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Then Talus said, 'Who are you, strange maiden, and where is this ichor of youth? Then Medeia held up a flask of crystal, and said, 'Here is the ichor of youth. I am Medeia the enchantress; my sister Circe gave me this, and said, "Go and reward Talus, the faithful servant, for his fame is gone out into all lands." So come, and I will pour this into your veins, that you may live for ever young.
And thence they sailed on through the deeps of Sardinia, and past the Ausonian Islands, and the capes of the Tyrrhenian shore, till they came to a flowery island, upon a still, bright summer's eve. And as they neared it, slowly and wearily, they heard sweet songs upon the shore. But when Medeia heard it, she started, and cried: "Beware, all heroes, for these are the rocks of the Sirens.
Let the witch-woman bear her sin, and die! And they seized Medeia, to hurl her into the sea, and atone for the young boy's death; but the magic bough spoke again, 'Let her live till her crimes are full. Vengeance waits for her, slow and sure; but she must live, for you need her still. She must show you the way to her sister Circe, who lives among the islands of the West.
Then he bade them put a seat for Theseus, and set before him the best of the feast; and Theseus sat and ate so much, that all the company wondered at him: but always he kept his club by his side. But Medeia the dark witch-woman had been watching him all the while. She saw how AEgeus turned red and pale when the lad said that he came from Troezene.
Give us news of our fathers and mothers, if any of them be left alive on earth." Then there was shouting and laughing and weeping, and all the kings came to the shore, and they led away the heroes to their homes, and bewailed the valiant dead. And Jason went up with Medeia to the palace of his uncle Pelias.
Thrice a day he walks round the island, and never stops to sleep; and if strangers land he leaps into his furnace, which flames there among the hills; and when he is red hot he rushes on them, and burns them in his brazen hands." Then all the heroes cried, "What shall we do, wise Medeia? We must have water, or we die of thirst.
But presently Medeia came forth, decked in all her jewels, and her rich Eastern robes, and looking more beautiful than the day; so that all the guests could look at nothing else. And in her right hand she held a golden cup, and in her left a flask of gold; and she came up to Theseus, and spoke in a sweet, soft, winning voice,
'Unjustly is that fleece kept here, and by an unjust and lawless king; and unjustly shall I die in my youth, for I will attempt it ere another sun be set. Then Medeia trembled, and said, 'No mortal man can reach that fleece unless I guide him through.
Then Medeia, the dark witch-maiden, laid a cruel and a cunning plot; for she killed Absyrtus her young brother, and cast him into the sea, and said, 'Ere my father can take up his corpse and bury it, he must wait long, and be left far behind.
And Theseus looked again into her eyes, and cried, 'Thou shalt pledge me in that cup, or die. And he lifted up his brazen club, while all the guests looked on aghast. Medeia shrieked a fearful shriek, and dashed the cup to the ground, and fled; and where the wine flowed over the marble pavement, the stone bubbled, and crumbled, and hissed, under the fierce venom of the draught.
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