 Section 16 of Tanglewood Tales. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Liz Devins. Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Golden Fleece Part 2. 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 perils he had run. The eyes of King Pellius 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 peril of your life bring me back the Golden Fleece. I go, answered Jason, composedly, If I fail, you need not fear that I will ever come back to trouble you again. But if I return to Yocos with the prize, then King Pellius, you must hasten down from your lofty throne and give me your crown and sceptre. That I will, said the king, with a sneer. Meantime, I will keep them safely for you. The first thing that Jason thought of doing, after he left the king's presence, was to go to Dodana 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 dense shadow over more than an acre of ground. Standing beneath it, Jason looked up among the knotted branches and green leaves, and into the mysterious heart of the old tree, and spoke aloud, as if you were addressing some person who was hidden within the depths of the foliage. 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 solitary wood. In a moment or two, however, the leaves of the oak began to stir and rustle, as if a gentle breeze were wandering amongst them, although the other trees of the wood were perfectly still. The sound grew louder and became like the roar of a high wind. By and by Jason imagined that he could distinguish words, but very confusedly, because each separate leaf of the tree seemed to be a tongue, and the whole myriad of tongues were babbling at once, but the noise blocked broader and deeper until it resembled a tornado sweeping through the oak, and making one great utterance out of a thousand and thousand of little murmurs which each leafy tongue had caused by its rustling. And now, though it still had the tone of a mighty wind roaring among the branches, it was also like a deep bass voice, speaking as distinctly as a tree could be expected to speak, the following words. Go to Argus, the shipbuilder, and bid him build a galley with fifty oars. Then the voice melted again into the indistinct murmur of 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 an ordinary sound made by a breeze while passing through the thick foliage of the tree. But on inquiry among the people of Iocas, he found that there was really a man in the city by the name of Argus, who was a very skilful builder of vessels. 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 vessel of such size and burden had heretofore been seen in the world, so the head carpenter and all his journeymen and apprentices began their work, and for a good while afterwards there they were, busily employed, looking out the timbers and making a great clatter with their hammers, until the new ship, which was called the Argo, seemed to be quite ready for sea, and as the talking oak had already given him such good advice, Jason thought that it would not be amiss to ask for a little more. He visited 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 the foliage of a great branch which stretched above his head had begun to rustle as if the wind were stirring that one bow, while all the other bows 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 neighbourhood engaged to make the figure-head. He was tolerably good workman and had already carved several figure-heads in what he intended for fendon shapes, and looking pretty much like those we see nowadays, stuck up under a vessel's bow-sprit with great staring eyes that never wink at the dash of a 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 centre 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 angrier or forbidding, with 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 deepest wisdom. Jason was delighted with the oaken image and gave the carver no rest until it was completed and set it up where a figure-head has always stood from that time to this in the vessel's prow. And now, cried he, as he stood gazing at the calm, majestic face of the statue, I must go to the talking oak and require what to do next. 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 beat thought himself that the image had been carved out of 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 faculty of speech. It would have been very odd indeed if it had not. But certainly it was a great piece of good fortune that he should be able to carry so wise a block of wood along with him in his perilous voyage. Tell me, wondrous image, exclaimed Jason, since you inherit the wisdom of the speaking oak of Dodana, whose daughter you are, tell me, where shall I find fifty bold use, who will take each of them and oar in my galley? They must have sturdy arms to row and brave hearts to encounter perils, where we shall never win the golden fleece. Go, replied the oaken image, go summon all the heroes of Greece. And, in fact, considering what a great deed was to be done, could any advice be wiser than this which Jason received from the figurehead of this vessel? He lost no time in sending messengers to all the cities and making known to the whole people of Greece that Prince Jason, the son of King Jason, was going in quest of the fleece of gold and that he desired the help of forty-nine of the bravest and strongest young men alive to row his vessel and share his dangers, and Jason himself would be the fiftieth. At this news the adventurous youths all over the country began to be stir themselves. Some of them had already fought with giants and slain dragons, and the younger ones who had not yet met with such good fortune thought it a shame to have lived so long without getting astride of a flying serpent or sticking their spears into a chimera, or at least thrusting their right arms down a monstrous lion's throat. There was a pharaoh's prospect 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 thronging to Yolkos and clamored 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 him row the vessel to the remotest edge of the world and as much farther as he might think it best to go. Many of these brave fellows had been educated by Chiron, the four-footed pedagogue, and were therefore old schoolmates of Jason and knew him to be a lad of spirit. The mighty Hercules, whose shoulders afterwards upheld 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. Antheceus, who was so renowned for killing the Minotaur, and Linceus, 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 leers so sweetly that the brute beast stood upon their hind legs and capered merrily to the music. Yes, and at some of his more moving tunes the rocks bestirred their moss-grown bulk out of the ground and a grove of forest-trees uprooted themselves, and knotting 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 a foot was this fair damsel that she could step from one foamy crest of a wave to the foamy crest of another without wetting more than the sole of her sandal. She had grown up in a very wild way and talked much about the rights of women and loved hunting and war far better than her needle. But in my opinion the most remarkable of this famous company were the two sons of the North Wind, airy youngsters and of a rather blustering disposition, who had wings on their shoulders and in case of a calm could puff out their cheeks and blow almost as fresh a breeze as their father. I ought not to forget the prophets and conjurers of whom there were several in the crew and who could foretell what would happen to-morrow or the next day or a hundred years hence, but were generally quite unconscious of what was passing at the moment. Jason appointed Typhus to be helmsman because he was a stargazer and knew the points of the compass. Lincius, on account of his sharp sight, was stationed at the lookout in the prow, where he saw a whole day 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, Lincius could tell you exactly what kind of rocks or sands were at the bottom of it and he often cried out to his companions that they were sailing over heaps of sunken treasure which yet he was none the richer for beholding. To confess the truth, few people believed him when he said it. Well, but when the Argonauts, as these fifty brave adventurers were called, had prepared everything for the voyage, an unforeseen difficulty threatened to end it before it was begun, the vessel, you must understand, was so long and broad and ponderous that the united force of all the fifty was insufficient to shove her into the water. Hercules, I suppose, had not grown to his full strength, else he might have set her afloat as easily as a little boy launches a boat upon a puddle. But here were these fifty heroes, pushing and straining and growing red in the face, without making the Argos start an inch. At last, quite wearied out, they sat themselves down on the shore, exceedingly disconsolate, and thinking that the vessel must be left to rot and fall into pieces, and that they must either swim across the sea or lose the golden fleece. All at once, Jason but thought himself of the galley's miraculous figure-head. O daughter of the talking oak, cried he, how shall we set work to get our vessel into the water? Seat yourselves, answered the image, for it had known what ought to have been done for 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 perpendicularly in the air, while Orpheus, who liked such a task far better than rowing, swept his fingers across the harp. At the first ringing note of the music they felt the vessel stir. Orpheus thrummed away briskly, and the galley slid at once into the sea, dipping her prow so deeply that the figure-head drank the wave with its marvelous slips, and rising again as buoyant as a swan. The rowers plied their fifty oars, the white foam boiled up before the prow, the water gurgled and bubbled in their wake, while Orpheus continued to play so lively a strain of music that the vessel seemed to dance over the billows by way of keeping time to it. Thus triumphantly to the argo sail out of the harbor, amidst the husses and good wishes of everyone except the wicked old Peleus, who stood on a promontory scowling at her, wishing that he could blow out his lungs the temptance of wrath that was in his heart, and so sink the galley with all on board. When they had sailed above fifty miles over the sea, Lyceus 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, Lyceus talked about the golden fleece. It originally belonged, it appears, to a Boetian ram 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 Heli, fell into the sea and was drowned, but the other, a little boy named Frixus, was brought safe ashore 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 miraculously changed into 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 hospitably received by King Sisyus, 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 Sisyus hereupon informed them that he and his subjects were greatly abused, and they commoded by the inhabitants of a neighboring mountain, who made a war upon them, and killed many people and ravaged the country. And while they were talking about it, Sisyus pointed 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 looked so very strangely that I am inclined to think them clouds, which have chance to take something like human shapes. I see them very plainly, remarked Lyceus, whose eyes you know were as far sighted as a telescope. They are a band of enormous giants, all of whom has six arms apiece, and a club, a sword, or some other weapon in each of their hands. You have excellent eyes, said King Sisyus. 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, stiffing a hundred yards at a stride, brandishing their six arms apiece, and looking for mittables so far aloft in the air. Each of these monsters was able to carry on a whole war by himself, for with one arm he could fling immense stones, and wield a club with another, and a sword with a third, while the fourth was poking a long spear at the enemy, and the fifth and sixth were shooting him with a bow, an 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 a hundred armbariarius, the brave Argonauts would have given them their hands full of fight. Jason and his friends went boldly to meet them, slew 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 the poor blind king named Phineas, deserted by his subjects, and living in a very sorrowful way all by himself. On Jason's inquiring where they could do him any service, the king answered that he was terribly tormented by three winged creatures called harpies, which had the faces of women, and the wings, bodies, and claws of vultures. These ugly wretches were in the habit of snatching away his dinner, and allowed him no peace of his life. Upon hearing this, the Argonauts spread a plentiful feast on the seashore, well-knowing from what the blind king said of their greediness that the harpies would snuff up the scent of the victuals and quickly come to steal them away. And so it turned out for hardly was the table set before the three hideous vulture women came flapping their wings, seized the food in their talons, and flew off as fast as they could. But the two sons of the North Wind drew their swords, spread their pinions, and set off through the air and pursued to the thieves whom they at last overtook amongst some islands after a chase of hundreds of miles. The two winged youths blustered terribly at the harpies, for they had had rough temper of their father, and so frightened them with their drawn swords that they solemnly promised never to trouble King Phineas again. Then the Argonauts sailed onward and met with many other marvelous incidents, any one of which could have made a story by itself. At one time they landed on the island and were reposing on the grass when they suddenly found themselves assailed by what seemed a shower of steel-headed arrows. Some of them stuck in the ground, while others hit against their shields and several penetrated their flesh. The fifty heroes started up and looked about them for the hidden enemy, but they could find none, nor see any spot on the whole island where even a single archer could lides concealed. Still, however, the steel-headed arrows came whizzing among them, and at last, happening to look upward, they beheld a large flock of birds hovering 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 sitting 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 six-armed giants, and bade them strike "'with their swords upon their brazen shields. "'Forwith, the fifty heroes set heartily to work, "'might in vain, enraged such a terrible clatter "'that the birds made what haste they could to get away. "'And though they had shot half their 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 celebrated this victory by playing a triumphant anthem "'in his harp, and saying so melodulously that Jason "'begged him to desist, lest, as the steel-feathered "'birds had been driven away by an ugly sound, "'might being taste back again by a sweet one.'" End of Part 2 The Golden Fleece Section 17 of Tanglewood Tales This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Liz Devins. Tanglewood Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Part 3 While the Argonauts remained on the island, they saw a small vessel approaching the shore, in which were two young men of princely demeanor 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 Frixus, who, in his childhood, had been carried to Colchis on the back of the Golden Fleece ram. Since that time, Frixus had married the king's daughter, and the two princes had been born and brought up at Colchis and had spent their play days in the outskirts of the grove in the center of which the Golden Fleece was hanging upon a tree. They are 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 whether 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 devour, at one mouthful, every person who might venture within his reach. There are other difficulties in the way, continued the young princes, but is this not enough? Ah, Bray Jason, turn back before it is too late. It would grieve us to hit the heart if you and your nine and forty brave companions should be eaten up at fifty mouthfuls by this excruble 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 awe that children fear 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 the world were so delectable 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 set sail to Colchis. When the king of the country, whose name was Aetis, heard of their arrival, he instantly summoned Jason to the court. The king was a stern and cruel-looking pontate, and though he put on a polite and hospital expression as he could, Jason did not like his face a witt better than that of the wicked king Pellius, who dethroned his father. You are welcome, brave Jason, said King Aetis. Pray, are you on a pleasure voyage, or do you mediate the discovery of unknown islands? Or what other cause has procured me the happiness of seeing you at my court? Great sir, replied Jason, with an obeisance, for Chiron had taught him how to behave with propriety, whether to kings or beggars. I have come hither with purpose, which I now beg your majesty's permission to execute. King Pellius, who sits on my father's throne, to which he has no more right than to the one in 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 humbly solicit 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 gallant prince Jason and forty-nine of the bravest young warriors of Greece had come to Colchis with the sole purpose of taking away his cheap treasure. Do you know, as King Aetis, eyeing Jason very sternly, what are the conditions which you must fulfill in the position 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 devoured 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, 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 nostrils that nobody has hitherto gun-nigh them without being instantly burned to a small black cinder. What do you think of this, my brave Jason? I must encounter the peril, answered Jason composably, since it stands in the way of my purpose. After taming the fiery bulls, continued King E.T.'s, who was determined to scare Jason if possible, you must yoke them to a plow, and must plow 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 enruly set of reprobates, 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 E.T.'s to himself, and the four-footed pendant, his schoolmaster into the bargain. Why would a full-hardy, self-conceited cox-comb he is? We'll see what my fire-breathing bulls will do for him. Jason, he continued aloud, and as complacently as he could, make yourself comfortable for today, and to-morrow morning, since you insist upon it, you shall try your skill at the plow. 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 attentively 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 me, I can instruct you how to tame the fiery bulls and sew 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. Gazing at Medea, she called 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 be a very great way as deep into a well, yet can never be certain whether you see into the farthest steps or whether there be not something else hidden at the bottom. If Jason had been capable of fearing anything, he would have been very afraid of making this young princess his enemy. For beautiful as she now looked, she might, the very next instant, become a terrible as a 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 and do the things of which you speak? Are you an enchantress? Yes, Prince Jason answered Medea with a smile. You have hid upon the truth. I am an enchantress. Cersei, 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 of the river, and likewise, who it is that speaks through the lips of an oaken image that now stands in the prowl 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 to be, said Medea, your own bold heart will teach you that there is but one way of dealing with the mad bull. What it is I leave you to find out in the moment of peril. Ask for the fiery breath of these animals. I have charmed ointment here, which will prevent you from being burned up, and cure you if you chance to be a little scorched. So she put a golden box into his hand and directed him how to apply the perfumed unjunt, which he contained, and where to meet her at midnight. Only be brave, added she, 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 jaws 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 starry night, with a bright gleam along the eastern edge of the sky, where the moon was going to show herself. After entering the pasture, the princess paused and looked around. There they are, she said, reposing themselves and chewing their fiery cuds in the 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 mere twinkling of an eye their hot breath shrivels a young man into a black cinder. Are you sure, beautiful Medea, asked Jason, quite sure that the unjint 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 to go step nire to the bulls. But Jason had his heart set steadfastly on getting the golden fleece, and I positively doubt whether he would have gone back without it, even had he been certain of finding himself turned into red-hot cinder full of white ashes. The instant he made a step further, he therefore let go of Medea's hand and walked boldly forward in the direction with her she had pointed. At some distance before him he perceived four streams of fiery vapor, regularly appearing and again vanishing after dimly lighting 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 gush out somewhat more plentifully, for the two brazen bulls had heard his foot tramp, and were lifting up their hot noses to sniff the air. He went a little further, and by the way in which the red vapor now sprouted forth, he judged that the cutures had gotten 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 terrible wars. While the burning breath, which they thus belched forth, lit up the whole field with a momentary flash. One other stride did bull Jason make, and suddenly, as a streak of lightning, all came these fiery animals, roaring like thunder, sending out sheets of white flame, which so kindled 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 galloping right down upon him, their brazen hooves rattling and ringing around, and their tails sticking up stiffly in the air, as has always been the fashion with angry bulls. The breath scorched the herbage before them, so intently hot it was, indeed that it caught a dry tree under which Jason was now standing, and sit it all in a light blaze. But as for Jason himself, thanks to Medea's enchanted wait-ment, the white flame curled around his body without injuring him a jot more than if he had been made out of asbestos. End of Part 3, The Golden Fleece. Section 18 of Tanglewood Tales. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Liz Devance. Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Golden Fleece, Part 4. Greatly encouraged at finding himself not yet turned into a cinder, a young man awaited the attack of the bulls. Just as the brazen brutes 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 grip like that of an iron vice, one with his right hand, the other with his left. Well, he must have been wonderfully strong in 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 fierceness by his bold way of handling them. And ever since that time it has been the favorite method of brave men when danger assails them to do what they call taking the bull by the horns and to grip 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 plow which had lain resting on the ground for years gone by. So long was it before anybody could be found capable of plowing that piece of land. Jason, I suppose, had been taught how to draw a furrow by the good old Chiron who perhaps used to allow himself to be harnessed by the plow. 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 plowed field lay before him, a large tract of black earth ready to be sown with the dragon's teeth. So Jason scattered them broadcast and hurried them into the soil with the brush-hero and took a stand on the edge of the field anxious to see what would happen next. Must we wait long for the 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 over its bright beams over the plowed field, whereas yet there is nothing to be seen. Any farmer on viewing it would have said that Jason must wait weeks before the green blades would peep out from the clods and whole months before the yellow grain would be ripened for the sickle. But by and by, all over the field, there is something that glistened in the moon-beams like sparkling drops of dew. These bright objects sprouted higher and proved to be the steel heads of spears. Then there was a dazzling gleam from a vast number of polished brass helmets, beneath which, as they grew farther out of the soil, appeared the dark and bearded visigids of warriors, struggling to free themselves from the imprisoning earth. The first look that they gave at the upper world was a glare of wrath and defiance. Necks were seen their breastplates, in every right hand there was a sword or a spear, and on each left arm a shield, and when this crop of warriors had but half grown out of the earth, they struggled, such as their impatience of restraint, and as it wore, tore themselves up by the roots. Wherever a dragon's tooth had fallen, there stood a man armed for the battle. They made a clanger with their swords against their shields, and eyed one another fiercely, for they had come into this beautiful world and into this peaceful moonlight full of rage and stormy passions and ready to take the life of every human brother to a conference for the boon of their own existence. There had been many other armies in the world that seemed to possess the same fierce nature with the one which now now sprouted from the dragon's teeth. But these in the moonlight field were the more excusable because they had never had women for their mothers, and how it would have rejoiced any great captain who was bent 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 their victory, come on brave comrades, conquer or die, and a hundred other outcries, such as men always bellow forth on a battlefield as these dragon-people seemed to have had their tongues end. At last the front-rank, caught sight of Jason, who, beholding the flash of so many weapons in the moonlight, had thought at best to draw his sword, and 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 protruded spears. Jason knew that it would be impossible to stand this bloodthirsty battalion with his single arm, but determined, since there was nothing better to be done, to die as valiantly 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, as the only way to save yourself. The armed men were now so nigh that Jason could discern the fire flashing out of their enraged eyes when he let fly the stone, and saw it strike the helmet of a tall warrior who was rushing upon him with his blade aloft. The stone glanced from the 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 the blow, and instead of running any further toward Jason, they had began to fight among themselves. The confusion spread through the host so that it seemed scarcely a moment before they were all hacking, hewing, and stabbing at one another, lopping off arms, heads, and legs, and doing such memorable deeds that Jason was filled with immense admiration. Although, at the same time, he could not help laughing to behold these mighty men punishing each other for a defense 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 survivor, the bravest and strongest of the whole, who had just forced enough to wave his crimson sword over his head and give a shout of exaltation, crying, Victory! Victory! Immortal fame! when he himself fell down and lay quietly among his slain brethren. And there was the end of that army that had sprouted from the dragon's teeth, that fierce and feverish fight was the only enjoyment which they had tasted on this beautiful earth. Let them sleep in a 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 posterity will take the trouble to put laurel wreaths on their rusty and battered helmets. Could you help smiling, Prince Jason, to see the self-conceit of that last fellow, just as he tumbled down? 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 just 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 Aetys that the first part of your allotted task is fulfilled. Agreeably to Medea's advice Jason went bed-times in the morning into the palace of King Aetys, entering the presence chamber he stood at the foot of the throne and made a low obiescence. Your eyes look heavy, Prince Jason, observed the King. You appear to have spent a sleepless 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 raisin-lunged bulls. That is already accomplished. May it please Your Majesty, replied Jason. Bulls have been tamed and yoke. The field has been plowed. The dragon's teeth have been sewn 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 I now 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 Aetys scowled 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 as the raisin-bulls and the dragon's teeth, the king feared that he would be equally successful in slaying 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 potentant, 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 enchantments. Had you acted fairly, you would have been, at this instance, 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 glistening 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 your keys. The success of the scheme depended, it is true, on the doubtful point whether all 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 beckoned him to her return. Her black eyes shone upon him with such 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 on. What says King Aetis, 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 tomorrow morning, the king means to burn your fifty-word 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 are crossing the pasture ground the brazen bulls came towards Jason, loying, knotting their heads and thrusting forth their snouts, which, as other cattle do, they loved to have rubbed and caressed by a friendly hand. Their fierce nature was thoroughly tamed and, with their fierceness, the two furnaces in their stomachs had likewise been extinguished and so much that they probably enjoyed grazing and chewing their cuds than ever before. Indeed it had adhered to fore but a great inconvenience to those poor animals that, whenever they wished to eat a mouthful of grass, the fire out of their nostrils had tripled it up before they could manage to crop it. How they had contrived to keep themselves alive is more than I can imagine. But now, instead of emitting jets of flame and streams of sulfurous vapor, they brewed the very sweetest rain the bowls. 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 glimmer fell upon the leaf-strewn earth, where now and then a breeze stirred the bells aside and gave Jason a glimpse of the sky. Lest in that deep obscurity he might forget that there was farther and farther into the heart of 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 have been suspended at a vast height in the ground a little farther within the wood. What is it? asked Jason. Have you come so far to seek it? exclaim Medea, and you do not recognize the mead of all your toils and perils when it glitters before your eyes. It is the golden fleece. Jason went onward a few steps further and then stopped to gaze. Oh, how beautiful it looked shining with a marvelous light of its own that it—the inestible 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, and a rapture. It has surely been dipped in the richest gold of sunset. Let me hasten onward and take it to my bosom. 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 antelope that probably mistook the yellow radiance for sunrise came bounding fleetingly through the grove. He was rushing straight toward the golden fleece when suddenly there was a frightening hiss and the immense head and half the scaly 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, one snap of his jaws. After this feat 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 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 gait of his enormous jaws was nearly as wide as the gateway of the king's palace. Well, Jason whispered for she was ill-natured as all enchanters is 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, you foolish youth, said Medea, grasping his arm. Do you not 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 effectually than your sword. The dragon had probably heard the voices for swift his lightning, his black head and forked tongue came hissing among the trees again, darting 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 outrageous 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 enchanters, to Prince Jason. One always finds a use for these mischievous creatures sooner or later, so I did not wish to kill him outright. Quick, snatch the prize and let us be gone. You have won the golden fleece. Jason caught the fleece from the tree and hurried through the grove the deep shadows of which were illuminated 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 to make haste. Disappeared among the duskiness of the trees. Aspying the two-winged sons of the North Wind who were just sporting themselves in the moonlight a few hundred feet aloft. Jason bade them tell the rest of the Argonauts to embark as speedily as possible. But Lyceus, 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. Lyceus, the heroes had seated themselves on the benches of the galley and with their oars had her bendicurally 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 the 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 cadence of which the galley flew over the water, homeward bound as if creering along with wings. End of Part Four The Golden Fleece End of Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne