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.”

Then Medeia trembled, and said:  “No mortal man can reach that fleece, unless I guide him through.  For round it, beyond the river, is a wall full nine ells high, with lofty towers and buttresses, and mighty gates of threefold brass; and over the gates the wall is arched, with golden battlements above.  And over the gateway sits Brimo, the wild witch huntress of the woods, brandishing a pine torch in her hands, while her mad hounds howl around.  No man dare meet her or look on her, but only I her priestess, and she watches far and wide lest any stranger should come near.”

“No wall so high but it may be climbed at last, and no wood so thick but it may be crawled through; no serpent so wary but he may be charmed, or witch queen so fierce but spells may soothe her; and I may yet win the golden fleece, if a wise maiden help bold men.”

And he looked at Medeia cunningly, and held her with his glittering eye, till she blushed and trembled, and said: 

“Who can face the fire of the bulls’ breath, and fight ten thousand armed men?”

“He whom you help,” said Jason, flattering her, “for your fame is spread over all the earth.  Are you not the queen of all enchantresses, wiser even than your sister Circe, in her fairy island in the West?”

“Would that I were with my sister Circe in her fairy island in the West, far away from sore temptation, and thoughts which tear the heart!  But if it must be so—­for why should you die?—­I have an ointment here; I made it from the magic ice flower which sprang from Prometheus’s wound, above the clouds on Caucasus, in the dreary fields of snow.  Anoint yourself with that, and you shall have in you seven men’s strength; and anoint your shield with it, and neither fire nor sword can harm you.  But what you begin you must end before sunset, for its virtue lasts only one day.  And anoint your helmet with it before you sow the serpents’ teeth; and when the sons of earth spring up, cast your helmet among their ranks, and the deadly crop of the War-god’s field will mow itself, and perish.”

Then Jason fell on his knees before her, and thanked her and kissed her hands; and she gave him the vase of ointment, and fled trembling through the reeds.  And Jason told his comrades what had happened, and showed them the box of ointment; and all rejoiced but Idas and he grew mad with envy.

And at sunrise Jason went and bathed, and anointed himself from head to foot, and his shield, and his helmet, and his weapons, and bade his comrades try the spell.  So they tried to bend his lance, but it stood like an iron bar; and Idas in spite hewed at it with his sword, but the blade flew to splinters in his face.  Then they hurled their lances at his shield, but the spear points turned like lead; and Caineus tried to throw him, but he never stirred a foot; and Polydeuces struck him with his fist a blow which would have killed an ox; but Jason only smiled, and the heroes danced about him with delight; and he leapt and ran, and shouted, in the joy of that enormous strength, till the sun rose, and it was time to go and to claim Aietes’s promise.