THEY took
the ship out of the backwater and they brought her to a wharf in
the city. At a place that was called “The
Ram’s Couch” they fastened the Argo.
Then they marched to the field of Ares, where the king and the
Colchian people were.
Jason, carrying
his shield and spear, went before the king. From the king’s hand he
took the gleaming helmet that held the dragon’s teeth. This he put
into the hands of Theseus, who went with him. Then with the spear
and shield in his hands, with his sword girt across his shoulders,
and with his mantle stripped off, Jason looked across the field of
Ares.
He saw the plow
that he was to yoke to the bulls; he saw the yoke of bronze near
it; he saw the tracks of the bulls’ hooves. He followed the tracks
until he came to the lair of the fire-breathing bulls. Out of that
lair, which was underground, smoke and fire belched. [pg 128]
He set his feet
firmly upon the ground and he held his shield before him. He
awaited the onset of the bulls. They came clanging up with loud
bellowing, breathing out fire. They lowered their heads, and with
mighty, iron-tipped horns they came to gore and trample him.
Medea’s charm
had made him strong; Medea’s charm had made his shield impregnable.
The rush of the bulls did not overthrow him. His comrades shouted
to see him standing firmly there, and in wonder the Colchians gazed
upon him. All round him, as from a furnace, there came smoke and
fire.
The bulls
roared mightily. Grasping the horns of the bull that was upon his
right hand, Jason dragged him until he had brought him beside the
yoke of bronze. Striking the brazen knees of the bull suddenly with
his foot he forced him down. Then he smote the other bull as it
rushed upon him, and it too he forced down upon its knees.
Castor and
Polydeuces held the yoke to him. Jason bound it upon the necks of
the bulls. He fastened the plow to the yoke. Then he took his
shield and set it upon his back, and grasping the handles of the
plow he started to make the furrow.
With his long
spear he drove the bulls before him as with a goad. Terribly they
raged, furiously they breathed out fire. Beside Jason Theseus went
holding the helmet that held the dragon’s teeth. The hard ground
was torn up by the plow of adamant, and the clods groaned as they
were cast up. Jason [pg
129] flung the teeth between the open sods, often turning
his head in fear that the deadly crop of the Earth-born Men were
rising behind him.
By the time
that a third of the day was finished the field of Ares had been
plowed and sown. As yet the furrows were free of the Earth-born
Men. Jason went down to the river and filled his helmet full of
water and drank deeply. And his knees that were stiffened with the
plowing he bent until they were made supple again.
He saw the
field rising into mounds. It seemed that there were graves all over
the field of Ares. Then he saw spears and shields and helmets
rising up out of the earth. Then armed warriors sprang up, a fierce
battle cry upon their lips.
Jason
remembered the counsel of Medea. He raised a boulder that four men
could hardly raise and with arms hardened by the plowing he cast
it. The Colchians shouted to see such a stone cast by the hands of
one man. Right into the middle of the Earth-born Men the stone
came. They leaped upon it like hounds, striking at one another as
they came together. Shield crashed on shield, spear rang upon spear
as they struck at each other. The Earth-born Men, as fast as they
arose, went down before the weapons in the hands of their
brethren.
Jason rushed
upon them, his sword in his hand. He slew some that had risen out
of the earth only as far as the shoulders; he slew others whose
feet were still in the earth; he slew others who were ready to
spring upon him. Soon all the Earth-born [pg 130] Men were slain, and the furrows ran
with their dark blood as channels run with water in springtime.
The Argonauts
shouted loudly for Jason’s victory. King Æetes rose from his seat
that was beside the river and he went back to the city. The
Colchians followed him. Day faded, and Jason’s contest was
ended.
But it was not
the will of Æetes that the strangers should be let depart peaceably
with the Golden Fleece that Jason had won. In the assembly place,
with his son Apsyrtus beside him, and with the furious Colchians
all around him, the king stood: on his breast was the gleaming
corselet that Ares had given him, and on his head was that golden
helmet with its four plumes that made him look as if he were truly
the son of Helios, the Sun. Lightnings flashed from his great eyes;
he spoke fiercely to the Colchians, holding in his hand his
bronze-topped spear.
He would have
them attack the strangers and burn the Argo.
He would have the sons of Phrixus slain for bringing them to Aea.
There was a prophecy, he declared, that would have him be watchful
of the treachery of his own offspring: this prophecy was being
fulfilled by the children of Chalciope; he feared, too, that his
daughter, Medea, had aided the strangers. So the king spoke, and
the Colchians, hating all strangers, shouted around him.
Word of what
her father had said was brought to Medea. [pg 131] She knew that she would have to go to
the Argonauts and bid them flee hastily from Aea. They would not
go, she knew, without the Golden Fleece; then she, Medea, would
have to show them how to gain the Fleece.
Then she could
never again go back to her father’s palace, she could never again
sit in this chamber and talk to her handmaidens, and be with
Chalciope, her sister. Forever afterward she would be dependent on
the kindness of strangers. Medea wept when she thought of all this.
And then she cut off a tress of her hair and she left it in her
chamber as a farewell from one who was going afar. Into the chamber
where Chalciope was she whispered farewell.
The palace
doors were all heavily bolted, but Medea did not have to pull back
the bolts. As she chanted her Magic Song the bolts softly drew
back, the doors softly opened. Swiftly she went along the ways that
led to the river. She came to where fires were blazing and she knew
that the Argonauts were there.
She called to
them, and Phrontis, Chalciope’s son, heard the cry and knew the
voice. To Jason he spoke, and Jason quickly went to where Medea
stood.
She clasped
Jason’s hand and she drew him with her. “The Golden Fleece,” she said, “the time has come when you must pluck the Golden
Fleece off the oak in the grove of Ares.” When she said
these words all Jason’s being became taut like the string of a bow.
[pg 132]
It was then the
hour when huntsmen cast sleep from their eyes—huntsmen who never
sleep away the end of the night, but who are ever ready to be up
and away with their hounds before the beams of the sun efface the
track and the scent of the quarry. Along a path that went from the
river Medea drew Jason. They entered a grove. Then Jason saw
something that was like a cloud filled with the light of the rising
sun. It hung from a great oak tree. In awe he stood and looked upon
it, knowing that at last he looked upon The Golden
Fleece.
His hand let
slip Medea’s hand and he went to seize the Fleece. As he did he
heard a dreadful hiss. And then he saw the guardian of the Golden
Fleece. Coiled all around the tree, with outstretched neck and keen
and sleepless eyes, was a deadly serpent. Its hiss ran all through
the grove and the birds that were wakening up squawked in
terror.
Like rings of
smoke that rise one above the other, the coils of the serpent went
around the tree—coils covered by hard and gleaming scales. It
uncoiled, stretched itself, and lifted its head to strike. Then
Medea dropped on her knees before it, and began to chant her Magic
Song.
As she sang,
the coils around the tree grew slack. Like a dark, noiseless wave
the serpent sank down on the ground. But still its jaws were open,
and those dreadful jaws threatened Jason. Medea, with a newly cut
spray of juniper dipped in a mystic brew, touched its deadly eyes.
And still she chanted [pg
133] her Magic Song. The serpent’s jaws closed; its eyes
became deadened; far through the grove its length was stretched
out.
Then Jason took
the Golden Fleece. As he raised his hands to it, its brightness was
such as to make a flame on his face. Medea called to him. He strove
to gather it all up in his arms; Medea was beside him, and they
went swiftly on.
They came to
the river and down to the place where the Argo
was moored. The heroes who were aboard started up, astonished to
see the Fleece that shone as with the lightning of Zeus. Over Medea
Jason cast it, and he lifted her aboard the Argo.
“O friends,” he cried, “the quest on which we dared the gulfs of the sea and
the wrath of kings is accomplished, thanks to the help of this
maiden. Now may we return to Greece; now have we the hope of
looking upon our fathers and our friends once more. And in all
honor will we bring this maiden with us, Medea, the daughter of
King Æetes.”
Then he drew
his sword and cut the hawsers of the ship, calling upon the heroes
to drive the Argo on. There was a din and a
strain and a splash of oars, and away from Aea the Argo
dashed. Beside the mast Medea stood; the Golden Fleece had fallen
at her feet, and her head and face were covered by her silver
veil.
