`` Do you see it ? '' Gleaming among the venerable oaks , there was a radiance , not like the moonbeams , but rather resembling the golden glory of the setting sun . It proceeded from an object , which appeared to be suspended at about a man 's height from the ground , a little farther within the wood . `` What is it ? '' asked Jason . `` Have you come so far to seek it , '' exclaimed Medea , `` and do you not recognize the meed of all your toils and perils , when it glitters before your eyes ? It is the Golden Fleece . '' Jason went onward a few steps farther , and then stopped to gaze . O , how beautiful it looked , shining with a marvelous light of its own , that inestimable prize which so many heroes had longed to behold , but had perished in the quest of it , either by the perils of their voyage , or by the fiery breath of the brazen-lunged bulls . `` How gloriously it shines ! '' cried Jason , in a rapture . `` It has surely been dipped in the richest gold of sunset . Let me hasten onward , and take it to my bosom . '' `` Stay , '' said Medea , holding him back . `` Have you forgotten what guards it ? '' To say the truth , in the joy of beholding the object of his desires , the terrible dragon had quite slipped out of Jason 's memory . Soon , however , something came to pass , that reminded him what perils were still to be encountered . An antelope , that probably mistook the yellow radiance for sunrise , came bounding fleetly through the grove . He was rushing straight towards the Golden Fleece , when suddenly there was a frightful hiss , and the immense head and half the scaly body of the dragon was thrust forth -LRB- for he was twisted round the trunk of the tree on which the Fleece hung -RRB- , and seizing the poor antelope , swallowed him with one snap of his jaws . After this feat , the dragon seemed sensible that some other living creature was within reach , on which he felt inclined to finish his meal .
In various directions he kept poking his ugly snout XXXXX the trees , stretching out his neck a terrible long way , now here , now there , and now close to the spot where Jason and the princess were hiding behind an oak .
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