st they came to Kolchis.
Then they sent some one to ask Aietes to give them the golden fleece,
but he would not, and they would never have found the fleece again, if
the wise maiden, Medeia, had not shown Iason how he might outdo the
bidding of King Aietes. But when Iason had won the prize and they had
sailed back again to their own land, the fleece was not given to
Athamas and Ino. The other people took it, for they said, "It is quite
right that we should have it, to make up for all our trouble in
helping to get it." So, with all their greediness, these wretched
people remained as poor and as miserable as ever.

MEDEIA.

Far away in the Kolchian land, where her father, Aietes, was King, the
wise maiden, Medeia, saw and loved Iason, who had come in the ship,
Argo, to search for the golden fleece. To her Zeus had given a wise
and cunning heart, and she had power over the hidden things of the
earth, and nothing in the broad sea could withstand her might. She had
spells to tame the monsters which vex the children of men, and to
bring back youth to the wrinkled face and the tottering limbs of the
old. But the spells of Eros were mightier still, and the wise maiden
forgot her cunning as she looked on the fair countenance of Iason, and
she said within herself that she would make him conqueror in his
struggle for the golden fleece, and go with him to be his wife in the
far-off western land. So King Aietes brought up in vain the
fire-breathing bulls that they might scorch Iason as he plowed the
land with the dragon's teeth, and in vain from these teeth sprang up
the harvest of armed men ready for strife and bloodshed. For Medeia
had anointed the body of Iason with ointment, so that the fiery breath
of the bulls hurt him not; and by her bidding he cast a stone among
the armed men, and they fought with one another for the stone till all
lay dead upon the ground. Still King Aietes would not give to him the
golden fleece, and the heart of Iason was cast down till Medeia came
to him and bade him follow her. Then she led him to a hidden dell
where the dragon guarded the fleece, and she laid her spells on the
monster and brought a heavy sleep upon his eye, while Iason took the
fleece and hastened to carry it on board the ship Argo.

So Medeia left her father's house, and wandered with Iason into many
lands--to Iolkos, to Athens, and to Argos. And wherever she went, men
marveled at her for her wisdom and her beauty, but as they lo