 Part 5 of The Argonauts from The Heroes This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org The Heroes, or Greek fairy tales for my children, by Charles Kingsley Part 5 of The Argonauts How the Argonauts were driven into the unknown sea So they fled away in haste to the westward, but Aetes manned his fleet and followed them And Lynsius the quick-eyed saw him coming while he was still many a mile away and cried I see a hundred ships like a flock of white swans far in the east And at that they rode hard like heroes, but the ships came nearer every hour Then Medea the dark witchmaiden laid a cruel and cunning plot For she killed Absurtus her young brother and cast him into the sea And said, Air my father can take up his corpse and bury it. He must wait long and be left far behind And all the heroes shuttered and looked at one another for shame Yet they did not punish that dark witch woman because she had won for them the golden fleece And when Aetes came to the place he saw the floating corpse And he stopped a long while and bewailed his son and took him up and went home But he sent on his sailors toward the westward and bound them by a mighty curse Bring back to me that dark witch woman that she may die a dreadful death But if you return without her you shall die by the same death yourselves So the Argonauts escaped for that time But Father Zeus saw that foul crime and out of the heavens he set a storm And swept the ship far from her course Day after day the storm drove her amid foam and blinding mist Till they knew no longer where they were for the sun was blotted from the skies And at last the ship struck on a shoal amid low aisles of mud and sand And the waves rolled over her and threw her and the heroes lost all hope of life Then Jason cried to Hera Fair Queen, who has befriended us till now, why hast thou left us in our misery to die here Among unknown seas? It is hard to lose the honour which we have won with such toil and danger And hard never to see Hellas again and the pleasant bay of Pagasai Then out and spoke the magic bow which stood upon the Argos beak Because Father Zeus is angry all this has fallen on you For a cruel crime has been done on board and the sacred ship is foul with blood At that some of the heroes cried, Medea is the murderous, let the witch woman bear her sin and die And they seized Medea to hurl her into the sea and atone for the young boy's death But the magic bow spoke again Let her live till her crimes are full Vengeance waits for her slow and sure But she must live for you need her still She must show you the way to her sister Circe who lives among the islands of the west To her you must sail a weary way and she shall cleanse you from your guilt Then all the heroes wept aloud when they heard the sentence of the oak For they knew that a dark journey lay before them and years of bitter toil And some up raided the dark witch woman and some said, Nay, we are her debtors still without her we should never have won the fleece But most of them bit their lips in silence for they feared the witch's spells And now the sea grew calmer and the sun shone out once more And the heroes thrust the ship off the sandbank and rode forward on their weary course Under the guiding of the dark witch maiden into the wastes of the unknown sea Whether they went I cannot tell Nor how they came to Circe's Isle Some say that they went to the westward and up the ister stream And so came into the Adriatic dragging their ship over the snowy Alps And others say that they went southward into the red Indian sea And passed the sunny lands where spices grow round the Ethiopia toward the west And that at last they came to Libya and dragged their ship across the burning sands And over the hills into the Cirtis where the flats and quicksands spread for many a mile Between rich Sirini and the lotus-eaters shore But all these are but dreams and fables and dim hints of unknown lands But all say that they came to a place where they had to drag their ship across the land Nine days with ropes and rollers till they came into an unknown sea And the best of all the old songs tells us how they went away toward the north Till they came up to the slope of Caucasus where it sinks into the sea And to the narrow Cimmerian Bosphorus where the titans swam across upon the bull And thence into the lazy waters of the still Mayoted Lake And thence they went northward ever up the Tanius which we call Don Past the Galoni and Soromati And many a wandering shepherd tribe and the one-eyed Aramaspi of whom old Greek poets tell Who steal the gold from the Gryphins in the cold Raphayan hills And they passed the Scythian archers and the Tauri who eat men And the wandering Hyperborei who feed their flocks beneath the pole star Until they came unto the northern ocean the dull dead Cronian sea And there Argo would move on no longer and each man clasped his elbow And leaned his head upon his hand heartbroken with toil and hunger And gave himself up to death But brave on Kyos the Helmsmen cleared up their hearts once more And bade them leap on land and haul the ship with ropes and rollers For many a weary day whether over land or mud or ice I know not For the song is mixed and broken like a dream And it says next how they came to the rich nation of the famous long-lived men And to the coast of the Cimmerians who never saw the sun Buried deep in the glens of the snow mountains And to the fair land of Hermione where dwelt the most righteous of all nations And to the gates of the world below and to the dwelling place of dreams And at last on Kyos shouted Endure a little while brave friends the worst is surely past for I can see the pure west wind Ruffle the water and hear the roar of the ocean on the sands So raise up the mast and set the sail and face what comes like men Then out spoke the magic bow Ah wood that I had perished long ago And been whelmed by the dread blue rocks beneath the fierce swell of the Uxini Better so than to wander forever disgraced by the guilt of my princes For the blood of Abserta still tracks me and woe follows hard upon woe And now some dark horror will clutch me if I come near the Isle of Iirni Unless you will cling to the land and sail southward and southward forever I shall wander beyond the Atlantic to the ocean which has no shore Then they blessed the magic bow and sailed southward along the land But ere they could pass Iirni the land of mists and storms The wild wind came down dark and roaring And caught the sail and strained the ropes And away they drove twelve nights on the wild western sea Through the foam and over the rollers while they saw neither sun nor stars And they cried again we shall perish for we know not where we are We are lost in the dreary damp darkness and cannot tell north from south But Linceus the long sight had called Gaeli from the boughs Take art again brave sailors for I see a pine clad isle and the halls of the kind earth mother With a crown of clouds around them But Orpheus said turn from them for no living man can live there There is no harbor on the coast but steep walled cliffs all around So and Chios turned the ship away and for three days more they sailed on Till they came to Iaia Circe's home and the fairy island of the west And there Jason bid them land and seek about for any sign of living man And as they went inland Circe met them coming down toward the ship And they trembled when they saw her for her hair and face and robes shown like flame And she came and looked at Medea and Medea hid her face beneath her veil And Circe cried ah wretched girl have you forgotten all your sins That you come hither to my island where the flowers bloom all year round Where is your aged father and the brother whom you killed Little do I expect you to return in safety with these strangers whom you love I will send you food and wine but your ship must not stay here for it is foul with sin And foul with sin it's cruel and the heroes prayed to her but in vain and cried cleanse Us from our guilt but she sent them away and said Go on to Malaya and there you may be cleansed and return home Then a fair wind rose and they sailed eastward by Tartesis on the Iberian shore Till they came to the pillars of Hercules and the Mediterranean Sea And thence they sailed on through the deeps of Sardinia And passed the Ossonian islands and the capes of the Turinian shore Till they came to a flowery island upon a still bright summer's eve And as they neared it slowly and wearily they heard sweet songs upon the shore But when Medea heard it she started and cried Beware all heroes for these are the rocks of the sirens You must pass close by them for there is no other channel but those who listen to that song are lost Then Orpheus spoke the king of all minstrels Let them match their song against mine I have charmed stones and trees and dragons how much more the hearts of men So he caught up his lyre and stood upon the poop and began his magic song And now they could see the sirens on Anthemousa, the flowery isle Three fair maidens sitting on the beach beneath a red rock in the setting sun Among beds of crimson puppies and golden asphodel Slowly they sung and sleepily with silver voices mild and clear Which stole over the golden waters and into the hearts of the heroes In spite of Orpheus's song And all things stayed around them and listened The gulls sat in white lines along the rocks On the beach great seals lay basking and kept time with lazy heads While silver shoals of fish came up to harken and whispered as they broke the shining calm The wind overhead hushed his whistling As he shepherded his clouds toward the west And the clouds stood in mid-blue and listened dreaming Like a flock of golden sheep And as the heroes listened the oars fell from their hands And their heads drooped on their breasts And they closed their heavy eyes And they dreamed of bright still gardens And of slumbers under murmuring pines Till all their toil seemed foolishness And they thought of their renown no more Then one lifted his head suddenly and cried What use in wandering forever? Let us stay here and rest a while And another let us row to the shore and hear the words they sing And another I care not for the words but for the music They shall sing me to sleep that I may rest But beauties the son of pandion the fairest of all mortal men leapt out and swam toward the shore Crying I come I come fair maidens to live and die here listening to your song Then Medea clapped her hands together and cried Sing louder, Orpheus, sing a bolder strain Wake up these hapless sluggards Or none of them will see the land of Hellas more Then Orpheus lifted his harp and crashed his cunning hand across the strings And his music and his voice rose like a trumpet through the still evening air Into the air it rushed like thunder till the rocks rang and the sea And into their souls it rushed like wine till all hearts beat fast within their breasts And he sung the song of Perseus how the gods led him over land and sea And how he slew the loathly Gorgon and won himself a peerless bride And how he sits now with the gods upon Olympus a shining star in the sky Immortal with his immortal bride and honored by all men below So Orpheus sang and the sirens answering each other across the golden sea Till Orpheus's voice drowned the sirens and the heroes caught their oars again And they cried we will be men like Perseus and we will dare and suffer to the last Sing us his song again brave Orpheus that we may forget the sirens and their spell And as Orpheus sang they dashed their oars into the sea and kept time to his music As they fled fast away and the sirens voices died behind them in the hissing of the foam Along their wake but beauties swam to the shore and knelt down before the sirens and cried Sing on sing on but he could say no more for a charmed sleep came over him And a pleasant humming in his ears and he sank all along the pebbles And forgot all heaven and earth and never looked at that sad beach around him All strewn with the bones of men Then slowly rose up those three fair sisters with a cruel smile upon their lips And slowly they crept down towards him like leopards who creep upon their prey And their hands were like the talons of eagles as they stepped across the bones of their victims To enjoy their cruel feast But Ferrastaphrodite saw him from the highest idalian peak and she pitied his youth and his beauty And leapt up from her golden throne and like a falling star she cleft the sky and left a trail Of glittering light till she stooped to the aisle of the sirens and snatched their prey from Their claws and she lifted beauties as he lay sleeping and wrapped him in golden mist And she bore him to the peak of lilybium and he slept there for many a pleasant year But when the sirens saw that they were conquered they shrieked for envy and rage And leaped from the beach into the sea and were changed into rocks until this day Then they came to the Straits of lilybium and saw Sicily the three-cornered island Under which Enceladus the giant lies groaning day and night And when he turns the earth quakes and his breath bursts out in roaring flames from the highest cone of ethna above the chestnut woods and their caribdis caught them in its fearful coils of wave and rolled mass high about them and spun them round and round And they could neither go back nor forward while the whirlpool sucked them in And while they struggled they saw near them on the other side the strait a rock standing in the water with its peak wrapped round in clouds a rock which no man could climb though he had twenty hands and feet for the stone was smooth and slippery as if polished by man's hand and halfway up a misty cave looked out toward the west and when Orpheus saw it he groaned and struck his hands together and little will it help us he cried to escape the jaws of the whirlpool for in that cave lives silla the sea hag with a young welp's voice my mother warned me of her air we sailed away from helis she has six heads and six long necks and hides in that dark cleft and from her cave she fishes for all things which pass by for sharks and seals and dolphins and all the herds of amphretite and never ships crew boasted that they came safe by her rock for she bends her long necks down to them and every mouth takes up a man and who will help us now for Hera and Zeus hate us and our ship is foul with guilt so we must die whatever befalls then out of the depths came Thetis Peleus's silver-footed bride for love of her gallant husband and all her nymphs around her and they played like snow white dolphins diving on from wave to wave before the ship and in her wake and beside her as dolphins play and they caught the ship and guided her and passed her on from hand to hand and tossed her through the billows as maidens tossed the ball and when Silla stooped to seize her they struck back her ravening heads and foul Silla whined as a welp wines at the touch of their gentle hands but she shrank into her cave of frighted for all bad things shrink from good and Argo leapt safe past her while a fair breeze rose behind then Thetis and her nymphs sank down to their coral caves beneath the sea and their gardens of green and purple where live flowers bloom all year round while the heroes went on rejoicing yet dreading what might come next after that they rode on steadily for many a weary day till they saw a long high island and beyond it a mountain land and they searched till they found a harbor and there rode boldly in and after a while they stopped and wondered for there stood a great city on the shore and temples and walls and gardens and castles high in air upon the cliffs and on either side they saw a harbor with a narrow mouth but wide within and black ships without number high and dry upon the shore then and kios the wise helmsman spoke what new wonder is this I know all isles and harbors and the windings of all seas and this should be Coursera where a few wild goat herds dwell but whence come these new harbors and vast works of polished stone but jason said they can be no savage people we will go in and take our chance so they rode into the harbor among a thousand black beaked ships each larger far than Argo toward a key of polished stone and they wondered at that mighty city with its roofs of burnished brass and long and lofty walls of marble with strong palisades above and the keys were full of people merchants and mariners and slaves going to and fro with merchandise among the crowds of ships and the hero's hearts were humbled and they looked at each other and said we thought ourselves a gallant crew when we sailed from Iulcos by the sea but how small we look before this city like an ant before a hive of bees then the sailors hailed them roughly from the key what men are you we want no strangers here nor pirates we keep our business to ourselves but jason answered gently with many a flattering word and praised their city and their harbor and their fleet of gallant ships surely you are the children of Poseidon and the masters of the sea and we are but poor wandering mariners worn out with thirst and toil give us but food and water and we will go on our voyage in peace then the sailors laughed and answered stranger you are no fool you talk like an honest man and you shall find us honest too we are the children of Poseidon and the masters of the sea but come ashore to us and you shall have the best that we can give so they limped ashore all stiff and weary with long ragged beards and sunburnt cheeks and garments torn and weather stained and weapons rusted with the spray while the sailors laughed at them for they were rough-tongued though their hearts were frank and kind and one said these fellows are but raw sailors they look as if they had been seasick all the day and another their legs have grown crooked with much rowing till they waddle in their walk like ducks at that ides the rash would have struck them but jason held him back till one of the merchant kings spoke to them a tall and stately man do not be angry strangers the sailor boys must have their jest but we will treat you justly and kindly for strangers and poor men come from god and you seem no common sailors by your strength and height and weapons come up with me to the palace of alcinus the rich seagoing king and we will feast you well and heartily and after that you shall tell us your name but medea hung back and trembled and whispered in jason's ear we are betrayed and are going to our ruin for i see my countrymen among the crowd dark eyed colky and steel male shirts such as they wear in my father's land it is too late to turn said jason and he spoke to the merchant king what country is this good sir and what is this new built town this is the land of the fiasis beloved of all the immortals for they come hither and feast like friends with us and sit by our side in the hall hither we come from libernia to escape the unrighteous cyclops for they robbed us peaceful merchants of our hard-earned wares and wealth so noseth us the son of Poseidon brought us hither and died in peace and now his son alcinus rules us and arete the wisest of queens so they went up across the square and wondered still more as they went for along the keys lay in order great cables and yards and masts before the fair temple of Poseidon the blue-haired king of the seas and round the square worked the shipwrights as many in number as ants twining ropes and hewing timber and smoothing long yards and oars and the menui went on in silence through clean white marble streets till they came to the hall of alcinus and they wondered then still more for the lofty palace shown aloft in the sun with walls of plated brass from the threshold to the innermost chamber and the doors were of silver and gold and on each side of the doorway sat living dogs of gold who never grew old or died so well Hephaestus had made them in his forges in smoking Lemnos and gave them to alcinus to guard his gates by night and within against the walls stood thrones on either side down the whole length of the hall strewn with rich glossy shawls and on them the merchant kings of those crafty sea roving fiasces sat eating and drinking in pride and feasting there all year round and boys of molten gold stood each on a polished altar and held torches in their hands to give light all night to the guests and round the house sat fifty maid servants some grinding the meal in the mill some turning the spindle some weaving at the loom while their hands twinkled as they passed the shuttle like quivering aspen leaves and outside before the palace a great garden was walled round filled full of stately fruit trees gray olives and sweet figs and pomegranates pears and apples which bore the whole year round for the rich southwest wind fed them till pear grew ripe on pear fig on fig and grape on grape all the winter and the spring and at the farther end gay flower beds bloomed all through the seasons of the year and two fair fountains rose and ran one through the garden grounds and one beneath the palace gate to water all the town such noble gifts the heavens had given to alcinas the wise so they went in and saw him sitting like Poseidon on his throne with his golden scepter by him in garments stiff with gold and in his hand a sculptured goblet as he pledged the merchant kings and beside him stood ariti his wise and lovely queen and leaned against a pillar as she spun her golden threads then alcinas rose and welcomed them and bade them sit and eat and the servants brought them tables and bread and meat and wine but medea went on trembling toward ariti the fair queen and fell at her knees and clasped them and cried weeping as she knelt i am your guest fair queen and i entreat you by Zeus from whom prayers come do not send me back to my father to die some dreadful death but let me go my way and bear my burden have i not had enough of punishment and shame who are you strange maiden and what is the meaning of your prayer i am medea daughter of aities and i saw my countrymen here today and i know that they are come to find me and to take me home to die some dreadful death then ariti frowned and said lead this girl in my maidens and let the kings decide not i and alcinas leapt up from his throne and cried speak strangers who are you and who is this maiden we are the heroes of the minnow i said jason and this maiden has spoken truth we are the men who took the golden fleece the men whose fame has run round every shore we came hither out of the ocean after sorrows such as man never saw before and we went out many and come back few for many a noble comrade have we lost so let us go as you should let your guests go in peace that the world may say alcinas is a just king but alcinas frowned and stood deep in thought and at last he spoke had not the deed been done which is done i should have said this day to myself it is an honor to alcinas and to his children after him that the fair famed argonauts are his guests but these colki are my guests as you are and for this month they have waited here with all their fleet for they have hunted all the seas of helis and could not find you and dared neither go farther nor go home let them choose out their champions and we will fight them man for man no guests of ours shall fight upon our island and if you go outside they will outnumber you i will do justice between you for i know and do what is right and he turned to his kings and said this may stand over till tomorrow tonight we will feast our guests and hear the story of all their wanderings and how they came hither out of the ocean so alcinas bade the servants take the heroes in and bathe them and give them clothes and they were glad when they saw the warm water for it was long since they had bathed and they washed off the sea salt from their limbs and anointed themselves from head to foot with oil and combed out their golden hair then they came back again into the hall while the merchant kings rose up to do them honor and each man said to his neighbor no wonder that these men won fame how they stand now like giants or titans or immortals come down from olympus though many a winter has worn them and many a fearful storm what must they have been when they sailed from eolcus in the bloom of their youth long ago then they went out to the garden and the merchant princes said heroes run races with us let us see whose feet are nimblest we cannot race you for our limbs are stiff from sea and we have lost our two swift comrades the sons of the north wind but do not think us cowards if you wish to try our strength we will shoot and box and wrestle against any men on earth and elsinus smiled and answered i believe you gallant guests with your long limbs and broad shoulders we could never match you here for we care nothing here for boxing or for shooting with the bow but for feasts and songs and harping and dancing and running races to stretch our limbs on shore so they danced there and ran races the jolly merchant kings till the night fell and all went in and then they ate and drank and comforted their weary souls till alcinus called a herald and bade him go and fetch a harper the herald went out and fetched a harper and led him in by the hand and alcinus cut him a piece of meat from the fattest of the haunch and sent it to him and said sing to us noble harper and rejoice the hero's hearts so the harper played and sang while the dancers danced strange figures and after that the tumblers showed their tricks till the heroes laughed again then tell me heroes asked alcinus who have sailed the ocean round and seen the manner of all nations have you seen such dancers as ours here or heard such music and such singing we hold ours to be the best on earth such dancing we have never seen said orpheus and your singer is a happy man for febus himself must have taught him or else he is the son of a muse as i am also and have sung once or twice though not so well as he sing to us then noble stranger said alcinus and we will give you precious gifts so orpheus took his magic harp and sang to them a stirring song of their voyage from ilcos and their dangers and how they won the golden fleece and of medea's love and how she helped them and went with them over the land and sea and of all their fearful dangers from monsters and rocks and storms till the heart of ariti was softened and all the women wept and the merchant kings rose up each man from off his golden throne and clapped their hands and shouted hail to the noble organots who sailed the unknown sea then he went on and told their journey over the sluggish northern main and through the shoreless outer ocean to the ferry island of the west and of the sirens and sila and caribdis and all the wonders they had seen till midnight passed and the day dawned but the kings never thought of sleep each man sat still and listened with his chin upon his hand and at last when orpheus had ended they all went thoughtful out and the heroes lay down to sleep beneath the sounding porch outside where ariti had strewn them rugs and carpet in the sweet still summer night but ariti pleaded hard with her husband for medea for her heart was softened and she said the gods will punish her not we after all she is our guest and my suppliant and prayers are the daughters of Zeus and who too dare part man and wife after all they have endured together and elsinus smiled the minstrel song has charmed you but i must remember what is right for songs cannot alter justice and i must be faithful to my name elsinus i am called the man of sturdy sense and elsinus i will be but for all that ariti besought him until she won him round so next morning he sent a herald and called the kings into the square and said this is a puzzling matter remember but one thing these menui live close by us and we may meet them often on the seas but ariti's lives far off and we have only heard his name which then of the two is safer to offend the men near us or the men far off the princes laughed and praised his wisdom and elsinus called the heroes to the square and the colqui also and they came and stood opposite each other but medea stayed in the palace then elsinus spoke heroes of the colqui what is your errand about this lady to carry her home with us that she may die a shameful death but if we return without her we must die the death she should have died what say you to this jason the eolid said elsinus turning to the menui i say said the cunning jason that they are come here on a bootless errand do you think that you can make her follow you heroes of colqui her who knows all spells and charms she will cast away your ships on quicksands or call down on you brimo the wild huntress or the chains will fall from off her wrists and she will escape in her dragon car or if not thus some other way for she has a thousand plans and wiles and why return home at all brave heroes and face the long seas again in the bus for us in the stormy uxini and double all your toil there is many a fair land around these coasts which waits for gallant men like you better to settle there and build a city and let ietes and colqui's help themselves then a murmur arose among the colqui and some cried he has spoken well and some we have had enough of roving we will sail the seas no more and the chief said at last be it so then a plague she has been to us and a plague to the house of her father and a plague she will be to you take her since you are no wiser and we will sail away toward the north then elsinus gave them food and water and garments and rich presents of all sorts and he gave the same to the manui and sent them all away in peace so jason kept the dark witch woman to breed him woe and shame and the colqui went northward into the adriatic and settled and built towns along the shore then the heroes rode away to the east word to reach helis their beloved land but a storm came down upon them and swept them far away toward the south and they rode till they were spent with struggling through the darkness and the blinding rain but where they were they could not tell and they gave up all hope of life and at last touched the ground and when daylight came waited to the shore and saw nothing round but sand and desolate salt pools for they had come to the quick sands of the seartus and the dreary treeless flats which lie between numidia and serene on the burning shore of africa and there they wandered starving for many a weary day ere they could launch their ship again and gain the open sea and their canthus was killed while he was trying to drive off sheep by a stone which a herdsman threw and there too mopsus died the seer who knew the voices of all birds but he could not foretell his own end for he was bitten in the foot by a snake one of those which sprang from the gorgon's head when persius carried it across the sands at last they rode away toward the northward for many a weary day till their water was spent and their food was eaten and they were worn out with hunger and thirst but at last they saw a long steep island and a blue peak high among the clouds and they knew it for the peak of ida and the famous land of crete and they said we will land in crete and see minos the just king and all his glory and his wealth at least he will treat us hospitably and let us fill our water casks upon the shore but when they came nearer to the island they saw a wondrous sight upon the cliffs for on a cape to the westward stood a giant taller than any mountain pine who glittered aloft against the sky like a tower of burnished brass he turned and looked on all sides around him till he saw the argo and her crew and when he saw them he came toward them more swiftly than the swiftest horse leaping across the glens at a bound and striding at one time from down to down and when he came abreast of them he brandished his arms up and down as a ship's hoist lowers her yards and shouted with his brazen throat like a trumpet from off the hills you are pirates under robbers if you dare land here you die then the heroes cried we are no pirates we are all good men and true and all we ask is food and water but the giant cried the more you are robbers you are pirates all i know you and if you land you shall die the death then he waved his arms as a signal and they saw the people flying inland driving their flocks before them while a great flame arose among the hills then the giant ran up a valley and vanished and the heroes lay on their oars in fear but medea stood watching all from under her steep black brows with a cunning smile upon her lips and a cunning plot within her heart at last she spoke i know this giant i heard of him in the east hefestos the fire king made him in his forge in etna beneath the earth and called him talus and gave him to minos for a servant to guard the coast of crete thrice a day he walks round the island and never stops to sleep and if strangers land he leaps into his furnace which flames there among the hills and when he is red hot he rushes on them and burns them in his brazen hands then all the heroes cried what shall we do wise medea we must have water or we die of thirst flesh and blood we can face fairly but who can face this red hot brass i can face red hot brass if the tale i hear be true for they say that he has but one vein in all his body filled with liquid fire and that this vein is closed with a nail but i know not where that nail is placed but if i can get it once into these hands you shall water your ship here in peace then she bade them put her on shore and row off again and wait what would be fall and the heroes obeyed her unwillingly for they were ashamed to leave her so alone but jason said she is dearer to me than to any of you yet i will trust her freely on shore she has more plots than we can dream of in the windings of that fair and cunning head so they left the witch maiden on the shore and she stood there in her beauty all alone till the giant strode back red hot from head to heel while the grass hissed and smoked beneath his tread and when he saw the maiden alone he stopped and she looked boldly up into his face without moving and began her magic song life is short though life is sweet and even men of brass and fire must die the brass must rust the fire must cool for time gnaws all things in their turn life is short though life is sweet but sweeter to live forever sweeter to live ever youthful like the gods who have icor in their veins icor which gives life and youth and joy and a bounding heart then talus said who are you strange Britain and where is this icor of youth then medea held up a flask of crystal and said here is the icor of youth i am medea the enchantress my sister cersei gave me this and said go and reward talus the faithful servant for his fame is gone out into all lands so come and i will pour this into your veins that you may live forever young and he listened to her false words that simple talus and came near and medea said dip yourself in the sea first and cool yourself lest you burn my tender hands then show me where the nail in your vein is that i may pour the icor in then that simple talus dipped himself in the sea till it hissed and roared and smoked and came and knelt before medea and showed her the secret nail and she drew the nail out gently but she poured no icor in and instead the liquid fire spouted forth like a stream of red hot iron and talus tried to leap up crying you have betrayed me false witch maiden but she lifted up her hands before him and sang till he sank beneath her spell and as he sank his brazen limbs clanked heavily and the earth groaned beneath his weight and the liquid fire ran from his heel like a stream of lava to the sea and medea laughed and called to the heroes come ashore and water your ship in peace so they came and found the giant lying dead and they fell down and kissed medea's feet and watered their ship and took sheep and oxen and so left that inhospitable shore at last after many more adventures they came to the cape of malea at the southwest point of the peloponnes and there they offered sacrifices and orpheus purged them from their guilt then they rode away again to the northward past the laconian shore and came all worn and tired by sunium and up the long ubonian strait until they saw once more pelion and afatai and ilkos by the sea and they ran the ship ashore but they had no strength left to haul her up the beach and they crawled out on the pebbles and sat down and wept till they could weep no more for the houses and the trees were all altered and all the faces which they saw were strange and their joy was swallowed up in sorrow while they thought of their youth and all their labor and the gallant comrades they had lost and the people crowded round and asked them who are you that sit weeping here we are the sons of your princes who sailed out many a year ago we went to fetch the golden fleece and we have brought it and grief therewith give us news of our fathers and our mothers if any of them be left alive on earth then there was shouting and laughing and weeping and all the kings came to the shore and they led away the heroes to their homes and bewailed the valiant dead then jason went up with medea to the palace of his uncle pelius and when he came in pelius sat by the hearth crippled and blind with age while opposite him sat ison jason's father crippled and blind likewise and the two old men's heads shook together as they tried to warm themselves before the fire and jason fell down at his father's knees and wept and called him by his name and the old man stretched his hands out and felt him and said do not mock me young hero my son jason is dead long ago at sea i am your son jason whom you trusted to the center upon pelion and i have brought home the golden fleece and a princess of the son's race for my bride so now give me up the kingdom pelius my uncle and fulfill your promise as i have fulfilled mine then his father clung to him like a child and wept and would not let him go and cried now i shall not go down and lonely to my grave promise me never to leave me till i die end of part five of the argonauts recording by tisto tystto.com part six of the argonauts from the heroes this is a libervox recording all libervox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libervox.org the heroes or greek fairy tales for my children by charles kingsley part six of the argonauts what was the end of the heroes and now i wish that i could end my story pleasantly but it is no fault of mine that i cannot the old songs end it sadly and i believe that they are right and wise for though the heroes were purified at malia yet sacrifices cannot make bad hearts good and jason had taken a wicked wife and he had to bear his burden to the last and first she laid a cunning plot to punish that poor old pelius instead of letting him die in peace for she told his daughters i can make old things young again i will show you how easy it is to do so she took an old ram and killed him and put him in a cauldron with magic herbs and whispered her spells over him and he leapt out again a young lamb so that medias cauldron is a proverb still by which we mean times of war and change when the world has become old and feeble and grows young again through bitter pains then she said to pelius's daughters due to your father's as i did to this ram and he will grow young and strong again but she only told them half the spell so they failed while medias mocked them and poor old pelius died and his daughters came to misery but the songs say she cured isan jason's father and he became young and strong again but jason could not love her after all her cruel deeds so he was ungrateful to her and wronged her and she revenged herself on him and a terrible revenge she took too terrible to speak of here but you will hear of it yourselves when you grow up for it has been sung in noble poetry and music and whether it be true or not it stands forever as a warning to us not to seek for help from evil persons or to gain good ends by evil means for if we use an adder even against our enemies it will turn again and sting us but of all the other heroes there is many a brave tale left which i have no space to tell you so you must read them for yourselves of the hunting of the boar in caladon which milleagre killed and of heracles twelve famous labors and of the seven who fought at thebes and of the noble love of castor and poleducies the twin diascuroi how when one died the other would not live without him so they shared their immortality between them and zeus changed them into the two twin stars which never rise both at once and what became of kiran the good immortal beast that too was a sad story for the heroes never saw him more he was wounded by a poisoned arrow at fallowy among the hills when heracles opened the fatal wine jar which kiran had warned him not to touch and the centaurs smelt the wine and flocked to it and fought for it with heracles but he killed them all with his poisoned arrows and kiran was left alone and kiran took up one of the arrows and dropped it by chance upon his foot and the poison ran like fire along his veins and he lay down and longed to die and cried through wine i perish the bane of all my race why should i live forever in this agony who will take my immortality that i may die then prometheus answered the good titan whom heracles had set free from Caucasus i will take your immortality and live forever then i may help poor mortal men so kiran gave him his immortality and died and had rest from pain and heracles and prometheus wept over him and went to bury him on peleon but Zeus took him up among the stars to live forever grand and mild low down in the far southern sky and in time the heroes died all but nester the silver tongue doled man and left behind them valiant sons but not so great as they had been yet their fame too lives till this day for they fought at the ten years siege of Troy and their story is in the book which we call Homer in two of the noblest songs on earth the iliad which tells us of the siege of Troy and Achilles quarrel with the kings and the odyssey which tells the wanderings of Odysseus through many lands and for many years and how Alcinus sent him home at last safe to Ithaca his beloved island and to Penelope his faithful wife and Telemachus his son and Euphorbus the noble swineherd and the old dog who licked his hand and died we will read that sweet story children by the fire some winter night and now i will end my tale and begin another and a more cheerful one of a hero who became a worthy king and won his people's love end of the Argonauts recording by Tisto TYSTO.com part one of Theseus from The Heroes this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the heroes or Greek fairy tales for my children by Charles Kingsley part one of Theseus how Theseus lifted the stone once upon a time there was a princess in Troizini Aethra the daughter of Pythias the king she had one fair son named Theseus the bravest lad in all the land and Aethra never smiled but when she looked at him for her husband had forgotten her and lived far away and she used to go up to the mountain above Troizini to the temple of Poseidon and sit there all day looking out across the bay over Methana to the purple peaks of Vigina and the attic shore beyond and when Theseus was full 15 years old she took him up with her to the temple and into the thickets of the grove which grew in the temple yard and she led him to a tall plain tree beneath whose shade grew Arbitus and Lentisk and purple heather bushes and there she sighed and said Theseus my son go into that thicket and you will find at the plain tree foot a great flat stone lift it and bring me what lies underneath then Theseus pushed his way in through the thick bushes and saw that they had not been moved for many a year and searching among their roots he found a great flat stone all overgrown with ivy and acanthus and moss he tried to lift it but he could not and he tried till the sweat ran down his brow from heat and the tears from his eyes for shame but all was of no avail and at last he came back to his mother and said I have found the stone but I cannot lift it nor do I think that any man could in all Troisini then she sighed and said the gods wait long but they are just at last let it be for another year the day may come when you will be a stronger man than lives in all Troisini then she took him by the hand and went into the temple and prayed and came down again with Theseus to her home and when a full year was passed she led Theseus up again to the temple and made him lift the stone but he could not then she sighed and said the same words again and went down and came again the next year but Theseus could not lift the stone then nor the year after and he longed to ask his mother the meaning of that stone and what might lie underneath it but her face was so sad that he had not the heart to ask so he said to himself the day shall surely come when I will lift that stone though no man in Troisini can and in order to grow strong he spent all his days in wrestling and boxing and hurling and taming horses and hunting the boar and the bull and coursing goats and deer among the rocks till upon all the mountains there was no hunter so swift as Theseus and he killed Faia the wild sow of Cromion which wasted all the land till all the people said surely the gods are with the lad and when his eighteenth year was passed Ithra led him up again to the temple and said Theseus lift the stone this day or never know who you are and Theseus went into the thicket and stood over the stone and tugged at it and it moved then his spirit swelled within him and he said if I break my heart in my body it shall up and he tugged at it once more and lifted it and rolled it over with a shout and when he looked beneath it on the ground lay a sword of bronze with a hilt of glittering gold and buy it a pair of golden sandals and he caught them up and burst through the bushes like a wild boar and leapt to his mother holding them high above his head but when she saw them she wept long in silence hiding her fair face in her shawl and Theseus stood by her wondering and wept also he knew not why and when she was tired of weeping she lifted up her head and laid her finger on her lips and said hide them in your bosom Theseus my son and come with me where we can look down upon the sea then they went outside the sacred wall and looked down over the bright blue sea and Ithra said do you see this land at our feet and he said yes this is Troyzini where I was born and bred and she said it is but a little land barren and rocky and looks toward the bleak northeast do you see that land beyond yes that is Attica where the Athenian people dwell that is a fair land and large Theseus my son and it looks toward the sunny south a land of olive oil and honey the joys of gods and men for the gods have girdled it up with mountains whose veins are of pure silver and their bones of marble white as snow and there the hills are sweet with time and basil and the meadows with violet and asphodel and the nightingales sing all day in the thickets by the side of the ever-flowing streams there are twelve towns well-peopled the homes of an ancient race the children of kikrops the serpent king the son of mother earth who wear gold sycolas among the tresses of their golden hair for like the sycolas they sprang from the earth and like the sycolas they sing all day rejoicing in the genial sun what would you do sun Theseus if you were king of such a land then Theseus stood astonished as he looked across the broad bright sea and saw the fair Attic shore from Sunium to Hymetus and Pentelicus and all the mountain peaks which girdle Athens round but Athens itself he could not see for purple igina stood before it midway across the sea then his heart grew great within him and he said if I were king of such a land I would rule it wisely and well in wisdom and in might that when I died all men might weep over my tomb and cry alas for the shepherd of his people and aethra smiled and said take then the sword and the sandals and go to aegius king of Athens who lives on palace hill and say to him the stone is lifted but whose is the pledge beneath it then show him the sword and the sandals and take what the gods shall send but Theseus wept shall I leave you oh my mother but she answered weep not for me that which is fated must be and grief is easy to those who do not but grieve full of sorrow was my youth and full of sorrow my womanhood full of sorrow was my youth for bellera fawn the slayer of the chimera whom my father drove away by treason and full of sorrow my womanhood for thy treacherous father and for thee and full of sorrow my old age will be for I see my fate in dreams when the sons of the swan shall carry me captive to the hollow veil of Eurotus till I sail across the seas a slave the handmaid of the pest of Greece yet shall I be avenged when the golden-haired heroes sail against Troy and sack the palaces of Ilium then my son shall set me free from thrall them and I shall hear the tale of Theseus's fame yet beyond that I see new sorrows but I can bear them as I have borne the past then she kissed Theseus and wept over him and went into the temple and Theseus saw her no more end of part one of Theseus Recording by Tisto tystto.com