JASON, THE HERO OF THESSALY
_Phrixos and Helle_
Bœotia is a district northwest of Athens and quite different from the
Attic plain. The name means The Land of Cattle, because it abounds in
fat pasture-lands, is moist and fertile, and its beautiful green
meadows slope up to the wooded mountains and lead down to well-watered
valleys. Bœotia was always the paradise of farmers, who from the
conditions of their life became famous for their stupidity.
[Illustration: THE TEMPLE TO THESEUS AT THE FOOT OF THE ACROPOLIS
IN ATHENS.]
Thebes was the capital of Bœotia, but each district had its own
smaller city and its own ruling family, whose sons called themselves
kings. One of these petty kings, Athamas, had a son and daughter
named Phrixos and Helle, and when their mother died he took another
wife, the fair Ino, but she was not as good as she was fair, for she
was jealous of her step-children. So she contrived a plot for getting
rid of them which was well carried out. Ino persuaded all the women of
the country to use the seed grain or hide it so that none of it could
be used for the next year's crop.
The women followed the queen's advice and the next year there was a
great famine in the land. The women did not dare to tell their secret,
although their families were beginning to starve. Then Athamas sent to
the Oracle at Delphi in order to find out the cause of the trouble,
and how he might deliver the country from the distress.
But Ino secretly persuaded the messenger to say that the Oracle had
given the following answer: "The famine will cease when Athamas has
sacrificed Phrixos to Zeus."
The king was almost stunned with grief when he received this message.
How was it possible for him to sacrifice his own beloved son? But the
wicked Ino published the false Oracle among the starving people, who,
driven by hunger, clamored loudly for the death of Phrixos. The king
being compelled by his people, allowed Phrixos to be led to the altar
to be sacrificed.
But the spirit of the child's own mother came down in the form of a
cloud to save him. She brought a large ram whose fleece was of shining
gold, and said to the two children: "My dear unfortunate little ones,
come and sit on this golden sheep and he will fly away with you and
carry you safely into a far country, where the wicked Ino will no
longer have the power of injuring you." Then she helped Phrixos to
mount to the back of the ram and she placed his little sister Helle
behind him with both her arms around him, and disappeared.
The ram flew up into the air like a bird and soared away over
mountains and valleys and rivers and plains. Away, away they went
through the blue sky until they reached the straits which separate
Europe from Asia. There Helle lost her balance and fell into the sea.
In vain did Phrixos try to save his sister, who cried and stretched
out her arms to him. The poor child was swallowed by the waves and
devoured by sea-monsters. From that time the sea in that place has
been called the Hellespont.
Phrixos sailed on alone, on the back of the ram, which took him to
the farthest shore of the Black Sea and landed him at Kolchis. There
the king received Phrixos kindly. Phrixos sacrificed the ram to Zeus
and hung up the golden fleece in a grove which was sacred to Ares, the
God of War. The golden fleece was priceless in value and was guarded
by a terrible sleepless dragon.