ship and sailed eastward, like men who have a work to do;
and the place from which they went was called Aphetai, the sailing
place, from that day forth. Three thousand years ago and more they
sailed away, into the unknown Eastern seas; and great nations have come
and gone since then, and many a storm has swept the earth; and many a
mighty armament, to which Argo would be but one small boat, have sailed
those waters since; yet the fame of that small Argo lives forever, and
her name is become a proverb among men.

So they sailed past the Isle of Sciathos, with the Cape of Sepius on
their left, and turned to the northward toward Pelion, up the long
Magnesian shore. On their right hand was the open sea, and on their left
old Pelion rose, while the clouds crawled round his dark pine forests,
and his caps of summer snow. And their hearts yearned for the dear old
mountain, as they thought of pleasant days gone by, and of the sports of
their boyhood, and their hunting, and their schooling in the cave
beneath the cliff. And at last Peleus spoke: "Let us land here, friends,
and climb the dear old hill once more. We are going on a fearful
journey: who knows if we shall see Pelion again? Let us go up to Cheiron
our master, and ask his blessing ere we start. And I have a boy, too,
with him, whom he trains as he trained me once, the son whom Thetis
brought me, the silver-footed lady of the sea, whom I caught in the
cave, and tamed her though she changed her shape seven times. For she
changed, as I held her, into water, and to vapour, and to burning flame,
and to a rock, and to a black-maned lion, and to a tall and stately
tree. But I held her and held her ever till she took her own shape
again, and led her to my father's house, and won her for my bride. And
all the rulers of Olympus came to our wedding, and the heavens and the
earth rejoiced together, when an immortal wedded mortal man. And now let
me see my son; for it is not often I shall see him upon earth; famous he
will be, but short lived, and die in the flower of youth."

So Tiphys, the helmsman, steered them to the shore under the crags of
Pelion; and they went up through the dark pine forests toward the
Centaur's cave.

And they came into the misty hall, beneath the snow-crowned crag; and
saw the great Centaur lying with his huge limbs spread upon the rock;
and beside him stood Achilles, the child whom no steel could wound, and
played upon his harp right sweetly, while Ch