s stiffened in death.

Then the guards came, and they took King Pelias out of the vat and left
him in his royal chamber. The word went through the palace that the
king was dead. There was a hush in the palace then, but not the hush of
grief. One by one servants and servitors stole away from the palace
that was hated by all. Then there was clatter in the streets as the
fierce fighting men from the mountains galloped away with what plunder
they could seize. And through all this the daughters of King Pelias sat
crouching in fear above the body of their father.

And Medea, still an ancient woman seemingly, went through the crowds
that now came on the streets of the city. She told those she went
amongst that the son of AEson was alive and would soon be in their
midst. Hearing this the men of the city formed a council of elders to
rule the people until Jason's coming. In such way Medea brought about
the end of King Pelias's reign.

In triumph she went through the city. But as she was passing the temple
her dress was caught and held, and turning around she faced the ancient
priestess of Artemis, Iphias. "Thou art AEetes's daughter," Iphias said,
"who in deceit didst come into Iolcus. Woe to thee and woe to Jason for
what thou hast done this day! Not for the slaying of Pelias art thou
blameworthy, but for the misery that thou hast brought upon his
daughters by bringing them into the guilt of the slaying. Go from the
city, daughter of King AEtes; never, never wilt thou come back into it."

But little heed did Medea pay to the ancient priestess, Iphias. Still
in the guise of an old woman she went through the streets of the city,
and out through the gate and along the highway that led from Iolcus. To
that dark pool she came where she had bathed herself before. But now
she did not step into the pool nor pour its water over her shrinking
flesh; instead she built up two altars of green sods an altar to Youth
and an altar to Hecate, queen of the witches; she wreathed them with
green boughs from the forest, and she prayed before each. Then she made
herself naked, and she anointed herself with the brew she had made from
the magical herbs and grasses. All marks of age and decrepitude left
her, and when she stood over the dark pool and looked down on herself
she saw that her body was white and shapely as before, and that her
hair was soft and lovely.

She stayed all night between the tangled wood and the dark pool, and
with the first