which appeared to be suspended at about a man's
height from the ground, a little further within the wood.

"What is it?" asked Jason.

"Have you come so far to seek it," exclaimed Medea, "and do you not
recognize the meed of all your toils and perils when it glitters before
your eyes? It is the Golden Fleece."

Jason went onward a few steps further, and then stopped to gaze. Oh, how
beautiful it looked, shining with a marvelous light of its own, that
inestimable prize which so many heroes had longed to behold but had
perished in the quest of it, either by the perils of their voyage or by
the fiery breath of the brazen-lunged bulls.

"How gloriously it shines!" cried Jason in a rapture. "It has surely
been dipped in the richest gold of sunset. Let me hasten onward and take
it to my bosom."

"Stay," said Medea, holding him back. "Have you forgotten what guards
it?"

To say the truth, in the joy of beholding the object of his desires, the
terrible dragon had quite slipped out of Jason's memory. Soon, however,
something came to pass that reminded him what perils were still to be
encountered. An antelope that probably mistook the yellow radiance for
sunrise came bounding fleetly through the grove. He was rushing straight
toward the Golden Fleece, when suddenly there was a frightful hiss and
the immense head and half the scaly body of the dragon was thrust forth
(for he was twisted round the trunk of the tree on which the fleece
hung), and seizing the poor antelope, swallowed him with one snap of his
jaws.

After this feat, the dragon seemed sensible that some other living
creature was within reach, on which he felt inclined to finish his meal.
In various directions he kept poking his ugly snout among the trees,
stretching out his neck a terrible long way, now here, now there and now
close to the spot where Jason and the princess were hiding behind an
oak. Upon my word, as the head came waving and undulating through the
air and reaching almost within arm's length of Prince Jason, it was a
very hideous and uncomfortable sight. The gape of his enormous jaws was
nearly as wide as the gateway of the king's palace.

"Well, Jason," whispered Medea (for she was ill natured, as all
enchantresses are, and wanted to make the bold youth tremble), "what do
you think now of your prospect of winning the Golden Fleece?"

Jason answered only by drawing his sword and making a step forward.

"Stay, foolish youth," said Medea, gras