Stories from the Greek Tragedians | Page 7

forth thy hand and touch her."
"I touch her as I would touch the Gorgon's head."
"Hast thou hold of her?"
"I have hold."
"Then keep her safe, and say that the son of Zeus is a noble friend. See
if she be like thy wife; and change thy sorrow for joy."
And when the King looked, lo! the veiled woman was Alcestis his wife.

THE STORY OF THE VENGEANCE OF MEDEA.
Jason, being of right the prince of Iolcos in the land of Thessaly, came
back to his kingdom. But Pelias, who had now for many years taken it
for himself, spake him fair, and persuaded him that he should go on
some adventure, and find glory and renown for himself, and so return;
and he sware that afterwards he would peaceably give up the kingdom.
Now in the land of Colchis, which lieth to the east of the sea which
men call the Hospitable Sea, there was kept a great treasure, even the
fleece of a great ram, which had been sacrificed there in time past. A
marvellous beast was this ram, for it had flown through the air to
Colchis from the land of Greece; and its fleece was of pure gold. So
Jason gathered together many valiant men, sons of gods and heroes,
such as were Hercules the son of Zeus, and Castor and Pollux, the twin
brethren, and Calaïs and Zethus, that were sons to the North Wind, and
Orpheus, that was the sweetest singer of all the dwellers upon earth.
And they built for themselves a ship, and called its name the Argo, and
so set sail, that they might bring back the fleece of gold to the land of
Greece, to which, indeed, it rightfully belonged. Now when Jason and

his fellows were come to Colchis, they asked the fleece of the king of
the country. And he said that he would give it to them; only Jason must
first yoke certain bulls that breathed fire from their nostrils, and slay a
great dragon. But the Princess Medea saw Jason, and loved him, and
purposed in her heart that she would help him. And being a great witch,
and knowing all manner of drugs and enchantments, she gave him an
ointment which kept all that anointed themselves with it so that they
took no harm in battle with man or beast. But first Jason had promised,
swearing to her a great oath, that she should be his wife, and that he
would take her with him to the land of Greece, and that he would be
faithful unto her to his life's end. So when he and his companions had
yoked the bulls, and slain the dragon, and carried away the fleece, they
took Medea with them in the ship, and so departed. But when Jason
was come to the land of Iolcos, Pelias was not willing to keep his
promise that he would give the kingdom to him. Whereupon Medea
devised this thing against him. She took a ram, and cut him in pieces,
and boiled his flesh in water, putting herbs into the cauldron, and
saying divers enchantments over it; and, lo! the beast came forth young,
though it had been very old. Then she said to the daughters of Pelias,
"Ye see this ram, how he was old, and I have made him young by
boiling him in water. Do ye so likewise to your father, and I will help
you with drugs and enchantments, as I did with the ram." But she lied
unto them, and helped them not. So King Pelias died, being slain by his
daughters, when they thought to make him young. But the people of the
land were very wroth with Medea and with Jason her husband, and
suffered them not to dwell there any more. So they came and dwelt in
the land of Corinth. Now when they had abode there many days, the
heart of Jason was turned away from his wife, and he was minded to
put her away from him, and to take to himself another wife, even
Glaucé, who was daughter to Creon, the King of the city.
[Illustration: PELAS SENDING FORTH JASON.]
Now, when this thing was told to Medea, at first she went through the
house raging like a lioness that is bereaved of her whelps, and crying
out to the Gods that they should smite the false husband that had sworn
to her and had broken his oath, and affirming that she herself would
take vengeance on him. And they that had the charge of her children
kept them from her, lest she should do some mischief. But when her

first fury was spent, she came forth from her house, and spake to
certain women of Corinth of