The Heroes; Or, Greek Fairy Tales for My ChildrenKingsley, Charles
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The Heroes; Or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children
Kingsley, Charles
Mythology, Greek -- Juvenile literature
But Jason could not sleep for thinking of his mighty oath, and how he was
to fulfil it, all alone, and without wealth or friends. So he tossed a
long time upon his bed, and thought of this plan and of that; and
sometimes Phrixus seemed to call him, in a thin voice, faint and low, as
if it came from far across the sea, ‘Let me come home to my fathers and
have rest.’ And sometimes he seemed to see the eyes of Hera, and to hear
her words again—‘Call on me in the hour of need, and see if the Immortals
can forget.’
And on the morrow he went to Pelias, and said, ‘Give me a victim, that I
may sacrifice to Hera.’ So he went up, and offered his sacrifice; and as
he stood by the altar Hera sent a thought into his mind; and he went back
to Pelias, and said—
‘If you are indeed in earnest, give me two heralds, that they may go
round to all the princes of the Minuai, who were pupils of the Centaur
with me, that we may fit out a ship together, and take what shall
befall.’
At that Pelias praised his wisdom, and hastened to send the heralds out;
for he said in his heart, ‘Let all the princes go with him, and, like
him, never return; for so I shall be lord of all the Minuai, and the
greatest king in Hellas.’
PART III
HOW THEY BUILT THE SHIP ‘ARGO’ IN IOLCOS
So the heralds went out, and cried to all the heroes of the Minuai, ‘Who
dare come to the adventure of the golden fleece?’
And Hera stirred the hearts of all the princes, and they came from all
their valleys to the yellow sands of Pagasai. And first came Heracles
the mighty, with his lion’s skin and club, and behind him Hylas his young
squire, who bore his arrows and his bow; and Tiphys, the skilful
steersman; and Butes, the fairest of all men; and Castor and Polydeuces
the twins, the sons of the magic swan; and Cæneus, the strongest of
mortals, whom the Centaurs tried in vain to kill, and overwhelmed him
with trunks of pine-trees, but even so he would not die; and thither came
Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the north wind; and Peleus, the
father of Achilles, whose bride was silver-footed Thetis, the goddess of
the sea. And thither came Telamon and Oileus, the fathers of the two
Aiantes, who fought upon the plains of Troy; and Mopsus, the wise
soothsayer, who knew the speech of birds; and Idmon, to whom Phoebus gave
a tongue to prophesy of things to come; and Ancaios, who could read the
stars, and knew all the circles of the heavens; and Argus, the famed
shipbuilder, and many a hero more, in helmets of brass and gold with tall
dyed horse-hair crests, and embroidered shirts of linen beneath their
coats of mail, and greaves of polished tin to guard their knees in fight;
with each man his shield upon his shoulder, of many a fold of tough
bull’s hide, and his sword of tempered bronze in his silver-studded belt;
and in his right hand a pair of lances, of the heavy white ash-staves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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