and bring to it
the oldest creature you can get--a ram or a goat that is the oldest of
their flock. Do this, O king, and you will be shown a thing to wonder
at and to be hopeful over."

So Medea said, and then she turned around and left the king's presence.
Pelias called to his guards and he bade them take the woman into their
charge and treat her considerately. The guards took Medea away. Then
all day the king mused on what had been told him and a wild hope kept
beating about his heart. He had the servants prepare a great vat in the
lower chambers, and he had his shepherd bring him a ram that was the
oldest in the flock.

Only Medea was permitted to come into that chamber with the king; the
ways to it were guarded, and all that took place in it was secret.
Medea was brought to the closed door by her guard. She opened it and
she saw the king there and the vat already prepared; she saw a ram
tethered near the vat.

Medea looked upon the king. In the light of the torches his face was
white and fierce and his mouth moved gaspingly. She spoke to him
quietly, and said: "There is no need for you to hear me speak. You will
watch a great miracle, for behold! the ram which is the oldest and
feeblest in the flock will become young and invigorated when it comes
forth from this vat."

She untethered the ram, and with the help of Pelias drew it to the vat.
This was not hard to do, for the beast was very feeble; its feet could
hardly bear it upright, its wool was yellow and stayed only in patches
on its shrunken body. Easily the beast was forced into the vat. Then
Medea drew the phial out of her bosom and poured into the water some of
the brew she had made in Creon's garden in Corinth. The water in the
vat took on a strange bubbling, and the ram sank down.

Then Medea, standing beside the vat, sang an incantation.

"O Earth," she sang, "O Earth who dost provide wise men with potent
herbs, O Earth help me now. I am she who can drive the clouds; I am she
who can dispel the winds; I am she who can break the jaws of serpents
with my incantations; I am she who can uproot living trees and rocks;
who can make the mountains shake; who can bring the ghosts from their
tombs. O Earth, help me now." At this strange incantation the mixture
in the vat boiled and bubbled more and more. Then the boiling and
bubbling ceased. Up to the surface came the ram. Medea helped it to
struggle out of the vat, and then it turned and smote the vat with it