onder that King AEetes keeps
guard over."

He spoke and those in the hall shouted again and made clamor around
him. But still his father sat gazing at him with stricken eyes.

King Pelias stood up in the hall and holding up his scepter he said, "O
my nephew Jason, and O friends assembled here, I promise that I will
have built for the voyage the best ship that ever sailed from a harbor
in Greece. And I promise that I will send throughout all Greece a word
telling of Jason's voyage so that all heroes desirous of winning fame
may come to help him and to help all of you who may go with him to win
from the keeping of King AEetes the famous Fleece of Gold."

So King Pelias said, but Jason, looking to the king from his father's
stricken eyes, saw that he had been led by the king into the acceptance
of the voyage so that he might fare far from Iolcus, and perhaps lose
his life in striving to gain the wonder that King AEetes kept guarded.
By the glitter in Pelias's eyes he knew the truth. Nevertheless Jason
would not take back one word that he had spoken; his heart was strong
within him, and he thought that with the help of the bright-eyed youths
around and with the help of those who would come to him at the word of
the voyage, he would bring the Golden Fleece to Iolcus and make famous
for all time his own name.

IV. THE ASSEMBLING OF THE HEROES AND THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP

First there came the youths Castor and Polydeuces. They came riding on
white horses, two noble-looking brothers. From Sparta they came, and
their mother was Leda, who, after the twin brothers, had another child
born to her--Helen, for whose sake the sons of many of Jason's friends
were to wage war against the great city of Troy. These were the first
heroes who came to Iolcus after the word had gone forth through Greece
of Jason's adventuring in quest of the Golden Fleece.

And then there came one who had both welcome and reverence from Jason;
this one came without spear or bow, bearing in his hands a lyre only.
He was Orpheus, and he knew all the ways of the gods and all the
stories of the gods; when he sang to his lyre the trees would listen
and the beasts would follow him. It was Chiron who had counseled
Orpheus to go with Jason; Chiron the centaur had met him as he was
wandering through the forests on the Mountain Pelion and had sent him
down into Iolcus.

Then there came two men well skilled in the handling of ships--Tiphys
and Nauplius. Tiph