nt away, but the boy did not weep, so
full was his fancy of that strange cave, and the Centaur and his song,
and the playfellows whom he was to see.

Then Cheiron put the lyre into his hands, and taught him how to play
it, till the sun sank low behind the cliff, and a shout was heard
outside.

And then in came the sons of the heroes, and great Cheiron leapt up
joyfully, and his hoofs made the cave resound as the lads shouted,
"Come out, Father Cheiron, and see our game!"

One cried, "I have killed two deer," and another, "I took a wild cat
among the crags," and another shouted, "I have dragged a wild goat by
its horns," and another carried under each arm a bear-cub. And Cheiron
praised them all, each as he deserved.

Then the lads brought in wood and split it, and lighted a blazing
fire. Others skinned the deer and quartered them, and set them to
roast before the flames.

While the venison was cooking, they bathed in the snow-torrent and
washed away the dust.

And then all ate till they could eat no more, for they had tasted
nothing since the dawn, and drank of the clear spring water, for wine
is not fit for growing lads.

When the remnants of the meal were put away, they all lay down upon
the skins and leaves about the fire, and each took the lyre in turn,
and sang and played with all his heart.

After a while they all went out to a plot of grass at the cave's
mouth, and there they boxed and ran and wrestled and laughed till the
stones fell from the cliffs.

Then Cheiron took his lyre, and all the lads joined hands, and as he
played they danced to his measure, in and out and round and round.

There they danced hand in hand, till the night fell over land and sea,
while the black glen shone with the gleam of their golden hair.

And the lad danced with them, delighted, and then slept a wholesome
sleep, upon fragrant leaves of bay and myrtle and flowers of thyme.

He rose at the dawn and bathed in the torrent, and became a
schoolfellow to the heroes' sons, and forgot Iolcos by the sea, and
his father and all his former life.

But he grew strong and brave and cunning, upon the pleasant downs of
Pelion, in the keen, hungry mountain-air.

And he learned to wrestle, to box and to hunt, and to play upon the
harp. Next he learned to ride, for old Cheiron used to mount him on
his back. He learned too the virtue of all herbs, and how to cure all
wounds, and Cheiron called him Jason the Healer, and that is his nam