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L. Frank Baum - "The Master Key"

Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner - "The Case of The Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study"

J. W. Mackail - "Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology"

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol - "Dead Souls"

Tanglewood Tales

N >> Nathaniel Hawthorne >> Tanglewood Tales




After kindly patting the bulls, Jason followed Medea's guidance
into the Grove of Mars, where the great oak trees, that had
been growing for centuries, threw so thick a shade that the
moonbeams struggled vainly to find their way through it. Only
here and there a glimmer fell upon the leaf-strewn earth, or
now and then a breeze stirred the boughs aside, and gave Jason
a glimpse of the sky, lest, in that deep obscurity, he might
forget that there was one, overhead. At length, when they had
gone farther and farther into the heart of the duskiness, Medea
squeezed Jason's hand.

"Look yonder," she whispered. "Do you see it?"

Gleaming among the venerable oaks, there was a radiance, not
like the moonbeams, but rather resembling the golden glory of
the setting sun. It proceeded from an object, which appeared to
be suspended at about a man's height from the ground, a little
farther within the wood.

"What is it?" asked Jason.

"Have you come so far to seek it," exclaimed Medea, "and do you
not recognize the meed of all your toils and perils, when it
glitters before your eyes? It is the Golden Fleece."

Jason went onward a few steps farther, and then stopped to
gaze. O, how beautiful it looked, shining with a marvelous
light of its own, that inestimable prize which so many heroes
had longed to behold, but had perished in the quest of it,
either by the perils of their voyage, or by the fiery breath of
the brazen- lunged bulls.

"How gloriously it shines!" cried Jason, in a rapture. "It has
surely been dipped in the richest gold of sunset. Let me hasten
onward, and take it to my bosom."

"Stay," said Medea, holding him back. "Have you forgotten what
guards it?"

To say the truth, in the joy of beholding the object of his
desires, the terrible dragon had quite slipped out of Jason's
memory. Soon, however, something came to pass, that reminded
him what perils were still to be encountered. An antelope, that
probably mistook the yellow radiance for sunrise, came bounding
fleetly through the grove. He was rushing straight towards the
Golden Fleece, when suddenly there was a frightful hiss, and
the immense head and half the scaly body of the dragon was
thrust forth (for he was twisted round the trunk of the tree on
which the Fleece hung), and seizing the poor antelope,
swallowed him with one snap of his jaws.

After this feat, the dragon seemed sensible that some other
living creature was within reach, on which he felt inclined to
finish his meal. In various directions he kept poking his ugly
snout among the trees, stretching out his neck a terrible long
way, now here, now there, and now close to the spot where Jason
and the princess were hiding behind an oak. Upon my word, as
the head came waving and undulating through the air, and
reaching almost within arm's length of Prince Jason, it was a
very hideous and uncomfortable sight. The gape of his enormous
jaws was nearly as wide as the gateway of the king's palace.

"Well, Jason," whispered Medea (for she was ill natured, as all
enchantresses are, and wanted to make the bold youth tremble),
"what do you think now of your prospect of winning the Golden
Fleece?"

Jason answered only by drawing his sword, and making a step
forward.

"Stay, foolish youth," said Medea, grasping his arm. "Do not
you see you are lost, without me as your good angel? In this
gold box I have a magic potion, which will do the dragon's
business far more effectually than your sword."

The dragon had probably heard the voices; for swift as
lightning, his black head and forked tongue came hissing among
the trees again, darting full forty feet at a stretch. As it
approached, Medea tossed the contents of the gold box right
down the monster's wide-open throat. Immediately, with an
outrageous hiss and a tremendous wriggle--flinging his tail up
to the tip-top of the tallest tree, and shattering all its
branches as it crashed heavily down again--the dragon fell at
full length upon the ground, and lay quite motionless.

"It is only a sleeping potion," said the enchantress to Prince
Jason. "One always finds a use for these mischievous creatures,
sooner or later; so I did not wish to kill him outright. Quick!
Snatch the prize, and let us begone. You have won the Golden
Fleece."

Jason caught the fleece from the tree, and hurried through the
grove, the deep shadows of which were illuminated as he passed
by the golden glory of the precious object that he bore along.
A little way before him, he beheld the old woman whom he had
helped over the stream, with her peacock beside her. She
clapped her hands for joy, and beckoning him to make haste,
disappeared among the duskiness of the trees. Espying the two
winged sons of the North Wind (who were disporting themselves
in the moonlight, a few hundred feet aloft), Jason bade them
tell the rest of the Argonauts to embark as speedily as
possible. But Lynceus, with his sharp eyes, had already caught
a glimpse of him, bringing the Golden Fleece, although several
stone walls, a hill, and the black shadows of the Grove of
Mars, intervened between. By his advice, the heroes had seated
themselves on the benches of the galley, with their oars held
perpendicularly, ready to let fall into the water.

As Jason drew near, he heard the Talking Image calling to him
with more than ordinary eagerness, in its grave, sweet voice:

"Make haste, Prince Jason! For your life, make haste!"

With one bound, he leaped aboard. At sight of the glorious
radiance of the Golden Fleece, the nine and forty heroes gave a
mighty shout, and Orpheus, striking his harp, sang a song of
triumph, to the cadence of which the galley flew over the
water, homeward bound, as if careering along with wings!

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