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 survive to return home, and tell of the perils he had run. The eyes of King Pelias sparkled with joy, therefore, when he heard Jason's reply.

'Well said, wise man with the one sandal!' cried he. 'Go, then, and at the peril of your life bring me back the Golden Fleece.'

'I go,' answered Jason composedly. 'If I fail, you need not fear that I will ever come back to trouble you again. But if I return to Iolchos with the prize, then, King Pelias, you must hasten down from your lofty throne, and give me your crown and sceptre.'

'That I will,' said the king with a sneer. 'Meantime, I will keep them very safely for you.'

The first thing that Jason thought of doing, after he left the king's presence, was to go to Dodona, and inquire of the Talking Oak what course it was best to pursue. This wonderful tree stood in the centre of an ancient wood. Its stately trunk rose up a hundred feet into the air, and threw a broad and dense shadow over more than an acre of ground. Standing beneath it, Jason looked up among the knotted branches and green leaves, and into the mysterious heart of the old tree, and spoke aloud, as if he were addressing some person who was hidden in the depths of the foliage.

'What shall I do,' said he, 'in order to win the Golden Fleece?'

At first there was a deep silence, not only within the shadow of the Talking Oak, but all through the solitary 210