like a
yellow sheep with a little boy on its back. And King Aietes was
greatly amazed, for he had never seen so strange a thing before, and
he called his wife and his children, and everyone else that was in his
house, to come and see this wonderful sight. And they looked, and saw
the ram coming nearer and nearer, and then they knew that it really
was a boy on its back; and by and by the ram came down upon the earth
near their feet, and Phrixos got off its back. Then King Aietes went
up to him, and took him by the hand, and asked him who he was, and he
said, "Tell me, little boy, how it is that you come here, riding in
this strange way on the back of a ram." Then Phrixos told him the ram
had come into the field where he and Helle were playing, and had
carried them away from Ino and Athamas, who were very unkind to them,
and how little Helle had grown tired, and fallen off his back, and had
been drowned in the sea. Then King Aietes took Phrixos up in his arms,
and said, "Do not be afraid; I will take care of you and give you all
that you want, and no one shall hurt you here; and the ram which has
carried you through the air shall stay in this beautiful place, where
he will have as much grass to eat as he can possibly want, and a
stream to drink out of and to bathe in whenever he likes."

So Phrixos was taken into the palace of King Aietes, and everybody
loved him, because he was good and kind, and never hurt anyone. And he
grew up healthy and strong, and he learned to ride about the country
and to leap and run over the hills and valleys, and swim about in the
clear rivers. He had not forgotten his sister Helle, for he loved her
still as much as ever, and very often he wished that she could come
and live with him again, but he knew that she was with his mother,
Nephele, in the happy land to which good people go after they are
dead. And therefore he was never unhappy when he thought of his
sister, for he said, "One day I, too, shall be taken to that bright
land, and live with my mother and my sister again, if I try always to
do what is right." And very often he used to go and see the beautiful
ram with the golden fleece feeding in the garden, and stroke its
golden locks.

But the ram was not so strong now as he was when he flew through the
air with Phrixos and Helle on his hack, for he was growing old and
weak, and at last the ram died, and Phrixos was very sorry. And King
Aietes had the golden fleece taken off from the