ey have slain one another
to the last man. And now I solicit your majesty's permission to
encounter the dragon, that I may take down the Golden Fleece from the
tree and depart with my forty-nine comrades."

King AEetes scowled and looked very angry and excessively disturbed; for
he knew that, in accordance with his kingly promise, he ought now to
permit Jason to win the fleece if his courage and skill should enable
him to do so. But since the young man had met with such good luck in the
matter of the brazen bulls and dragon's teeth, the king feared that he
would be equally successful in slaying the dragon. And therefore, though
he would gladly have seen Jason snapped up at a mouthful, he was
resolved (and it was a very wrong thing of this wicked potentate) not to
run any further risk of losing his beloved fleece.

"You never would have succeeded in this business, young man," said he,
"if my undutiful daughter Medea had not helped you with her
enchantments. Had you acted fairly, you would have been at this instant
a black cinder or a handful of white ashes. I forbid you, on pain of
death, to make any more attempts to get the Golden Fleece. To speak my
mind plainly, you shall never set eyes on so much as one of its
glistening locks."

Jason left the king's presence in great sorrow and anger. He could think
of nothing better to be done than to summon together his forty-nine
brave Argonauts, march at once to the grove of Mars, slay the dragon,
take possession of the Golden Fleece, get on board the Argo and spread
all sail for Iolchos. The success of this scheme depended, it is true,
on the doubtful point whether all the fifty heroes might not be snapped
up as so many mouthfuls by the dragon. But as Jason was hastening down
the palace steps, the Princess Medea called after him and beckoned him
to return. Her black eyes shone upon him with such a keen intelligence
that he felt as if there were a serpent peeping out of them, and
although she had done him so much service only the night before, he was
by no means very certain that she would not do him an equally great
mischief before sunset. These enchantresses, you must know, are never to
be depended upon.

"What says King AEetes, my royal and upright father?" inquired Medea,
slightly smiling. "Will he give you the Golden Fleece without any
further risk or trouble?"

"On the contrary," answered Jason, "he is very angry with me for taming
the brazen bulls and sowing the dr