I have a charmed ointment210 here, which will prevent you from being burned up, and cure you if you chance to be a little scorched211."
So she put a golden box into his hand, and directed him how to apply the perfumed unguent212 which it contained, and where to meet her at midnight.
"Only be brave," added she, "and before daybreak the brazen bulls shall be tamed."
The young man assured her that his heart would not fail him. He then rejoined his comrades, and told them what had passed between the princess and himself, and warned them to be in readiness in case there might be need of their help.
At the appointed hour he met the beautiful Medea on the marble steps of the king's palace. She gave him a basket, in which were the dragon's teeth, just as they had been pulled out of the monster's jaws213 by Cadmus, long ago. Medea then led Jason down the palace steps, and through the silent streets of the city, and into the royal pasture ground, where the two brazen-footed bulls were kept. It was a starry214 night, with a bright gleam along the eastern edge of the sky, where the moon was soon going to show herself. After entering the pasture, the princess paused and looked around.
"There they are," said she, "reposing themselves and chewing their fiery cuds in that farthest corner of the field. It will be excellent sport, I assure you, when they catch a glimpse of your figure. My father and all his court delight in nothing so much as to see a stranger trying to yoke them, in order to come at the Golden Fleece. It makes a holiday in Colchis whenever such a thing happens. For my part, I enjoy it immensely. You cannot imagine in what a mere187 twinkling of an eye their hot breath shrivels a young man into a black cinder."
AT THE APPOINTED HOUR HE MET THE BEAUTIFUL MEDEA
"Are you sure, beautiful Medea," asked Jason, "quite sure, that the unguent in the gold box will prove a remedy against those terrible burns?"
"If you doubt, if you are in the least afraid," said the princess, looking him in the face by the dim starlight, "you had better never have been born than go a step nigher to the bulls."
But Jason had set his heart steadfastly215 on getting the Golden Fleece; and I positively216 doubt whether he would have gone back without it, even had he been certain of finding himself turned into a red-hot cinder, or a handful of white ashes, the instant he made a step farther. He therefore let go Medea's hand, and walked boldly forward in the direction whither she had pointed. At some distance before him he perceived four streams of fiery vapor217, regularly appearing, and again vanishing, after dimly lighting218 up the surrounding obscurity. These, you will understand, were caused by the breath of the brazen bulls, which was quietly stealing out of their four nostrils, as they lay chewing their cuds.
At the first two or three steps which Jason made, the four fiery streams appeared to gush219 out somewhat more plentifully220; for the two brazen bulls had heard his foot tramp, and were lifting up their hot noses to snuff the air. He went a little farther, and by the way in which the red vapor now spouted221 forth, he judged that the creatures had got upon their feet. Now he could see glowing sparks, and vivid jets of flame. At the next step, each of the bulls made the pasture echo with a terrible roar, while the burning breath, which they thus belched222 forth, lit up the whole field with a momentary223 flash. One other stride did bold Jason make, and, suddenly, as a streak224 of lightning, on came these fiery animals, roaring like thunder, and sending out sheets of white flame, which so kindled225 up the scene that the young man could discern every object more distinctly than by daylight. Most distinctly of all he saw the two horrible creatures galloping226 right down upon him, their brazen hoofs rattling227 and ringing over the ground, and their tails sticking up stiffly into the air, as has always been the fashion with angry bulls. Their breath scorched the herbage before them. So intensely hot it was, indeed, that it caught a dry tree, under which Jason was now standing, and set it all in a light blaze. But as for Jason himself, (thanks to Medea's enchanted228 ointment,) the white flame curled around his body, without injuring him a jot229 more than if he had been made of asbestos.
Greatly encouraged at finding himself not yet turned into a cinder, the young man awaited the attack of the bulls. Just as the brazen brutes230 fancied themselves sure of tossing him into the air, he caught one of them by the horn, and the other by his screwed-up tail, and held them in a gripe like that of an iron vice15, one with his right hand, the other with his left. Well, he must have been wonderfully strong in his arms, to be sure. But the secret of the matter was, that the brazen bulls were enchanted creatures, and that Jason had broken the spell of their fiery fierceness by his bold way of handling them. And, ever since that time, it has been the favorite method of brave men, when danger assails231 them, to do what they call "taking the bull by the horns;" and to gripe him by the tail is pretty much the same thing—that is, to throw aside fear, and overcome the peril by despising it.
It was now easy to yoke the bulls, and to harness them to the plough, which had lain rusting119 on the ground for a great many years gone by; so long was it before anybody could be found capable of ploughing that piece of land. Jason, I suppose, had been taught how to draw a furrow232 by the good old Chiron, who, perhaps, used to allow himself to be harnessed to the plough. At any rate, our hero succeeded perfectly well in breaking up the greensward; and, by the time that the moon was a quarter of her journey up the sky, the ploughed field lay before him, a large tract233 of black earth, ready to be sown with the dragon's teeth. So Jason scattered234 them broadcast, and harrowed them into the soil with a brush-harrow, and took his stand on the edge of the field, anxious to see what would happen next.
"Must we wait long for harvest time?" he inquired of Medea, who was now standing by his side.
"Whether sooner or later, it will be sure to come," answered the princess. "A crop of armed men never fails to spring up, when the dragon's teeth have been sown."
The moon was now high aloft in the heavens, and threw its bright beams over the ploughed field, where as yet there was nothing to be seen. Any farmer, on viewing it, would have said that Jason must wait weeks before the green blades would peep from among the clods, and whole months before the yellow grain would be ripened235 for the sickle236. But by and by, all over the field, there was something that glistened237 in the moonbeams, like sparkling drops of dew. These bright objects sprouted238 higher, and proved to be the steel heads of spears. Then there was a dazzling gleam from a vast number of polished brass239 helmets, beneath which, as they grew farther out of the soil, appeared the dark and bearded visages of warriors, struggling to free themselves from the imprisoning240 earth. The first look that they gave at the upper world was a glare of wrath and defiance241. Next were seen their bright breastplates; in every right hand there was a sword or a spear, and on each left arm a shield; and when this strange crop of warriors had but half grown out of the earth, they struggled,—such was their impatience242 of restraint,—and, as it were, tore themselves up by the roots. Wherever a dragon's tooth had fallen, there stood a man armed for battle. They made a clangor with their swords against their shields and eyed one another fiercely; for they had come into this beautiful world, and into the peaceful moonlight, full of rage and stormy passions, and ready to take the life of every human brother, in recompense of the boon243 of their own existence.
There have been many other armies in the world that seemed to possess the same fierce nature with the one which had now sprouted from the dragon's teeth; but these, in the moonlit field, were the more excusable, because they never had women for their mothers. And how it would have rejoiced any great captain, who was bent244 on conquering the world, like Alexander or Napoleon, to raise a crop of armed soldiers as easily as Jason did!
For a while, the warriors stood flourishing their weapons, clashing their swords against their shields, and boiling over with the red-hot thirst for battle. Then they began to shout—"Show us the enemy! Lead us to the charge! Death or victory! Come on, brave comrades! Conquer or die!" and a hundred other outcries, such as men always bellow245 forth on a battle field, and which these dragon people seemed to have at their tongues' ends. At last, the front rank caught sight of Jason, who, beholding the flash of so many weapons in the moonlight, had thought it best to draw his sword. In a moment all the sons of the dragon's teeth appeared to take Jason for an enemy; and crying with one voice, "Guard the Golden Fleece!" they ran at him with uplifted swords and protruded246 spears. Jason knew that it would be impossible to withstand this bloodthirsty battalion247 with his single arm, but determined, since there was nothing better to be done, to die as valiantly248 as if he himself had sprung from a dragon's tooth.
Medea, however, bade him snatch up a stone from the ground.
"Throw it among them quickly!" cried she. "It is the only way to save yourself."
The armed men were now so nigh that Jason could discern the fire flashing out of their enraged249 eyes, when he let fly the stone, and saw it strike the helmet of a tall warrior198, who was rushing upon him with his blade aloft. The stone glanced from this man's helmet to the shield of his nearest comrade, and thence flew right into the angry face of another, hitting him smartly between the eyes. Each of the three who had been struck by the stone took it for granted that his next neighbor had given him a blow; and instead of running any farther towards Jason, they began a fight among themselves. The confusion spread through the host, so that it seemed scarcely a moment before they were all hacking250, hewing, and stabbing at one another, lopping off arms, heads, and legs, and doing such memorable251 deeds that Jason was filled with immense admiration252; although, at the same time, he could not help laughing to behold139 these mighty men punishing each other for an offence which he himself had committed. In an incredibly short space of time, (almost as short, indeed, as it had taken them to grow up,) all but one of the heroes of the dragon's teeth were stretched lifeless on the field. The last survivor253, the bravest and strongest of the whole, had just force enough to wave his crimson254 sword over his head, and give a shout of exultation255, crying, "Victory! Victory! Immortal256 fame!" when he himself fell down, and lay quietly among his slain brethren. And there was the end of the army that had sprouted from the dragon's teeth. That fierce and feverish257 fight was the only enjoyment258 which they had tasted on this beautiful earth.
"Let them sleep in the bed of honor," said the Princess Medea, with a sly smile at Jason. "The world will always have simpletons enough, just like them, fighting and dying for they know not what, and fancying that posterity259 will take the trouble to put laurel wreaths on their rusty122 and battered260 helmets. Could you help smiling, Prince Jason, to see the self-conceit of that last fellow, just as he tumbled down?"
"It made me very sad," answered Jason gravely. "And, to tell you the truth, princess, the Golden Fleece does not appear so well worth the winning, after what I have here beheld."
"You will think differently in the morning," said Medea. "True, the Golden Fleece may not be so valuable as you have thought it; but then there is nothing better in the world; and one must needs have an object, you know. Come! Your night's work has been well performed; and to-morrow you can inform King ?etes that the first part of your allotted261 task is fulfilled."
Agreeably to Medea's advice, Jason went betimes in the morning to the palace of King ?etes. Entering the presence chamber262, he stood at the foot of the throne, and made a low obeisance.
"Your eyes look heavy, Prince Jason," observed the king; "you appear to have spent a sleepless263 night. I hope you have been considering the matter a little more wisely, and have concluded not to get yourself scorched to a cinder, in attempting to tame my brazen-lunged bulls."
"That is already accomplished264, may it please your majesty," replied Jason. "The bulls have been tamed and yoked265; the field has been ploughed; the dragon's teeth have been sown broadcast, and harrowed into the soil; the crop of armed warriors have sprung up, and they have slain one another, to the last man. And now I solicit your majesty's permission to encounter the dragon, that I may take down the Golden Fleece from the tree, and depart, with my nine and forty comrades."
King ?etes scowled266, and looked very angry and excessively disturbed; for he knew that, in accordance with his kingly promise, he ought now to permit Jason to win the fleece, if his courage and skill should enable him to do so. But, since the young man had met with such good luck in the matter of the brazen bulls and the dragon's teeth, the king feared that he would be equally successful in slaying267 the dragon. And therefore, though he would gladly have seen Jason snapped up at a mouthful, he was resolved (and it was a very wrong thing of this wicked potentate) not to run any further risk of losing his beloved fleece.
"You never would have succeeded in this business, young man," said he, "if my undutiful daughter Medea had not helped you with her enchantments268. Had you acted fairly, you would have been, at this instant, a black cinder, or a handful of white ashes. I forbid you, on pain of death, to make any more attempts to get the Golden Fleece. To speak my mind plainly, you shall never set eyes on so much as one of its glistening269 locks."
Jason left the king's presence in great sorrow and anger. He could think of nothing better to be done than to summon together his forty-nine brave Argonauts, march at once to the grove of Mars, slay the dragon, take possession of the Golden Fleece, get on board the Argo, and spread all sail for Iolchos. The success of this scheme depended, it is true, on the doubtful point whether all the fifty heroes might not be snapped up, at so many mouthfuls, by the dragon. But, as Jason was hastening down the palace steps, the Princess Medea called after him, and beckoned270 him to return. Her black eyes shone upon him with such a keen intelligence, that he felt as if there were a serpent peeping out of them; and, although she had done him so much service only the night before, he was by no means very certain that she would not do him an equally great mischief before sunset. These enchantresses, you must know, are never to be depended upon.
"What says King ?etes, my royal and upright father?" inquired Medea, slightly smiling. "Will he give you the Golden Fleece, without any further risk or trouble?"
"On the contrary," answered Jason, "he is very angry with me for taming the brazen bulls and sowing the dragon's teeth. And he forbids me to make any more attempts, and positively refuses to give up the Golden Fleece, whether I slay the dragon or no."
"Yes, Jason," said the princess, "and I can tell you more. Unless you set sail from Colchis before to-morrow's sunrise, the king means to burn your fifty oared271 galley, and put yourself and your forty-nine brave comrades to the sword. But be of good courage. The Golden Fleece you shall have, if it lies within the power of my enchantments to get it for you. Wait for me here an hour before midnight."
At the appointed hour, you might again have seen Prince Jason and the Princess Medea, side by side, stealing through the streets of Colchis, on their way to the sacred grove, in the center of which the Golden Fleece was suspended to a tree. While they were crossing the pasture ground, the brazen bulls came towards Jason, lowing, nodding their heads, and thrusting forth their snouts, which, as other cattle do, they, loved to have rubbed and caressed272 by a friendly hand. Their fierce nature was thoroughly273 tamed; and, with their fierceness, the two furnaces in their stomachs had likewise been extinguished, insomuch that they probably enjoyed far more comfort in grazing and chewing their cuds than ever before. Indeed, it had heretofore been a great inconvenience to these poor animals, that, whenever they wished to eat a mouthful of grass, the fire out of their nostrils had shrivelled it up, before they could manage to crop it. How they contrived274 to keep themselves alive is more than I can imagine. But now, instead of emitting jets of flame and streams of sulphurous vapor, they breathed the very sweetest of cow breath.
"WHAT IS IT"? ASKED JASON
After kindly patting the bulls, Jason followed Medea's guidance into the Grove of Mars, where the great oak trees, that had been growing for centuries, threw so thick a shade that the moonbeams struggled vainly to find their way through it. Only here and there a glimmer275 fell upon the leaf-strewn earth, or now and then a breeze stirred the boughs aside, and gave Jason a glimpse of the sky, lest, in that deep obscurity, he might forget that there was one, overhead. At length, when they had gone farther and farther into the heart of the duskiness, Medea squeezed Jason's hand.
"Look yonder," she whispered. "Do you see it?"
Gleaming among the venerable oaks, there was a radiance, not like the moonbeams, but rather resembling the golden glory of the setting sun. It proceeded from an object, which appeared to be suspended at about a man's height from the ground, a little farther within the wood.
"What is it?" asked Jason.
"Have you come so far to seek it," exclaimed Medea, "and do you not recognize the meed of all your toils276 and perils, when it glitters before your eyes? It is the Golden Fleece."
Jason went onward a few steps farther, and then stopped to gaze. O, how beautiful it looked, shining with a marvellous light of its own, that inestimable prize, which so many heroes had longed to behold, but had perished in the quest of it, either by the perils of their voyage, or by the fiery breath of the brazen-lunged bulls.
"How gloriously it shines!" cried Jason, in a rapture277. "It has surely been dipped in the richest gold of sunset. Let me hasten onward, and take it to my bosom278."
"Stay," said Medea, holding him back. "Have you forgotten what guards it?"
To say the truth, in the joy of beholding the object of his desires, the terrible dragon had quite slipped out of Jason's memory. Soon, however, something came to pass, that reminded him what perils were still to be encountered. An antelope279, that probably mistook the yellow radiance for sunrise, came bounding fleetly through the grove. He was rushing straight towards the Golden Fleece, when suddenly there was a frightful280 hiss281, and the immense head and half the scaly282 body of the dragon was thrust forth, (for he was twisted round the trunk of the tree on which the fleece hung,) and seizing the poor antelope, swallowed him with one snap of his jaws.
After this feat176, the dragon seemed sensible that some other living creature was within reach, on which he felt inclined to finish his meal. In various directions he kept poking his ugly snout among the trees, stretching out his neck a terrible long way, now here, now there, and now close to the spot where Jason and the Princess were hiding behind an oak. Upon my word, as the head came waving and undulating through the air, and reaching almost within arm's length of Prince Jason, it was a very hideous and uncomfortable sight. The gape283 of his enormous jaws was nearly as wide as the gateway284 of the king's palace.
"Well, Jason," whispered Medea, (for she was ill-natured, as all enchantresses are, and wanted to make the bold youth tremble,) "what do you think now of your prospect of winning the Golden Fleece?"
Jason answered only by drawing his sword, and making a step forward.
"Stay, foolish youth," said Medea, grasping his arm. "Do not you see you are lost, without me as your good angel? In this gold box I have a magic potion, which will do the dragon's business far more effectively than your sword."
The dragon had probably heard the voices; for swift as lightning, his black head and forked tongue came hissing285 among the trees again, darting286 full forty feet at a stretch. As it approached, Medea tossed the contents of the gold box right down the monster's wide-open throat. Immediately, with an outrageous287 hiss and a tremendous wriggle,—flinging his tail up to the tip-top of the tallest tree, and shattering all its branches as it crashed heavily down again,—the dragon fell at full length upon the ground, and lay quite motionless.
"It is only a sleeping potion," said the enchantress to Prince Jason. "One always finds a use for these mischievous288 creatures, sooner or later; so I did not wish to kill him outright289. Quick! Snatch the prize, and let us begone. You have won the Golden Fleece."
Jason caught the fleece from the tree, and hurried through the grove, the deep shadows of which were illuminated290 as he passed by the golden glory of the precious object that he bore along. A little way before him, he beheld the old woman whom he had helped over the stream, with her peacock beside her. She clapped her hands for joy, and beckoning291 him to make haste, disappeared among the duskiness of the trees. Espying292 the two winged sons of the North Wind, (who were disporting293 themselves in the moonlight, a few hundred feet aloft,) Jason bade them tell the rest of the Argonauts to embark294 as speedily as possible. But Lynceus, with his sharp eyes, had already caught a glimpse of him, bringing the Golden Fleece, although several stone walls, a hill, and the black shadows of the grove of Mars, intervened between. By his advice, the heroes had seated themselves on the benches of the galley, with their oars held perpendicularly, ready to let fall into the water.
As Jason drew near, he heard the Talking Image calling to him with more than ordinary eagerness, in its grave, sweet voice:—
"Make haste, Prince Jason! For your life, make haste!"
With one bound, he leaped aboard. At sight of the glorious radiance of the Golden Fleece, the nine and forty heroes gave a mighty shout, and Orpheus, striking his harp, sang a song of triumph, to the cadence295 of which the galley flew over the water, homeward bound, as if careering along with wings!
The End
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1
centaur
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| n.人首马身的怪物 | |
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centaurs
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| n.（希腊神话中）半人半马怪物( centaur的名词复数 ) | |
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cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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whit
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| n.一点，丝毫 | |
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harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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6
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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ram
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| (random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
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trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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9
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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12
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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13
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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16
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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17
leopard
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| n.豹 | |
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18
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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19
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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20
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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21
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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22
specks
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| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
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23
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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24
eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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25
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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27
oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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28
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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29
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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30
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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31
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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32
uprooted
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| v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园 | |
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33
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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35
wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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36
boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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37
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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38
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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39
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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40
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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41
strutted
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| 趾高气扬地走，高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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43
plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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44
succor
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| n.援助，帮助；v.给予帮助 | |
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45
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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46
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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47
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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48
wrestle
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| vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付 | |
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49
maxims
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| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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50
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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51
foamy
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| adj.全是泡沫的，泡沫的，起泡沫的 | |
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52
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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53
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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54
crevice
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| n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝；缺口 | |
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55
briskness
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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56
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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57
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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58
despondently
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| adv.沮丧地，意志消沉地 | |
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59
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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60
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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61
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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62
hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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63
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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64
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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65
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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66
Neptune
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| n.海王星 | |
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67
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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68
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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69
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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70
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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72
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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73
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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74
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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75
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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76
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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77
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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78
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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79
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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80
instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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81
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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82
entrap
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| v.以网或陷阱捕捉，使陷入圈套 | |
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83
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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84
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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85
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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86
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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87
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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88
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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89
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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90
perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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91
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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92
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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93
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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94
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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95
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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96
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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97
myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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98
babbling
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| n.胡说，婴儿发出的咿哑声adj.胡说的v.喋喋不休( babble的现在分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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99
tornado
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| n.飓风，龙卷风 | |
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100
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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101
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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102
murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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103
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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104
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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105
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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106
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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107
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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108
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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109
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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110
apprentices
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| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
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111
hewing
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| v.（用斧、刀等）砍、劈( hew的现在分词 )；砍成；劈出；开辟 | |
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112
bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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113
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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114
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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115
prow
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| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
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116
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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117
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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118
adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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119
rusting
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| n.生锈v.（使）生锈( rust的现在分词 ) | |
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120
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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121
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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122
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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123
thronging
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的现在分词 ) | |
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124
pedagogue
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| n.教师 | |
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125
renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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126
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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127
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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128
capered
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| v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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129
tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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130
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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131
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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132
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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133
blustering
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| adj.狂风大作的，狂暴的v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的现在分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹 | |
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134
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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135
foretell
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| v.预言，预告，预示 | |
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136
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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137
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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138
beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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139
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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140
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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141
insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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142
puddle
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| n.(雨)水坑，泥潭 | |
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143
disconsolate
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| adj.忧郁的，不快的 | |
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144
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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145
perpendicularly
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| adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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146
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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147
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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148
promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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149
scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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150
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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151
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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152
miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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153
hospitably
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| 亲切地，招待周到地，善于款待地 | |
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154
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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155
brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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156
wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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157
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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158
slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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159
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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160
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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161
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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162
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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163
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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164
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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165
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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166
talons
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| n.（尤指猛禽的）爪( talon的名词复数 )；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物；锁簧尖状突出部 | |
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167
pinions
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| v.抓住[捆住]（双臂）( pinion的第三人称单数 ) | |
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168
blustered
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| v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹 | |
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169
reposing
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的现在分词 ) | |
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170
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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171
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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172
archer
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| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
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173
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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174
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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175
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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176
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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177
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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178
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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179
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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180
anthem
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| n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌 | |
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181
melodiously
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182
enticed
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| 诱惑，怂恿( entice的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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183
demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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184
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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185
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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186
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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187
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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188
delectable
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| adj.使人愉快的；美味的 | |
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189
potentate
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| n.统治者；君主 | |
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190
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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191
meditate
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| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
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192
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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193
obeisance
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| n.鞠躬，敬礼 | |
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194
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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195
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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196
solicit
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| vi.勾引；乞求；vt.请求，乞求；招揽(生意) | |
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197
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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198
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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199
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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200
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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201
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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202
cinder
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| n.余烬，矿渣 | |
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203
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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204
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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205
reprobates
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| n.道德败坏的人，恶棍( reprobate的名词复数 ) | |
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206
pedant
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| n.迂儒；卖弄学问的人 | |
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207
coxcomb
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| n.花花公子 | |
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208
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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209
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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210
ointment
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| n.药膏，油膏，软膏 | |
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211
scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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212
unguent
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| n.（药）膏；润滑剂；滑油 | |
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213
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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214
starry
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| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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215
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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216
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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217
vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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218
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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219
gush
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| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
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220
plentifully
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| adv. 许多地，丰饶地 | |
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221
spouted
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| adj.装有嘴的v.（指液体）喷出( spout的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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222
belched
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| v.打嗝( belch的过去式和过去分词 )；喷出，吐出；打（嗝）；嗳（气） | |
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223
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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224
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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225
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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226
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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227
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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228
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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229
jot
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| n.少量；vi.草草记下；vt.匆匆写下 | |
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230
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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231
assails
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| v.攻击( assail的第三人称单数 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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232
furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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233
tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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234
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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235
ripened
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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236
sickle
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| n.镰刀 | |
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237
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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238
sprouted
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| v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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239
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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240
imprisoning
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| v.下狱，监禁( imprison的现在分词 ) | |
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241
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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242
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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243
boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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244
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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245
bellow
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| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
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246
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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247
battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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248
valiantly
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| adv.勇敢地，英勇地；雄赳赳 | |
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249
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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250
hacking
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| n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动 | |
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251
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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252
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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253
survivor
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| n.生存者，残存者，幸存者 | |
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254
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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255
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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256
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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257
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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258
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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259
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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260
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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261
allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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262
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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263
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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264
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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265
yoked
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| 结合（yoke的过去式形式） | |
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266
scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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267
slaying
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| 杀戮。 | |
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268
enchantments
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| n.魅力( enchantment的名词复数 )；迷人之处；施魔法；着魔 | |
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269
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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270
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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271
oared
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| adj.有桨的v.划（行）( oar的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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272
caressed
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| 爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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273
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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274
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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275
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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276
toils
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| 网 | |
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277
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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278
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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279
antelope
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| n.羚羊；羚羊皮 | |
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280
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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281
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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282
scaly
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| adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的 | |
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283
gape
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| v.张口，打呵欠，目瞪口呆地凝视 | |
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284
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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285
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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286
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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287
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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288
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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289
outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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290
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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291
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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292
espying
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| v.看到( espy的现在分词 ) | |
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293
disporting
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| v.嬉戏，玩乐，自娱( disport的现在分词 ) | |
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294
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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295
cadence
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| n.（说话声调的）抑扬顿挫 | |
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