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 stepbrother named Pelias, of whom some said that he was a nymph’s son, and there were dark and sad tales about his birth.  When he was a babe he was cast out on the mountains, and a wild mare came by and kicked him.  But a shepherd passing found the baby, with its face all blackened by the blow; and took him home, and called him Pelias, because his face was bruised and black.  And he grew up fierce and lawless, and did many a fearful deed; and at last he drove out AEson his stepbrother, and then his own brother Neleus, and took the kingdom to himself, and ruled over the rich Minuan heroes, in Iolcos by the sea.

And AEson, when he was driven out, went sadly away out of the town, leading his little son by the hand; and he said to himself, “I must hide the child in the mountains; or Pelias will surely kill him, because he is the heir.”

So he went up from the sea across the valley, through the vineyards and the olive groves, and across the torrent of Anauros, toward Pelion the ancient mountain, whose brows are white with snow.

He went up and up into the mountain over marsh, and crag, and down, till the boy was tired and footsore, and AEson had to bear him in his arms, till he came to the mouth of a lonely cave, at the foot of a mighty cliff.

Above the cliff the snow wreaths hung, dripping and cracking in the sun.  But at its foot around the cave’s mouth grew all fair flowers and herbs, as if in a garden, ranged in order, each sort by itself.  There they grew gayly in the sunshine, and the spray of the torrent from above; while from the cave came the sound of music, and a man’s voice singing to the harp.

Then AEson put down the lad, and whispered: 

“Fear not, but go in, and whomsoever you shall find, lay your hands upon his knees, and say, ’In the name of Zeus the father of gods and men, I am your guest from this day forth.’”

Then the lad went in without trembling, for he, too, was a hero’s son; but when he was within, he stopped in wonder, to listen to that magic song.

And there he saw the singer lying upon bear skins and fragrant boughs; Cheiron, the ancient centaur, the wisest of all things beneath the sky.  Down to the waist he was a man; but below he was a noble horse; his white hair rolled down over his broad shoulders, and his white beard over his broad brown chest; and his eyes were wise and mild, and his forehead like a mountain wall.

And in his hands he held a harp of gold, and struck it with a golden key; and as he struck, he sang till his eyes glittered, and filled all the cave with light.