`` But is not this enough ? Ah , brave Jason , turn back before it is too late . It would grieve us to the heart , if you and your nine and forty brave companions should be eaten up , at fifty mouthfuls , by this execrable dragon . '' `` My young friends , '' quietly replied Jason , `` I do not wonder that you think the dragon very terrible . You have grown up from infancy in the fear of this monster , and therefore still regard him with the awe that children feel for the bugbears and hobgoblins which their nurses have talked to them about . But , in my view of the matter , the dragon is merely a pretty large serpent , who is not half so likely to snap me up at one mouthful as I am to cut off his ugly head , and strip the skin from his body . At all events , turn back who may , I will never see Greece again , unless I carry with me the Golden Fleece . '' `` We will none of us turn back ! '' cried his nine and forty brave comrades . `` Let us get on board the galley this instant ; and if the dragon is to make a breakfast of us , much good may it do him . '' And Orpheus -LRB- whose custom it was to set everything to music -RRB- began to harp and sing most gloriously , and made every mother 's son of them feel as if nothing in this world were so delectable as to fight dragons , and nothing so truly honorable as to be eaten up at one mouthful , in case of the worst . After this -LRB- being now under the guidance of the two princes , who were well acquainted with the way -RRB- , they quickly sailed to Colchis . When the king of the country , whose name was Aetes , heard of their arrival , he instantly summoned Jason to court . The king was a stern and cruel looking potentate ; and though he put on as polite and hospitable an expression as he could , Jason did not like his face a whit better than that of the wicked King Pelias , who dethroned his father . `` You are welcome , brave Jason , '' said King Aetes . `` Pray , are you on a pleasure voyage ? -- Or do you meditate the discovery of unknown islands ? -- or what other cause has procured me the happiness of seeing you at my court ? '' `` Great sir , '' replied Jason , with an obeisance -- for Chiron had taught him how to behave with propriety , whether to kings or beggars -- `` I have come hither with a purpose which I now beg your majesty 's permission to execute . King Pelias , who sits on my father 's throne -LRB- to which he has no more right than to the one on which your excellent majesty is now seated -RRB- , has engaged to come down from it , and to give me his crown and sceptre , provided I bring him the Golden Fleece .
This , as your majesty is aware , is now hanging on a tree here XXXXX Colchis ; and I humbly solicit your gracious leave to take it away . ''
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