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Jason would have sprung to seize it, but Medeia held him back and pointed to the tree-foot, where a mighty serpent lay, coiled in and out among the roots. When the serpent saw them coming, he lifted up his head and watched them with his small bright eyes, and flashed his forked tongue. But Medeia called gently to him, and he stretched out his long spotted neck, and licked her hand.
Medeia wept, and shuddered, and hid her face in her hands; for her heart yearned after her sisters and her playfellows, and the home where she was brought up as a child. But at last she looked up at Jason, and spoke between her sobs 'Must I leave my home and my people, to wander with strangers across the sea? The lot is cast, and I must endure it. I will show you how to win the golden fleece.
You have helped these yellow-haired strangers, and brought shame upon your father and yourself! Medeia shrank and trembled, and her face grew pale with fear; and Aietes knew that she was guilty, and whispered, 'If they win the fleece, you die!
"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.
And Jason would have sprung to seize it; but Medeia held him back, and pointed, shuddering, to the tree-foot, where the mighty serpent lay, coiled in and out among the roots, with a body like a mountain pine. His coils stretched many a fathom, spangled with bronze and gold; and half of him they could see, but no more, for the rest lay in the darkness far beyond.
And at last: "My end is come, and I must die; for my father has found out that I have helped you. You he would kill if he dared; but he will not harm you, because you have been his guests. Go then, go, and remember poor Medeia when you are far away across the sea."
And at last when Orpheus had ended, they all went thoughtful out, and the heroes lay down to sleep, beneath the sounding porch outside, where Arete had strewn them rugs and carpets, in the sweet still summer night. But Arete pleaded hard with her husband for Medeia, for her heart was softened. And she said: "The Gods will punish her, not we.
Then Alcinous rose, and welcomed them, and bade them sit and eat; and the servants brought them tables, and bread, and meat, and wine. But Medeia went on trembling toward Arete the fair queen, and fell at her knees, and clasped them, and cried, weeping, as she knelt 'I am your guest, fair queen, and I entreat you by Zeus, from whom prayers come.
Over his body you must step if you would reach the Golden Fleece." Then Jason laughed bitterly: "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." Medeia trembled and said, "No mortal man can reach that fleece unless I guide him through."
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.
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