old this part of her story she wept and prayed at the knees of
the queen.

Arete was greatly moved by Medea's tears and prayers. She went to
Alcinous in his garden, and she begged of him to save the Argonauts
from the great force of the Colchians that had come to cut them off.
"The Golden Fleece," said Arete, "has been won by the tasks that Jason
performed. If the Colchians should take Medea, it would be to bring her
back to Aea and to a bitter doom. And the maiden," said the queen, "has
broken my heart by her prayers and tears."

King Alcinous said: "AEetes is strong, and although his kingdom is far
from ours, he can bring war upon us." But still Arete pleaded with him
to protect Medea from the Colchians. Alcinous went within; he raised up
Medea from where she crouched on the floor of the palace, and he
promised her that the Argonauts would be protected in his city.

Then the king mounted his chariot; Medea went with him, and they came
down to the seashore where the heroes had made their encampment. The
Argonauts and the Colchians were drawn up against each other, and the
Colchians far outnumbered the wearied heroes.

Alcinous drove his chariot between the two armies. The Colchians prayed
him to have the strangers make surrender to them. But the king drove
his chariot to where the heroes stood, and he took the hand of each,
and received them as his guests. Then the Colchians knew that they
might not make war upon the heroes. They drew off. The next day they
marched away.

It was a rich land that they had come to. Once Aristaeus dwelt there,
the king who discovered how to make bees store up their honey for men
and how to make the good olive grow. Macris, his daughter, tended
Dionysus, the son of Zeus, when Hermes brought him of the flame, and
moistened his lips with honey. She tended him in a cave in the
Phaeacian land, and ever afterward the Phaeacians were blessed with all
good things.

Now as the heroes marched to the palace of King Alcinous the people
came to meet them, bringing them sheep and calves and jars of wine and
honey. The women brought them fresh garments; to Medea they gave fine
linen and golden ornaments.

Amongst the Phaeacians who loved music and games and the telling of
stories the heroes stayed for long. There were dances, and to the
Phaeacians who honored him as a god, Orpheus played upon his lyre. And
every day, for the seven days that they stayed amongst them, the
Phaeacians brought rich