n, if I am indeed thy son and thou my father. May this
Ulysses never reach his home! or, if the Fates have ordered that he
should reach it, may he come alone, all his comrades lost, and come to
find sore trouble in his house!"

And as he ended he hurled another mighty rock, which almost lighted on
the rudder's end, yet missed it as if by a hair's breadth. So Ulysses
and his comrades escaped, and came to the island of the wild goats,
where they found their comrades, who indeed had waited long for them, in
sore fear lest they had perished. Then Ulysses divided among his company
all the sheep which they had taken from the Cyclops. And all, with one
consent, gave him for his share the great ram which had carried him out
of the cave, and he sacrificed it to Zeus. And all that day they feasted
right merrily on the flesh of sheep and on sweet wine, and when the
night was come, they lay down upon the shore and slept.

CHAPTER X

THE ARGONAUTS

I

_How the Centaur Trained the Heroes on Pelion_

I have told you of a hero who fought with wild beasts and with wild men;
but now I have a tale of heroes who sailed away into a distant land to
win themselves renown forever, in the adventure of the Golden Fleece.

Whither they sailed, my children, I cannot clearly tell. It all happened
long ago; so long that it has all grown dim, like a dream which you
dreamed last year. And why they went, I cannot tell; some say that it
was to win gold. It may be so; but the noblest deeds which have been
done on earth, have not been done for gold. It was not for the sake of
gold that the Lord came down and died, and the Apostles went out to
preach the good news in all lands. The Spartans looked for no reward in
money when they fought and died at Thermopylae; and Socrates the wise
asked no pay from his countrymen, but lived poor and barefoot all his
days, only caring to make men good. And there are heroes in our days
also, who do noble deeds, but not for gold. Our discoverers did not go
to make themselves rich, when they sailed out one after another into the
dreary frozen seas; nor did the ladies, who went out last year, to
drudge in the hospitals of the East, making themselves poor, that they
might be rich in noble works. And young men, too, whom you know,
children, and some of them of your own kin, did they say to themselves,
"How much money shall I earn?" when they went out to the war, leaving
wealth, and comfort, and a pleasant home,