s an infant only a few months old, until he had grown to the
full height of a man. He became a very good harper, I suppose, and
skilful in the use of weapons and tolerably acquainted with herbs and
other doctor's stuff, and above all, an admirable horseman; for, in
teaching young people to ride, the good Chiron must have been without
a rival among schoolmasters. At length, being now a tall and athletic
youth, Jason resolved to seek his fortune in the world without asking
Chiron's advice or telling him anything about the matter. This was
very unwise, to be sure; and I hope none of you, my little hearers,
will ever follow Jason's example. But, you are to understand, he had
heard how that he himself was a prince royal, and how his father, King
AEson, had been deprived of the kingdom of Iolchos by a certain Pelias,
who would also have killed Jason had he not been hidden in the
Centaur's cave. And being come to the strength of a man, Jason
determined to set all this business to rights and to punish the wicked
Pelias for wronging his dear father, and to cast him down from the
throne and seat himself there instead.

With this intention he took a spear in each hand and threw a leopard's
skin over his shoulders to keep off the rain, and set forth on his
travels, with his long yellow ringlets waving in the wind. The part
of his dress on which he most prided himself was a pair of sandals
that had been his father's. They were handsomely embroidered and were
tied upon his feet with strings of gold. But his whole attire was such
as people did not very often see; and as he passed along, the women
and children ran to the doors and windows, wondering whither this
beautiful youth was journeying, with his leopard's skin and his
golden-tied sandals, and what heroic deeds he meant to perform, with a
spear in his right hand and another in his left.

I know not how far Jason had traveled when he came to a turbulent
river, which rushed right across his pathway with specks of white foam
along its black eddies, hurrying tumultuously onward and roaring
angrily as it went. Though not a very broad river in the dry seasons
of the year, it was now swollen by heavy rains and by the melting of
the snow on the sides of Mount Olympus; and it thundered so loudly and
looked so wild and dangerous that Jason, bold as he was, thought it
prudent to pause upon the brink. The bed of the stream seemed to be
strewn with sharp and rugged rocks, some of which thrus