And she spoke:  “I am Hera, the Queen of Olympus.  As thou hast done to me, so will I do to thee.  Call on me in the hour of need, and try if the Immortals can forget!”

When Jason looked up, she rose from off the earth, like a pillar of tall white cloud, and floated away across the mountain peaks, towards Olympus, the holy hill.

Then a great fear fell on Jason, but after a while he grew light of heart.  He blessed old Cheiron and said, “Surely the Centaur is a prophet and knew what would come to pass when he bade me speak harshly to no soul whom I might meet.”

Then he went down towards Iolcos, and as he walked he found that he had lost one of his sandals in the flood.

And as he went through the streets the people came out to look at him, so tall and fair he was.  But some of the elders whispered together, and at last one of them stopped Jason and called to him, “Fair lad, who are you and whence come you, and what is your errand in the town?”

“My name, good father, is Jason, and I come from Pelion up above.  My errand is to Pelias your King.  Tell me, then, where his palace is.”

But the old man said, “I will tell you, lest you rush upon your ruin unawares.  The oracle has said that a man wearing one sandal should take the kingdom from Pelias and keep it for himself.  Therefore beware how you go up to his palace, for he is fiercest and most cunning of all kings.”  Jason laughed a great laugh in his pride.  “Good news, good father, both for you and me.  For that very end, to take his kingdom, I came into the town.”

Then he strode on toward the palace of Pelias his uncle, while all the people wondered at the stranger.  And he stood in the doorway and cried, “Come out, come out, Pelias the Valiant, and fight for your kingdom like a man.”

Pelias came out, wondering.  “Who are you, bold youth?” he cried.

“I am Jason, the son of AEson, the heir of all the land.”

Then Pelias lifted up his hands and eyes and wept, or seemed to weep, and blessed the gods who had brought his nephew to him, never to leave him more.  “For,” said he, “I have but three daughters, and no son to be my heir.  You shall marry whichsoever of my daughters you shall choose.  But come, come in and feast.”

So he drew Jason in and spoke to him so lovingly, and feasted him so well, that Jason’s anger passed.

When supper was ended his three cousins came into the hall, and Jason thought he would like well to have one of them for his wife.

But soon he looked at Pelias, and when he saw that he still wept, he said, “Why do you look so sad, my uncle?”

Then Pelias sighed heavily again and again, like a man who had to tell some dreadful story, and was afraid to begin.

At last he said, “For seven long years and more have I never known a quiet night, and no more will he who comes after me, till the Golden Fleece be brought home.”