Tanglewood Tales
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Nathaniel Hawthorne >> Tanglewood Tales
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When the princes understood whither the Argonauts were going,
they offered to turn back, and guide them to Colchis. At the
same time, however, they spoke as if it were very doubtful
whether Jason would succeed in getting the Golden Fleece.
According to their account, the tree on which it hung was
guarded by a terrible dragon, who never failed to devour, at
one mouthful, every person who might venture within his reach.
"There are other difficulties in the way," continued the young
princes. "But is not this enough? Ah, brave Jason, turn back
before it is too late. It would grieve us to the heart, if you
and your nine and forty brave companions should be eaten up, at
fifty mouthfuls, by this execrable dragon."
"My young friends," quietly replied Jason, "I do not wonder
that you think the dragon very terrible. You have grown up from
infancy in the fear of this monster, and therefore still regard
him with the awe that children feel for the bugbears and
hobgoblins which their nurses have talked to them about. But,
in my view of the matter, the dragon is merely a pretty large
serpent, who is not half so likely to snap me up at one
mouthful as I am to cut off his ugly head, and strip the skin
from his body. At all events, turn back who may, I will never
see Greece again, unless I carry with me the Golden Fleece."
"We will none of us turn back!" cried his nine and forty brave
comrades. "Let us get on board the galley this instant; and if
the dragon is to make a breakfast of us, much good may it do
him."
And Orpheus (whose custom it was to set everything to music)
began to harp and sing most gloriously, and made every mother's
son of them feel as if nothing in this world were so delectable
as to fight dragons, and nothing so truly honorable as to be
eaten up at one mouthful, in case of the worst.
After this (being now under the guidance of the two princes,
who were well acquainted with the way), they quickly sailed to
Colchis. When the king of the country, whose name was Aetes,
heard of their arrival, he instantly summoned Jason to court.
The king was a stern and cruel looking potentate; and though he
put on as polite and hospitable an expression as he could,
Jason did not like his face a whit better than that of the
wicked King Pelias, who dethroned his father. "You are welcome,
brave Jason," said King Aetes. "Pray, are you on a pleasure
voyage?--Or do you meditate the discovery of unknown
islands?--or what other cause has procured me the happiness of
seeing you at my court?"
"Great sir," replied Jason, with an obeisance--for Chiron had
taught him how to behave with propriety, whether to kings or
beggars--"I have come hither with a purpose which I now beg
your majesty's permission to execute. King Pelias, who sits on
my father's throne (to which he has no more right than to the
one on which your excellent majesty is now seated), has engaged
to come down from it, and to give me his crown and sceptre,
provided I bring him the Golden Fleece. This, as your majesty
is aware, is now hanging on a tree here at Colchis; and I
humbly solicit your gracious leave to take it away." In spite
of himself, the king's face twisted itself into an angry frown;
for, above all things else in the world, he prized the Golden
Fleece, and was even suspected of having done a very wicked
act, in order to get it into his own possession. It put him
into the worst possible humor, therefore, to hear that the
gallant Prince Jason, and forty-nine of the bravest young
warriors of Greece, had come to Colchis with the sole purpose
of taking away his chief treasure.
"Do you know," asked King Aetes, eyeing Jason very sternly,
"what are the conditions which you must fulfill before getting
possession of the Golden Fleece?"
"I have heard," rejoined the youth, "that a dragon lies beneath
the tree on which the prize hangs, and that whoever approaches
him runs the risk of being devoured at a mouthful."
"True," said the king, with a smile that did not look
particularly good-natured. "Very true, young man. But there are
other things as hard, or perhaps a little harder, to be done
before you can even have the privilege of being devoured by the
dragon. For example, you must first tame my two brazen-footed
and brazen-lunged bulls, which Vulcan, the wonderful
blacksmith, made for me. There is a furnace in each of their
stomachs; and they breathe such hot fire out of their mouths
and nostrils, that nobody has hitherto gone nigh them without
being instantly burned to a small, black cinder. What do you
think of this, my brave Jason?"
"I must encounter the peril," answered Jason, composedly,
"since it stands in the way of my purpose."
"After taming the fiery bulls," continued King Aetes, who was
determined to scare Jason if possible, "you must yoke them to a
plow, and must plow the sacred earth in the Grove of Mars, and
sow some of the same dragon's teeth from which Cadmus raised a
crop of armed men. They are an unruly set of reprobates, those
sons of the dragon's teeth; and unless you treat them suitably,
they will fall upon you sword in hand. You and your nine and
forty Argonauts, my bold Jason, are hardly numerous or strong
enough to fight with such a host as will spring up."
"My master Chiron," replied Jason, "taught me, long ago, the
story of Cadmus. Perhaps I can manage the quarrelsome sons of
the dragon's teeth as well as Cadmus did."
"I wish the dragon had him," muttered King Aetes to himself,
"and the four-footed pedant, his schoolmaster, into the
bargain. Why, what a foolhardy, self-conceited coxcomb he is!
We'll see what my fire-breathing bulls will do for him. Well,
Prince Jason," he continued, aloud, and as complaisantly as he
could, "make yourself comfortable for to-day, and to-morrow
morning, since you insist upon it, you shall try your skill at
the plow."
While the king talked with Jason, a beautiful young woman was
standing behind the throne. She fixed her eyes earnestly upon
the youthful stranger, and listened attentively to every word
that was spoken; and when Jason withdrew from the king's
presence, this young woman followed him out of the room.
"I am the king's daughter," she said to him, "and my name is
Medea. I know a great deal of which other young princesses are
ignorant, and can do many things which they would be afraid so
much as to dream of. If you will trust to me, I can instruct
you how to tame the fiery bulls, and sow the dragon's teeth,
and get the Golden Fleece."
"Indeed, beautiful princess," answered Jason, "if you will do
me this service, I promise to be grateful to you my whole life
long."' Gazing at Medea, he beheld a wonderful intelligence in
her face. She was one of those persons whose eyes are full of
mystery; so that, while looking into them, you seem to see a
very great way, as into a deep well, yet can never be certain
whether you see into the farthest depths, or whether there be
not something else hidden at the bottom. If Jason had been
capable of fearing anything, he would have been afraid of
making this young princess his enemy; for, beautiful as she now
looked, she might, the very next instant, become as terrible as
the dragon that kept watch over the Golden Fleece.
"Princess," he exclaimed, "you seem indeed very wise and very
powerful. But how can you help me to do the things of which you
speak? Are you an enchantress?"
"Yes, Prince Jason," answered Medea, with a smile, "you have
hit upon the truth. I am an enchantress. Circe, my father's
sister, taught me to be one, and I could tell you, if I
pleased, who was the old woman with the peacock, the
pomegranate, and the cuckoo staff, whom you carried over the
river; and, likewise, who it is that speaks through the lips of
the oaken image, that stands in the prow of your galley. I am
acquainted with some of your secrets, you perceive. It is well
for you that I am favorably inclined; for, otherwise, you would
hardly escape being snapped up by the dragon."
"I should not so much care for the dragon," replied Jason, "if
I only knew how to manage the brazen-footed and fiery-lunged
bulls."
"If you are as brave as I think you, and as you have need to
be," said Medea, "your own bold heart will teach you that there
is but one way of dealing with a mad bull. What it is I leave
you to find out in the moment of peril. As for the fiery breath
of these animals, I have a charmed ointment here, which will
prevent you from being burned up, and cure you if you chance to
be a little scorched."
So she put a golden box into his hand, and directed him how to
apply the perfumed unguent which it contained, and where to
meet her at midnight.
"Only be brave," added she, "and before daybreak the brazen
bulls shall be tamed."
The young man assured her that his heart would not fail him. He
then rejoined his comrades, and told them what had passed
between the princess and himself, and warned them to be in
readiness in case there might be need of their help. At the
appointed hour he met the beautiful Medea on the marble steps
of the king's palace. She gave him a basket, in which were the
dragon's teeth, just as they had been pulled out of the
monster's jaws by Cadmus, long ago. Medea then led Jason down
the palace steps, and through the silent streets of the city,
and into the royal pasture ground, where the two brazen-footed
bulls were kept. It was a starry night, with a bright gleam
along the eastern edge of the sky, where the moon was soon
going to show herself. After entering the pasture, the princess
paused and looked around.
"There they are," said she, "reposing them. selves and chewing
their fiery cuds in that farthest corner of the field. It will
be excellent sport, I assure you, when they catch a glimpse of
your figure. My father and all his court delight in nothing so
much as to see a stranger trying to yoke them, in order to come
at the Golden Fleece. It makes a holiday in Colchis whenever
such a thing happens. For my part, I enjoy it immensely. You
cannot imagine in what a mere twinkling of an eye their hot
breath shrivels a young man into a black cinder."
"Are you sure, beautiful Medea," asked Jason, "quite sure, that
the unguent in the gold box will prove a remedy against those
terrible burns?"
"If you doubt, if you are in the least afraid," said the
princess, looking him in the face by the dim starlight, "you
had better never have been born than to go a step nigher to the
bulls."
But Jason had set his heart steadfastly on getting the Golden
Fleece; and I positively doubt whether he would have gone back
without it, even had he been certain of finding himself turned
into a red-hot cinder, or a handful of white ashes, the instant
he made a step farther. He therefore let go Medea's hand, and
walked boldly forward in the direction whither she had pointed.
At some distance before him he perceived four streams of fiery
vapor, regularly appearing and again vanishing, after dimly
lighting up the surrounding obscurity. These, you will
understand, were caused by the breath of the brazen bulls,
which was quietly stealing out of their four nostrils, as they
lay chewing their cuds.
At the first two or three steps which Jason made, the four
fiery streams appeared to gush out somewhat more plentifully;
for the two brazen bulls had heard his foot tramp, and were
lifting up their hot noses to snuff the air. He went a little
farther, and by the way in which the red vapor now spouted
forth, he judged that the creatures had got upon their feet.
Now he could see glowing sparks, and vivid jets of flame. At
the next step, each of the bulls made the pasture echo with a
terrible roar, while the burning breath, which they thus
belched forth, lit up the whole field with a momentary flash.
One other stride did bold Jason make; and, suddenly as a streak
of lightning, on came these fiery animals, roaring like
thunder, and sending out sheets of white flame, which so
kindled up the scene that the young man could discern every
object more distinctly than by daylight. Most distinctly of all
he saw the two horrible creatures galloping right down upon
him, their brazen hoofs rattling and ringing over the ground,
and their tails sticking up stiffly into the air, as has always
been the fashion with angry bulls. Their breath scorched the
herbage before them. So intensely hot it was, indeed, that it
caught a dry tree under which Jason was now standing, and set
it all in a light blaze. But as for Jason himself (thanks to
Medea's enchanted ointment), the white flame curled around his
body, without injuring him a jot more than if he had been made
of asbestos.
Greatly encouraged at finding himself not yet turned into a
cinder, the young man awaited the attack of the bulls. Just as
the brazen brutes fancied themselves sure of tossing him into
the air, he caught one of them by the horn, and the other by
his screwed-up tail, and held them in a gripe like that of an
iron vice, one with his right hand, the other with his left.
Well, he must have been wonderfully strong in his arms, to be
sure. But the secret of the matter was, that the brazen bulls
were enchanted creatures, and that Jason had broken the spell
of their fiery fierceness by his bold way of handling them.
And, ever since that time, it has been the favorite method of
brave men, when danger assails them, to do what they call "
taking the bull by the horns"; and to gripe him by the tail is
pretty much the same thing--that is, to throw aside fear, and
overcome the peril by despising it. It was now easy to yoke the
bulls, and to harness them to the plow, which had lain rusting
on the ground for a great many years gone by; so long was it
before anybody could be found capable of plowing that piece of
land. Jason, I suppose, had been taught how to draw a furrow by
the good old Chiron, who, perhaps, used to allow himself to be
harnessed to the plow. At any rate, our hero succeeded
perfectly well in breaking up the greensward; and, by the time
that the moon was a quarter of her journey up the sky, the
plowed field lay before him, a large tract of black earth,
ready to be sown with the dragon's teeth. So Jason scattered
them broadcast, and harrowed them into the soil with a
brush-harrow, and took his stand on the edge of the field,
anxious to see what would happen next.
"Must we wait long for harvest time?" he inquired of Medea, who
was now standing by his side.
"Whether sooner or later, it will be sure to come," answered
the princess. "A crop of armed men never fails to spring up,
when the dragon's teeth have been sown."
The moon was now high aloft in the heavens, and threw its
bright beams over the plowed field, where as yet there was
nothing to be seen. Any farmer, on viewing it, would have said
that Jason must wait weeks before the green blades would peep
from among the clods, and whole months before the yellow grain
would be ripened for the sickle. But by and by, all over the
field, there was something that glistened in the moonbeams,
like sparkling drops of dew. These bright objects sprouted
higher, and proved to be the steel heads of spears. Then there
was a dazzling gleam from a vast number of polished brass
helmets, beneath which, as they grew farther out of the soil,
appeared the dark and bearded visages of warriors, struggling
to free themselves from the imprisoning earth. The first look
that they gave at the upper world was a glare of wrath and
defiance. Next were seen their bright breastplates; in every
right hand there was a sword or a spear, and on each left arm a
shield; and when this strange crop of warriors had but half
grown out of the earth, they struggled--such was their
impatience of restraint--and, as it were, tore themselves up by
the roots. Wherever a dragon's tooth had fallen, there stood a
man armed for battle. They made a clangor with their swords
against their shields, and eyed one another fiercely; for they
had come into this beautiful world, and into the peaceful
moonlight, full of rage and stormy passions, and ready to take
the life of every human brother, in recompense of the boon of
their own existence.
There have been many other armies in the world that seemed to
possess the same fierce nature with the one which had now
sprouted from the dragon's teeth; but these, in the moonlit
field, were the more excusable, because they never had women
for their mothers. And how it would have rejoiced any great
captain, who was bent on conquering the world, like Alexander
or Napoleon, to raise a crop of armed soldiers as easily as
Jason did! For a while, the warriors stood flourishing their
weapons, clashing their swords against their shields, and
boiling over with the red-hot thirst for battle. Then they
began to shout--"Show us the enemy! Lead us to the charge!
Death or victory!" "Come on, brave comrades! Conquer or die!"
and a hundred other outcries, such as men always bellow forth
on a battle field, and which these dragon people seemed to have
at their tongues' ends. At last, the front rank caught sight of
Jason, who, beholding the flash of so many weapons in the
moonlight, had thought it best to draw his sword. In a moment
all the sons of the dragon's teeth appeared to take Jason for
an enemy; and crying with one voice, "Guard the Golden Fleece!"
they ran at him with uplifted swords and protruded spears.
Jason knew that it would be impossible to withstand this
blood-thirsty battalion with his single arm, but determined,
since there was nothing better to be done, to die as valiantly
as if he himself had sprung from a dragon's tooth.
Medea, however, bade him snatch up a stone from the ground.
"Throw it among them quickly!" cried she. "It is the only way
to save yourself."
The armed men were now so nigh that Jason could discern the
fire flashing out of their enraged eyes, when he let fly the
stone, and saw it strike the helmet of a tall warrior, who was
rushing upon him with his blade aloft. The stone glanced from
this man's helmet to the shield of his nearest comrade, and
thence flew right into the angry face of another, hitting him
smartly between the eyes. Each of the three who had been struck
by the stone took it for granted that his next neighbor had
given him a blow; and instead of running any farther towards
Jason, they began to fight among themselves. The confusion
spread through the host, so that it seemed scarcely a moment
before they were all hacking, hewing, and stabbing at one
another, lopping off arms, heads, and legs and doing such
memorable deeds that Jason was filled with immense admiration;
although, at the same time, he could not help laughing to
behold these mighty men punishing each other for an offense
which he himself had committed. In an incredibly short space of
time (almost as short, indeed, as it had taken them to grow
up), all but one of the heroes of the dragon's teeth were
stretched lifeless on the field. The last survivor, the bravest
and strongest of the whole, had just force enough to wave his
crimson sword over his head and give a shout of exultation,
crying, "Victory! Victory! Immortal fame!" when he himself fell
down, and lay quietly among his slain brethren.
And there was the end of the army that had sprouted from the
dragon's teeth. That fierce and feverish fight was the only
enjoyment which they had tasted on this beautiful earth.
"Let them sleep in the bed of honor," said the Princess Medea,
with a sly smile at Jason. "The world will always have
simpletons enough, just like them, fighting and dying for they
know not what, and fancying that posterity will take the
trouble to put laurel wreaths on their rusty and battered
helmets. Could you help smiling, Prince Jason, to see the
self-conceit of that last fellow, just as he tumbled down?"
"It made me very sad," answered Jason, gravely. "And, to tell
you the truth, princess, the Golden Fleece does not appear so
well worth the winning, after what I have here beheld!"
"You will think differently in the morning," said Medea. "True,
the Golden Fleece may not be so valuable as you have thought
it; but then there is nothing better in the world; and one must
needs have an object, you know. Come! Your night's work has
been well performed; and to-morrow you can inform King Aetes
that the first part of your allotted task is fulfilled."
Agreeably to Medea's advice, Jason went betimes in the morning
to the palace of King Aetes. Entering the presence chamber, he
stood at the foot of the throne, and made a low obeisance.
"Your eyes look heavy, Prince Jason," observed the king; "you
appear to have spent a sleepless night. I hope you have been
considering the matter a little more wisely, and have concluded
not to get yourself scorched to a cinder, in attempting to tame
my brazen-lunged bulls."
"That is already accomplished, may it please your majesty,"
replied Jason. "The bulls have been tamed and yoked; the field
has been plowed; the dragon's teeth have been sown broadcast,
and harrowed into the soil; the crop of armed warriors have
sprung up, and they have slain one another, to the last man.
And now I solicit your majesty's permission to encounter the
dragon, that I may take down the Golden Fleece from the tree,
and depart, with my nine and forty comrades."
King Aetes scowled, and looked very angry and excessively
disturbed; for he knew that, in accordance with his kingly
promise, he ought now to permit Jason to win the Fleece, if his
courage and skill should enable him to do so. But, since the
young man had met with such good luck in the matter of the
brazen bulls and the dragon's teeth, the king feared that he
would be equally successful in slaying the dragon. And
therefore, though he would gladly have seen Jason snapped up at
a mouthful, he was resolved (and it was a very wrong thing of
this wicked potentate) not to run any further risk of losing
his beloved Fleece.
"You never would have succeeded in this business, young man,"
said he, "if my undutiful daughter Medea had not helped you
with her enchantments. Had you acted fairly, you would have
been, at this instant, a black cinder, or a handful of white
ashes. I forbid you, on pain of death, to make any more
attempts to get the Golden Fleece. To speak my mind plainly,
you shall never set eyes on so much as one of its glistening
locks."
Jason left the king's presence in great sorrow and anger. He
could think of nothing better to be done than to summon
together his forty-nine brave Argonauts, march at once to the
Grove of Mars, slay the dragon, take possession of the Golden
Fleece, get on board the Argo, and spread all sail for Iolchos.
The success of this scheme depended, it is true, on the
doubtful point whether all the fifty heroes might not be
snapped up, at so many mouthfuls, by the dragon. But, as Jason
was hastening down the palace steps, the Princess Medea called
after him, and beckoned him to return. Her black eyes shone
upon him with such a keen intelligence, that he felt as if
there were a serpent peeping out of them; and, although she had
done him so much service only the night before, he was by no
means very certain that she would not do him an equally great
mischief before sunset. These enchantresses, you must know, are
never to be depended upon.
"What says King Aetes, my royal and upright father?" inquired
Medea, slightly smiling. "Will he give you the Golden Fleece,
without any further risk or trouble?"
"On the contrary," answered Jason, "he is very angry with me
for taming the brazen bulls and sowing the dragon's teeth. And
he forbids me to make any more attempts, and positively refuses
to give up the Golden Fleece, whether I slay the dragon or no."
"Yes, Jason," said the princess, "and I can tell you more.
Unless you set sail from Colchis before to-morrow's sunrise,
the king means to burn your fifty-oared galley, and put
yourself and your forty-nine brave comrades to the sword. But
be of good courage. The Golden Fleece you shall have, if it
lies within the power of my enchantments to get it for you.
Wait for me here an hour before midnight."
At the appointed hour you might again have seen Prince Jason
and the Princess Medea, side by side, stealing through the
streets of Colchis, on their way to the sacred grove, in the
center of which the Golden Fleece was suspended to a tree.
While they were crossing the pasture ground, the brazen bulls
came towards Jason, lowing, nodding their heads, and thrusting
forth their snouts, which, as other cattle do, they loved to
have rubbed and caressed by a friendly hand. Their fierce
nature was thoroughly tamed; and, with their fierceness, the
two furnaces in their stomachs had likewise been extinguished,
insomuch that they probably enjoyed far more comfort in grazing
and chewing their cuds than ever before. Indeed, it had
heretofore been a great inconvenience to these poor animals,
that, whenever they wished to eat a mouthful of grass, the fire
out of their nostrils had shriveled it up, before they could
manage to crop it. How they contrived to keep themselves alive
is more than I can imagine. But now, instead of emitting jets
of flame and streams of sulphurous vapor, they breathed the
very sweetest of cow breath.
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