ery
that is visible upon me they went without asking for counsel: I would
strive to hold you here for a while. Stay, and have sight of the misery
the gods visit upon those who would be as wise as they. And when you
have seen the thing that is wont to befall me, it may be that help will
come from you for me."

Then Phineus, the blind king, left them, and after a while the heroes
were brought into a great hall, and they were invited to rest
themselves there while a banquet was being prepared for them. The hall
was richly adorned, but it looked to the heroes as if it had known
strange happenings; rich hangings were strewn upon the ground, an ivory
chair was overturned, and the dais where the king sat had stains upon
it. The servants who went through the hall making ready the banquet
were white-faced and fearful.

The feast was laid on a great table, and the heroes were invited to sit
down to it. The king did not come into the hall before they sat down,
but a table with food was set before the dais. When the heroes had
feasted, the king came into the hall. He sat at the table, blind,
white-faced, and shrunken, and the Argonauts all turned their faces to
him.

Said Phineus, the blind king: "You see, O heroes, how much my wisdom
avails me. You see me blind and shrunken, who tried to make myself in
wisdom equal to the gods. And yet you have not seen all. Watch now and
see what feasts Phineus, the wise king, has to delight him."

He made a sign, and the white-faced and trembling servants brought food
and set it upon the table that was before him. The king bent forward as
if to eat, and they saw that his face was covered with the damp of
fear. He took food from the dish and raised it to his mouth. As he did,
the doors of the hall were flung open as if by a storm. Strange shapes
flew into the hall and set themselves beside the king. And when the
Argonauts looked upon them they saw that these were terrible and
unsightly shapes.

They were things that had the wings and claws of birds and the heads of
women. Black hair and gray feathers were mixed upon them; they had red
eyes, and streaks of blood were upon their breasts and wings. And as
the king raised the food to his mouth they flew at him and buffeted his
head with their wings, and snatched the food from his hands. Then they
devoured or scattered what was upon the table, and all the time they
screamed and laughed and mocked.

"Ah, now ye see," Phineus panted, "what it is