第56章 THE GOLDEN FLEECE(2)

"Whither are you going, Jason?" she now asked.

She seemed to know his name, you will observe; and, indeed, those great brown eyes looked as if they had a knowledge of everything, whether past or to come.While Jason was gazing at her, a peacock strutted forward, and took his stand at the old woman's side.

"I am going to Iolchos," answered the young man, "to bid the wicked King Pelias come down from my father's throne, and let me reign in his stead.""Ah, well, then," said the old woman, still with the same cracked voice, "if that is all your business, you need not be in a very great hurry.Just take me on your back, there's a good youth, and carry me across the river.I and my peacock have something to do on the other side, as well as yourself.""Good mother," replied Jason, "your business can hardly be so important as the pulling down a king from his throne.Besides, as you may see for yourself, the river is very boisterous; and if I should chance to stumble, it would sweep both of us away more easily than it has carried off yonder uprooted tree.Iwould gladly help you if I could; but I doubt whether I am strong enough to carry you across.""Then," said she, very scornfully, "neither are you strong enough to pull King Pelias off his throne.And, Jason, unless you will help an old woman at her need, you ought not to be a king.What are kings made for, save to succor the feeble and distressed? But do as you please.Either take me on your back, or with my poor old limbs I shall try my best to struggle across the stream."Saying this, the old woman poked with her staff in the river, as if to find the safest place in its rocky bed where she might make the first step.But Jason, by this time, had grown ashamed of his reluctance to help her.He felt that he could never forgive himself, if this poor feeble creature should come to any harm in attempting to wrestle against the headlong current.

The good Chiron, whether half horse or no, had taught him that the noblest use of his strength was to assist the weak; and also that he must treat every young woman as if she were his sister, and every old one like a mother.Remembering these maxims, the vigorous and beautiful young man knelt down, and requested the good dame to mount upon his back.

"The passage seems to me not very safe," he remarked."But as your business is so urgent, I will try to carry you across.If the river sweeps you away, it shall take me too.""That, no doubt, will be a great comfort to both of us," quoth the old woman."But never fear.We shall get safely across."So she threw her arms around Jason's neck; and lifting her from the ground, he stepped boldly into the raging and foaming current, and began to stagger away from the shore.As for the peacock, it alighted on the old dame's shoulder.Jason's two spears, one in each hand, kept him from stumbling, and enabled him to feel his way among the hidden rocks; although every instant, he expected that his companion and himself would go down the stream, together with the driftwood of shattered trees, and the carcasses of the sheep and cow.Down came the cold, snowy torrent from the steep side of Olympus, raging and thundering as if it had a real spite against Jason, or, at all events, were determined to snatch off his living burden from his shoulders.When he was half way across, the uprooted tree (which I have already told you about) broke loose from among the rocks, and bore down upon him, with all its splintered branches sticking out like the hundred arms of the giant Briareus.It rushed past, however, without touching him.But the next moment his foot was caught in a crevice between two rocks, and stuck there so fast, that, in the effort to get free, he lost one of his golden-stringed sandals.

At this accident Jason could not help uttering a cry of vexation.

"What is the matter, Jason?" asked the old woman.

"Matter enough," said the young man."I have lost a sandal here among the rocks.And what sort of a figure shall I cut, at the court of King Pelias, with a golden-stringed sandal on one foot, and the other foot bare!""Do not take it to heart," answered his companion cheerily.

"You never met with better fortune than in losing that sandal.

It satisfies me that you are the very person whom the Speaking Oak has been talking about."There was no time, just then, to inquire what the Speaking Oak had said.But the briskness of her tone encouraged the young man; and, besides, he had never in his life felt so vigorous and mighty as since taking this old woman on his back.Instead of being exhausted, he gathered strength as he went on; and, struggling up against the torrent, he at last gained the opposite shore, clambered up the bank, and set down the old dame and her peacock safely on the grass.As soon as this was done, however, he could not help looking rather despondently at his bare foot, with only a remnant of the golden string of the sandal clinging round his ankle.

"You will get a handsomer pair of sandals by and by," said the old woman, with a kindly look out of her beautiful brown eyes.

"Only let King Pelias get a glimpse of that bare foot, and you shall see him turn as pale as ashes, I promise you.There is your path.Go along, my good Jason, and my blessing go with you.And when you sit on your throne remember the old woman whom you helped over the river."With these words, she hobbled away, giving him a smile over her shoulder as she departed.

Whether the light of her beautiful brown eyes threw a glory round about her, or whatever the cause might be, Jason fancied that there was something very noble and majestic in her figure, after all, and that, though her gait seemed to be a rheumatic hobble, yet she moved with as much grace and dignity as any queen on earth.Her peacock, which had now fluttered down from her shoulder, strutted behind her in a prodigious pomp, and spread out its magnificent tail on purpose for Jason to admire it.