The Golden Fleece | Page 5

not know.
The years went by and Pelias felt secure upon the throne he had taken
from his brother. Once he sent to the oracle of the gods to ask of it
whether he should be fearful of anything. What the oracle answered
was this: that King Pelias had but one thing to dread--the coming of a
halfshod man.
The centaur nourished the child Jason on roots and fruits and honey; for
shelter they had a great cave that Chiron had lived in for numberless
years. When he had grown big enough to leave the cave Chiron would
let Jason mount on his back; with the child holding on to his great mane
he would trot gently through the ways of the forest.
Jason began to know the creatures of the forest and their haunts.

Sometimes Chiron would bring his great bow with him; then Jason, on
his back, would hold the quiver and would hand him the arrows. The
centaur would let the boy see him kill with a single arrow the bear, the
boar, or the deer. And soon Jason, running beside him, hunted too.
No heroes were ever better trained than those whose childhood and
youth had been spent with Chiron the king-centaur. He made them
more swift of foot than any other of the children of men. He made them
stronger and more ready with the spear and bow. Jason was trained by
Chiron as Heracles just before him had been trained, and as Achilles
was to be trained afterward.
Moreover, Chiron taught him the knowledge of the stars and the
wisdom that had to do with the ways of the gods.
Once, when they were hunting together, Jason saw a form at the end of
an alley of trees--the form of a woman it was--of a woman who had on
her head a shining crown. Never had Jason dreamt of seeing a form so
wondrous. Not very near did he come, but he thought he knew that the
woman smiled upon him. She was seen no more, and Jason knew that
he had looked upon one of the immortal goddesses.
All day Jason was filled with thought of her whom he had seen. At
night, when the stars were out, and when they were seated outside the
cave, Chiron and Jason talked together, and Chiron told the youth that
she whom he had seen was none other than Hera, the wife of Zeus, who
had for his father Aeson and for himself an especial friendliness.
So Jason grew up upon the mountain and in the forest fastnesses. When
he had reached his full height and had shown himself swift in the hunt
and strong with the spear and bow, Chiron told him that the time had
come when he should go back to the world of men and make his name
famous by the doing of great deeds.
And when Chiron told him about his father Aeson--about how he had
been thrust out of the kingship by Pelias, his uncle a great longing came
upon Jason to see his father and a fierce anger grew up in his heart
against Pelias.

Then the time came when he bade good-by to Chiron his great
instructor; the time came when he went from the centaur's cave for the
last time, and went through the wooded ways and down the side of the
Mountain Pelion. He came to the river, to the swift Anaurus, and he
found it high in flood. The stones by which one might cross were
almost all washed over; far apart did they seem in the flood.
Now as he stood there pondering on what he might do there came up to
him an old woman who had on her back a load of brushwood. "Wouldst
thou cross?" asked the old woman. "Wouldst thou cross and get thee to
the city of Iolcus, Jason, where so many things await thee?"
Greatly was the youth astonished to hear his name spoken by this old
woman, and to hear her give the name of the city he was bound for.
"Wouldst thou cross the Anaurus?" she asked again. "Then mount upon
my back, holding on to the wood I carry, and I will bear thee over the
river."
Jason smiled. How foolish this old woman was to think that she could
bear him across the flooded river! She came near him and she took him
in her arms and lifted him up on her shoulders. Then, before he knew
what she was about to do, she had stepped into the water.
>From stone to stepping-stone she went, Jason holding on to the wood
that she had drawn to her shoulders. She left him down upon the bank.
As she was lifting him down one of his feet touched