"Let all the Princes go with Jason,
and, like him, never return, so shall I be lord of the land and the
greatest king in Hellas."

III

HOW THEY BUILT THE SHIP ARGO

So the heralds went out and cried to all the heroes, "Who dare come to
the adventures of the Golden Fleece?"

And Hera stirred the hearts of all the Princes, and they came from all
their valleys to the yellow sand of Iolcos by the sea.

All the city came out to meet them, and the men were never tired with
looking at their heights and their beauty and the glitter of their
arms.

But the women sighed over them and whispered, "Alas, they are all
going to their death!"

Then the heroes felled the mountain pines and shaped them with the
axe, and Argus the famed shipbuilder taught them to build a galley,
the first long ship which ever sailed the seas. They named her Argo,
after Argus the shipbuilder, and worked at her all day long.

But Jason went away into a far-off land, till he found Orpheus the
prince of minstrels, where he dwelt in his cave.

And he asked him, "Will you leave your mountains, Orpheus, my
playfellow in old times, and sail with the heroes to bring home the
Golden Fleece? And will you charm for us all men and all monsters with
your magic harp and song?"

Then Orpheus sighed, "Have I not had enough of toil and of weary
wandering far and wide, since I lived in Cheiron's cave, above Iolcos
by the sea? And now must I go out again, to the ends of all the
earth, far away into the misty darkness? But a friend's demand must be
obeyed."

So Orpheus rose up sighing, and took his harp. He led Jason to the
holy oak, and he bade him cut down a bough and sacrifice to Hera. And
they took the bough and came to Iolcos, and nailed it to the prow of
the ship.

And at last the ship was finished, and they tried to launch her down
the beach; but she was too heavy for them to move her, and her keel
sank deep into the sand.

Then all the heroes looked at each other blushing, but Jason spoke
and said, "Let us ask the magic bough; perhaps it can help us in our
need."

And a voice came from the bough, and Jason heard the words it said,
and bade Orpheus play upon the harp, while the heroes waited round,
holding the pine-trunk rollers to help the Argo toward the sea.

Then Orpheus took his harp and began his magic song. And the good ship
Argo heard him and longed to be away and out at sea, till she stirred
in every timber, and heaved from stem