TABLE OF CONTENTS.

BOOK III.

THE

HEART OF OAK BOOKS.

THIRD BOOK.

JOG ON, JOG ON, THE FOOT-PATH WAY. William Shakespeare.

JOG on, jog on, the foot-path way,
And merrily hent1 the stile-a:

A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a.

THE BIRD.

Henry Vaughan.

HITHER thou com'st. The busy wind all night

Blew through thy lodging, where thy own warm wing

Thy pillow was. Many a sullen storm,

For which coarse man seems much the fitter born,

Rain'd on thy bed
And harmless head;

1 hent, to take hold of, to clear, to pass beyond.

1

And now as fresh and cheerful as the light
Thy little heart in early hymns doth sing
Unto that Providence, whose unseen arm
Curb'd them, and cloth'd thee well and warm.
All things that be praise Him; and had
Their lesson taught them when first made.

THE STORY. OF THE ARGONAUTS.1 B. G. Niebuhr.

THERE was a King in Greece whose name was Athamas, and whose wife's name was Nephele. They had two children, a son and a daughter, who were very good, and loved each other very much. The son's name was Phrixus, and the daughter's Helle. But the father was wicked and put away his wife, the mother of the good children, and married another wife whose name was Ino, and who was very wicked. She treated the poor children very badly, gave them bad things to eat, and bad clothes, and beat them, although they were good, because they wept after their mother. Ino was a very bad step-mother. At last both Athamas and Ino sought to kill Phrixus and to offer him as a sacrifice.

But when he was brought to the altar, the God Hermes brought a fine large Ram which had wool of gold and could walk on the clouds. On this Ram with the golden fleece, Hermes placed Phrixus and also his sister Helle, and told them to go through the air to the country of Colchis.

1 See the pronouncing vocabulary on p. 263.

The Ram knew his way. The children were told to cling with one hand to one of the horns, and they bent their other arms about each other's waists: but Helle let

go her hold, and fell down into the sea. Phrixus wept very much because his good sister was dead, but went on riding until he came to Colchis. There he sacrificed his Ram, and nailed the fleece against an oak-tree.

Some time after, there was a king in Greece whose name was Pelias. He had a brother whose name was Eson, and Eson had a son whose name was Jason. Jason lived with his father in the country. Now it had been told to King Pelias, that if a man with only one shoe should come to him, he would take away his kingdom. Then it happened that King Pelias gave a great feast, to which he invited Jason. Jason had to wade through a brook on his way, for there was no bridge over the brook. There had been in the night a heavy storm, and much rain had fallen, and the brook was swollen. Then the ties of one of Jason's shoes were loosened, so that he lost

the water, and he came with only one shoe into the King's house. When King Pelias saw this, he was afraid, because of what had been told him, and he bade Jason to depart out of the land, and not to come back unless he brought him the golden fleece from Colchis.

Now he who would get this fleece must make a long voyage and go through many perils. Jason was not at all afraid, and invited many brave warriors to go with him.

Jason built a large ship for himself and for his comrades. Then the Goddess Athene, who loved him, gave him a magic tree for his mast, which, if Jason questioned it, would tell him what he was to do.