Page:The-story-of-the-golden-fleece--281903-29-andrew-lang.djvu/52

The Story of the Golden Fleece the Fleece of Gold is brought home, from the land of the world’s end.”

When Jason heard that he cried, “I shall take the curse away, for I shall bring the Fleece of Gold from the land of the world’s end before I sit on the throne of my father.”

Now this was the very thing that the king wished, for he thought that if once Jason went after the Fleece, certainly he would never come back living to Iolcos. So he said that it could never be done, for the land was far away across the sea, so far that the birds could not come and go in one year, so great a sea was that and perilous. Also, there was a dragon that guarded the Fleece of Gold, and no man could face it and live.

But the idea of fighting a dragon was itself a temptation to Jason, and he made 46