d the king, holding the great knife with
which he was just going to cut the bull's throat, turned angrily about
and fixed his eyes on Jason. The people had now withdrawn from around
him, so that the youth stood in an open space, near the smoking altar,
front to front with the angry King Pelias.

"Who are you?" cried the king, with a terrible frown. "And how dare
you make this disturbance, while I am sacrificing a black bull to my
father Neptune?"

"It is no fault of mine," answered Jason. "Your majesty must blame the
rudeness of your subjects, who have raised all this tumult because one
of my feet happens to be bare."

When Jason said this the king gave a quick, startled glance at his
feet.

"Ha!" muttered he, "here is the one-sandaled fellow, sure enough! What
can I do with him?"

And he clutched more closely the great knife in his hand, as if he
were half a mind to slay Jason instead of the black bull. The people
round about caught up the king's words, indistinctly as they were
uttered; and first there was a murmur among them and then a loud
shout.

"The one-sandaled man has come! The prophecy must be fulfilled!"

For you are to know that many years before King Pelias had been told
by the Speaking Oak of Dodona that a man with one sandal should cast
him down from his throne. On this account he had given strict orders
that nobody should ever come into his presence unless both sandals
were securely tied upon his feet; and he kept an officer in his palace
whose sole business it was to examine people's sandals and to supply
them with a new pair at the expense of the royal treasury as soon as
the old ones began to wear out. In the whole course of the king's
reign he had never been thrown into such a fright and agitation as by
the spectacle of poor Jason's bare foot. But as he was naturally a
bold and hard-hearted man, he soon took courage and began to consider
in what way he might rid himself of this terrible one-sandaled
stranger.

"My good young man," said King Pelias, taking the softest tone
imaginable in order to throw Jason off his guard, "you are excessively
welcome to my kingdom. Judging by your dress, you must have traveled a
long distance, for it is not the fashion to wear leopard-skins in this
part of the world. Pray, what may I call your name, and where did you
receive your education?"

"My name is Jason," answered the young stranger. "Ever since my
infancy I have dwelt in the cave of Chiron the Cen