body, and they nailed
it up upon the wall, and every one came to look at the fleece which
was made of gold, and to hear the story of Phrixos and Helle.

But all this while Athamas and Ino had been hunting about everywhere,
to see if they could find out where the ram had gone with the children
on his back; and they asked every one whom they met, if they had seen
a sheep with a fleece of gold carrying away two children. But no one
could tell anything about it, till at last they came to the house of
Aietes, the King of Kolchis. And they came to the door, and asked
Aietes if he had seen Phrixos and Helle, and the sheep with the golden
fleece. Then Aietes said to them, "I have never seen little Helle, for
she fell off from the ram's back, and was drowned in the sea, but
Phrixos is with me still, and as for the ram, see here is his golden
fleece nailed up upon the wall." And just then Phrixos happened to
come in, and Aietes asked them, "Look, now, and tell me if this is the
Phrixos whom you are seeking." And when they saw him, they said, "It
is indeed the same Phrixos who went away on the ram's back, but he is
grown into a great man;" and they began to be afraid, because they
thought they could not now ill-treat Phrixos, as they used to do when
he was a little boy. So they tried to entice him away by pretending to
be glad to see him, and they said, "Come away with us, and we shall
live happily together." But Phrixos saw from the look of their faces
that they were not telling the truth, and that they hated him still,
and he said to them, "I will not go with you; King Aietes has been
very good to me, and you were always unkind to me and to my sister,
and therefore I will never leave King Aietes to go away with you."
Then they said to Aietes, "Phrixos may stay here, but give us the
golden fleece which came from the ram that carried away the children."
But the King said, "I will not--I know that you only ask for it
because you wish to sell it, and therefore you shall not have it."

Then Ino and Athamas turned away in a rage, and went to their own
country again, wretched and unhappy because they could not get the
golden fleece. And they told every one that the fleece of the ram was
in the palace of the King of Kolchis, and they tried to persuade every
one to go in a great ship and take away the fleece by force. So a
great many people came, and they all got into a large ship called the
Argo, and they sailed and sailed, until at la