f Jason.

At last Medea promised to carry to the temple of the goddess of whom she
was a priestess, a drug that would tame the bulls which dwelt in the
field of that temple. But still she wept and wished that she were dead,
and had a mind to slay herself; yet, all the time, she was longing for
the dawn, that she might go and see Jason, and give him the drug, and
see his face once more, if she was never to see him again. So, at dawn
she bound up her hair, and bathed her face, and took the drug, which was
pressed from a flower. That flower first blossomed when the eagle shed
the blood of Prometheus on the earth. The virtue of the juice of the
flower was this, that if a man anointed himself with it, he could not
that day be wounded by swords, and fire could not burn him. So she
placed it in a vial beneath her girdle, and she went with other girls,
her friends, to the temple of the goddess. Now Jason had been warned by
Chalciope to meet her there, and he was coming with Mopsus who knew the
speech of birds. But Mopsus heard a crow that sat on a poplar tree
speaking to another crow, saying:

'Here comes a silly prophet, and sillier than a goose. He is walking
with a young man to meet a maid, and does not know that, while he is
there to hear, the maid will not say a word that is in her heart. Go
away, foolish prophet; it is not you she cares for.'

Then Mopsus smiled, and stopped where he was; but Jason went on, where
Medea was pretending to play with the girls, her companions. When she
saw Jason she felt as if she could neither go forward, nor go back, and
she was very pale. But Jason told her not to be afraid, and asked her to
help him, but for long she could not answer him; however, at the last,
she gave him the drug, and taught him how to use it. 'So shall you carry
the fleece to Iolcos, far away, but what is it to me where you go when
you have gone from here? Still remember the name of me, Medea, as I
shall remember you. And may there come to me some voice, or some bird
bearing the message, whenever you have quite forgotten me.'

But Jason answered, 'Lady, let the winds blow what voice they will, and
what that bird will, let him bring. But no wind or bird shall ever bear
the news that I have forgotten you, if you will cross the sea with me,
and be my wife.'

Then she was glad, and yet she was afraid, at the thought of that dark
voyage, with a stranger, from her father's home and her own. So they
parted, Jason to the