The Collected Works of William Morris :: :: University of Virginia Library

But on the morrow did they get them gone,
Gifted with gold and many a precious stone,
And many a bale of scarlet cloth and spice,
And arms well wrought, and goodly robes of price.
But chiefly to the wind-born brothers strong
Did gifts past telling on that morn belong.

Now as they stood upon the windy quay,
Ready their hands upon the ropes to lay,
Phineus, who 'midst his mighty lords was there,
Set high above them in a royal chair,
Spake: “Many a gift I now have given you
To lay amid your treasures old and new,
If so it be that through hard things and pain
Ye come to yon horse-nurturing land again;
But one gift more ye needs must take of me;
For lacking that, beneath the greedy sea,
The mighty tomb of mariners and kings,
Doubt not to lay down these dear treasured things,
Nor think to come to Thessaly at all.”
And therewith turning, he began to call
Unto his folk to bring what they had there.
Then one brought forward a cage great and fair,
Wherein they saw a grey pink-footed dove.

Then said the king: “The very Gods above
Can scantly help you more than now I do:
As to the narrowing of the sea ye go,
And draw anigh the sound's wind-beaten throat,
There deedless by the Clashers shall ye float,
And let the keenest-eyed among you stand
Upon the prow, and loosen from his hand
This dove, who from my mouth to-day has heard
So many a mystic and compelling word,
He cannot choose, being loosed, but fly down straight

Unto the opening of that dreadful gate;
So let the keen-eyed watch, and if so be
He come out safe into the Evil Sea,
Then bend unto the oars, nor fear at all
Of aught that from the Clashers may befall;
But if he perish, then turn back again,
And know the Gods have made your passage vain.
And if it so befall, then come ye back;
And though my house be nought, and though we lack
Good things and plenteous gifts, yet shall ye have
A king and a king's son to be your slave;
And all things here still may ye bind and loose,
And from our women freely may ye choose,
Nor spare the fairest or most chaste to kiss,
And in fair houses shall ye live in bliss.”

Said Jason: “King, not first upon this day
Will I be forsworn, but by some wild way
Will reach the oak-grove and the Golden Fleece,
Or, failing, die at least far off from Greece,
Not unremembered; yet great thanks we give
For this thy gift and counsel, and will strive
To come to Colchis through the unknown land;
And whatso perils wait us, if Jove's hand
Be heavy on us, and the great blue gates
Be shut against us by the unmoved Fates,
Then farewell, King, and henceforth, free from ill,
Live happy as thou mayest, and honoured still.”

Then turned he shouting to the Minyæ,
Who o'er the gangways rushed tumultuously,
And from the land great Argo straightway thrust,
And gat them to their work, hot with the lust
Of fame and noble deeds and happy prize.
But the bird Lynceus took, the man whose eyes
Made night as day, and blinding fire as air.