The Golden Fleece and The Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles - The Original Classic Edition. Padraic ColumЧитать онлайн книгу.
of Artemis to ask how the people might be saved from the famine. And the guardians of the temple, [pg 29] having taken gold from Queen Ino, told them that there would be worse and worse famine and that all the people of Thebes
would die of hunger unless the king was willing to make a great sacrifice.
"When the king asked what sacrifice he should make he was told by the guardians of the temple that he must sacrifice to the god-
dess his two children, Phrixus and Helle. Those who were around the king, to save themselves from famine after famine, clamored to
have the children sacrificed. Athamas, to save his people, consented to the sacrifice.
"They went toward the king's palace. They found Helle by the bank of the river washing clothes. They took her and bound her.
They found Phrixus, half naked, digging in a field, and they took him, too, and bound him. That night they left brother and sister in
the same prison. Helle wept over Phrixus, and Phrixus wept to think that he was not able to do anything to save his sister.
"The servants of the palace went to Nephele, and they mocked at her, telling her that her children would be sacrificed on the mor-
row. Nephele nearly went wild in her grief. And then, suddenly, there came into her mind the thought of a creature that might be a helper to her and to her children.
"This creature was a ram that had wings and a wonderful fleece of gold. The god of the sea, Poseidon, had sent this wonderful
ram to Athamas and Nephele as a marriage gift. And the ram had since been kept in a special fold.
"To that fold Nephele went. She spent the night beside the [pg 30] ram praying for its help. The morning came and the children
were taken from their prison and dressed in white, and wreaths were put upon their heads to mark them as things for sacrifice. They
were led in a procession to the temple of Artemis. Behind that procession King Athamas walked, his head bowed in shame.
"But Queen Ino's head was not bowed; rather she carried it high, for her thought was all upon her triumph. Soon Phrixus and
Helle would be dead, and then, whatever happened, her own children would reign after Athamas in Thebes.
"Phrixus and Helle, thinking they were taking their last look at the sun, went on. And even then Nephele, holding the horns of the
golden ram, was making her last prayer. The sun rose and as it did the ram spread out its great wings and flew through the air. It flew
to the temple of Artemis. Down beside the altar came the golden ram, and it stood with its horns threatening those who came. All
stopped in surprise. Still the ram stood with threatening head and great golden wings spread out. Then Phrixus ran from those who
were holding him and laid his hands upon the ram. He called to Helle and she, too, came to the golden creature. Phrixus mounted on
the ram and he pulled Helle up beside him. Then the golden ram flew upward. Up, up, it went, and with the children upon its back it
became like a star in the day-lit sky.
"Then Queen Ino, seeing the children saved by the golden ram, shrieked and fled away from that place. Athamas ran after her. As
she ran and as he followed hatred for her grew up within him. Ino ran on and on until she came to the cliffs that rose over the [pg
31] sea. Fearing Athamas who came behind her she plunged down. But as she fell she was changed by Poseidon, the god of the sea. She became a seagull. Athamas, who followed her, was changed also; he became the sea eagle that, with beak and talons ever ready to
strike, flies above the sea.
"And the golden ram with wings outspread flew on and on. Over the sea it flew while the wind whistled around the children. On
and on they went, and the children saw only the blue sea beneath them. Then poor Helle, looking downward, grew dizzy. She fell off
the golden ram before her brother could take hold of her. Down she fell, and still the ram flew on and on. She was drowned in that
sea. The people afterward named it in memory of her, calling it 'Hellespont'--'Helle's Sea.'
"On and on the ram flew. Over a wild and barren country it flew and toward a river. Upon that river a white city was built. Down
the ram flew, and alighting on the ground, stood before the gate of that city. It was the city of Aea, in the land of Colchis.
"The king was in the street of the city, and he joined with the crowd that gathered around the strange golden creature that had a youth upon its back. The ram folded its wings and then the youth stood beside it. He spoke to the people, and then the king--AEetes was his name--spoke to him, asking him from what place he had come, and what was the strange creature upon whose back he had
flown.
"To the king and to the people Phrixus told his story, weeping [pg 32] to tell of Helle and her fall. Then King AEetes brought him
into the city, and he gave him a place in the palace, and for the golden ram he had a special fold made.
"Soon after the ram died, and then King AEetes took its golden fleece and hung it upon an oak tree that was in a place dedicated
to Ares, the god of war. Phrixus wed one of the daughters of the king, and men say that afterward he went back to Thebes, his own
land.
"And as for the Golden Fleece it became the greatest of King AEetes's treasures. Well indeed does he guard it, and not with armed men only, but with magic powers. Very strong and very cunning is King AEetes, and a terrible task awaits those who would take away from him that Fleece of Gold."
So Alcimide spoke, sorrowfully telling to the women the story of the Golden Fleece that her son Jason was going in quest of. So she spoke, and the night waned, and the morning of the sailing of the Argo came on.
And when the Argonauts beheld the dawn upon the high peaks of Pelion they arose and poured out wine in offering to Zeus, the highest of the gods. Then Argo herself gave forth a strange cry, for the beam from Dodona that had been formed into her prow had endued her with life. She uttered a strange cry, and as she did the heroes took their places at the benches, one after the other, as had been arranged by lot, and Tiphys, the helmsman, went to the steering place. To the sound of Orpheus's lyre they [pg 33] smote
with oars the rushing sea water, and the surge broke over the oar blades. The sails were let out and the breeze came into them, piping
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shrilly, and the fishes came darting through the green sea, great and small, and followed them, gamboling along the watery paths.
And Chiron, the king-centaur, came down from the Mountain Pelion, and standing with his feet in the foam cried out, "Good speed, O Argonauts, good speed, and a sorrowless return."
The Beginning of Things
Orpheus sang to his lyre, Orpheus the minstrel, who knew the ways and the stories of the gods; out in the open sea on the first
morning of the voyage Orpheus sang to them of the beginning of things.
He sang how at first Earth and Heaven and Sea were all mixed and mingled together. There was neither Light nor Darkness then,
but only a Dimness. This was Chaos. And from Chaos came forth Night and Erebus. From Night was born AEther, the Upper Air, and from Night and Erebus wedded there was born Day.
And out of Chaos came Earth, and out of Earth came the starry Heaven. And from Heaven and Earth wedded there were born the Titan gods and goddesses--Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus; Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, gold-crowned Phoebe, and lovely Tethys. And then Heaven and Earth had for their child Cronos, the most cunning of all.
[pg 34]
Cronos wedded Rhea, and from Cronos and Rhea were born the gods who were different from the Titan gods.