r in the day-lit sky.

"Then Queen Ino, seeing the children saved by the golden ram, shrieked
and fled away from that place. Athamas ran after her. As she ran and as
he followed hatred for her grew up within him. Ino ran on and on until
she came to the cliffs that rose over the sea. Fearing Athamas who came
behind her she plunged down. But as she fell she was changed by
Poseidon, the god of the sea. She became a seagull. Athamas, who
followed her, was changed also; he became the sea eagle that, with beak
and talons ever ready to strike, flies above the sea.

"And the golden ram with wings outspread flew on and on. Over the sea
it flew while the wind whistled around the children. On and on they
went, and the children saw only the blue sea beneath them. Then poor
Helle, looking downward, grew dizzy. She fell off the golden ram before
her brother could take hold of her. Down she fell, and still the ram
flew on and on. She was drowned in that sea. The people afterward named
it in memory of her, calling it 'Hellespont'--'Helle's Sea.'

"On and on the ram flew. Over a wild and barren country it flew and
toward a river. Upon that river a white city was built. Down the ram
flew, and alighting on the ground, stood before the gate of that city.
It was the city of Aea, in the land of Colchis.

"The king was in the street of the city, and he joined with the crowd
that gathered around the strange golden creature that had a youth upon
its back. The ram folded its wings and then the youth stood beside it.
He spoke to the people, and then the king--AEetes was his name--spoke to
him, asking him from what place he had come, and what was the strange
creature upon whose back he had flown.

"To the king and to the people Phrixus told his story, weeping to tell
of Helle and her fall. Then King AEetes brought him into the city, and
he gave him a place in the palace, and for the golden ram he had a
special fold made.

"Soon after the ram died, and then King AEetes took its golden fleece
and hung it upon an oak tree that was in a place dedicated to Ares, the
god of war. Phrixus wed one of the daughters of the king, and men say
that afterward he went back to Thebes, his own land.

"And as for the Golden Fleece it became the greatest of King AEetes's
treasures. Well indeed does he guard it, and not with armed men only,
but with magic powers. Very strong and very cunning is King AEetes, and
a terrible task awaits those who would take away f