[The Heroes by Charles Kingsley]@TWC D-Link book
The Heroes

PART I
4/6

So he wandered no more; but settled, and built a town, and became a king again.
But the ram carried the two children far away over land and sea, till he came to the Thracian Chersonese, and there Helle fell into the sea.

So those narrow straits are called 'Hellespont,' after her; and they bear that name until this day.
Then the ram flew on with Phrixus to the north-east across the sea which we call the Black Sea now; but the Hellens call it Euxine.

And at last, they say, he stopped at Colchis, on the steep Circassian coast; and there Phrixus married Chalciope, the daughter of Aietes the king; and offered the ram in sacrifice; and Aietes nailed the ram's fleece to a beech, in the grove of Ares the war-God.
And after awhile Phrixus died, and was buried, but his spirit had no rest; for he was buried far from his native land, and the pleasant hills of Hellas.

So he came in dreams to the heroes of the Minuai, and called sadly by their beds, 'Come and set my spirit free, that I may go home to my fathers and to my kinsfolk, and the pleasant Minuan land.' And they asked, 'How shall we set your spirit free ?' 'You must sail over the sea to Colchis, and bring home the golden fleece; and then my spirit will come back with it, and I shall sleep with my fathers and have rest.' He came thus, and called to them often; but when they woke they looked at each other, and said, 'Who dare sail to Colchis, or bring home the golden fleece ?' And in all the country none was brave enough to try it; for the man and the time were not come.
Phrixus had a cousin called AEson, who was king in Iolcos by the sea.
There he ruled over the rich Minuan heroes, as Athamas his uncle ruled in Boeotia; and, like Athamas, he was an unhappy man.

For he had a step-brother named Pelias, of whom some said that he was a nymph's son, and there were dark and sad tales about his birth.


<<Back  Index  Next>>

D-Link book Top

TWC mobile books