he 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 thrust themselves above the water. By and by
an uprooted tree, with shattered branches, came drifting along the
current and got entangled among the rocks. Now and then a drowned sheep
and once the carcass of a cow floated past.

In short, the swollen river had already done a great deal of mischief.
It was evidently too deep for Jason to wade and too boisterous for him
to swim; he could see no bridge, and as for a boat, had there been any,
the rocks would have broken it to pieces in an instant.

"See the poor lad," said