Chapter 17 Tales of the Argonauts-17

Seeing that the matter was successful, Peleus hurriedly advised everyone to leave the river mouth as soon as possible, so that the rest of the Colchians would not come after them after knowing the inside story.Later, the Colchians did catch up, but Hera flashed a terrible lightning in the sky, and they were stunned and dared not pursue any more.However, they failed to catch the king's daughter and lost the king's son, and they could not explain it when they went back. Therefore, they all stayed in the island of Artemis at the mouth of the river and settled down. The Argonauts passed through many bays and islands, among them the island ruled by Queen Calypso, daughter of Atlas.They believe they have seen the mountains of their homeland towering in the distance.But Hera, fearing the intention of the enraged Zeus, blew a strong wind on the sea and drifted the ship to the desolate island of Elektris.At this moment, Athena's divination board on the ship said: "You can't escape the anger of Zeus, so you can only drift at sea." The board also said:

"Unless Circe, the goddess of magic, absolves you of the murder of Absyrtus! Castor and Polydeuces should pray to the gods to show them a way across the sea so that you can find the sun Circe, daughter of God and Perse." The heroes were amazed and terrified to hear such dreadful words uttered by the miraculous plank.Only the twin brothers Castor and Polydeuces stood up bravely and begged the immortal gods to help them.But the ship was blown to the mouth of the Eridanus River, where Phaethon, the son of the sun god, was burned to death in the sun chariot and fell into the sea.Until now there was steam and sparks in the water.The sisters of Phaeton have now become tall poplar trees, standing on the river bank, sighing in the wind.The crystal tears fell to the ground like amber, some were dried by the sun, and some were washed by the tide into the Elidanus River.Although the heroes escaped danger by relying on strong ships, they also lost all fun.During the day, the Eridanus River, where the charred body of Phaethon had once been kept, wafted a stench that made them sick.In the middle of the night, they heard clearly again the wailing of the sisters of Heliades, and heard their amber tears dripping into the sea like oil.Later, they came to the mouth of the Rhodanos River.Fortunately Hera appeared suddenly at this time and told them to leave quickly with a clear voice of the gods, otherwise they would sail into Hanoi and be destroyed.Hera sent a black mist to cover the ship, and they sailed day and night, passing countless Celtic tribes, and finally saw the Tyrrhenian coast, and then arrived safely at the island of Circe.

Here they found the goddess of magic.She was lying on the beach, washing her hair with sea water.She had dreamed that her room and the whole house were flowing with blood, and the fire was eating the potion she had used to confuse the strangers, but she scooped up the bloody water in the palm of her hand and doused the flames.The nightmare woke her up, and she jumped out of bed and ran to the river, where she washed her clothes and hair as if they were really stained with blood.Herds of monsters followed her like cattle follow their shepherds. When the Argonauts saw Circe, they knew that she was the sister of the cruel Aeetes, and they were terrified.After the goddess got rid of the fear of the night dream scene, she quickly calmed down and turned back. She called the monsters and stroked their fur with her hands like a dog.

Jason told everyone to stay on board.He and Medea went ashore and went to Circe's palace.Circe didn't know the purpose of the two strangers.She asked them to sit down.Medea lowered her head and covered her face with her hands. Jason put the sword that killed Absyrtus on the ground, held the handle tightly with both hands, closed his eyes, and rested his chin on his hands.Only then did Circe understand that the visitors wanted to find help. They came to her for help because of the hardships of their wanderings and because they asked for forgiveness.Out of awe of Zeus, Circe slaughtered a suckling dog and sacrificed it to Zeus, the patron saint of the supplicants, begging Zeus to allow her to wash away their sins.She told her maid, Naiades, the goddess of water, to bring out all the sacrifices of atonement and send them into the sea.He himself stood by the fire, solemnly burned the sacrificial wafer, begged the Furies to appease the wrath, and implored the All-Father to forgive the sinner.After the offering, she sat down in front of the two of them and asked them where they lived, where they came from, and why they asked for her protection.When she asked, she recalled the horrible scene of blood dripping in her dream.Medea raised her head and answered.Circe was startled when he saw her eyes, for Medea had golden eyes like Circe's.All descendants of the Sun God have such eyes.Circe asked her to answer in her native language.Medea began to narrate in the local language of Colchis, talking about the fate of Aeetes, the Argonauts, and herself, but concealed the fact that she murdered her brother Absyrtus.The Goddess of Magic knew what she hadn't said, but she felt sorry for the niece.She said: "Poor child, instead of leaving your homeland in a fair manner, you have committed a great crime. Your father will surely go to Greece to avenge his murdered son. I don't want to punish you because you Plead for protection, and you are my niece. But I can't help you, take that stranger away. Whoever he is, I can't help. I can neither support nor approve of your plans Your escape!" Hearing this, Medea felt very painful.She covered her face with her veil and wept bitterly.Jason took her by the hand and led her out of Circe's palace.

Hera was very sympathetic to her protector.She sent Iris, the maidservant, across the rainbow path, to find Thetis, the goddess of the sea, and ask her to protect the ship and the heroes of the Argonauts.Jason and Medea boarded the boat, and suddenly a warm west wind blew.The heroes set sail happily, and the big ship sailed slowly into the sea taking advantage of the wind.After a while, they saw a beautiful island in front of them.That's where the bewitching sirens live.They seduce the sailors of passing ships with their beautiful songs, and then bury them in the belly of fish.They are half birds, half women, always squatting on the shore, looking into the distance.No one who approaches them can escape the temptation of their winking eyes.Now they were singing sweet songs to the Argonauts.The heroes are throwing cables, ready to land.Orpheus suddenly stood up from his seat and began to play the magical qin, whose melodious sound overwhelmed the banshee's singing.At the same time, a gust of southerly wind blew from behind the ship, blowing the banshee's singing beyond the sky.There is only one hero, that is Potes, the son of Teleon from Athens. He heard the sweet song of the banshee, and he couldn't resist the temptation. .Had it not been for Aphrodite, the patron saint of Eryx in Sicily, who found him in time, pulled him out of the water, and threw him at the foot of the island, he might have died long ago!

He has lived there ever since.The Argonauts thought he was buried in the belly of the fish, and were very sad. Moving on, the heroes come to a strait, where they face new dangers.Here on one side is the sheer Rock of Silas, a sheer rock that juts out into the sea and seems to smash passing ships to pieces.The other side is the Kalibutis maelstrom.The water swirls rapidly, as if to engulf passing ships.There are countless dangerous reefs in the middle sea.In the past, it was the underground smelting field of Hephaestus, the god of fire, but now there is only thick smoke from the sea, dyeing the sky black.When the Argonauts came here, the sea nymphs, daughters of Nereus, the god of the sea, came to their aid.Peleus' wife Thetis himself steered them from the stern.They swam around the big boat, and when floating rocks approached, they grabbed the boat and passed it forward like a ball.

So the Argonaut was lifted into the air with the waves for a while, and sank to the bottom with the waves for a while.Hephaestus stood on the top of the reef, with a hammer on his shoulder, watching the thrilling scenes.Hera looked down from the morning starry sky, and she held on to Athena's hand, for she could not help but feel dizzy.At last the Argonauts broke through many obstacles and safely entered the vast sea, and came to the island where the good Huaiakans and their pious king Alcinous lived.