But Jason had set his heart steadfastly on getting the Golden Fleece ; and I positively doubt whether he would have gone back without it , even had he been certain of finding himself turned into a red-hot cinder , or a handful of white ashes , the instant he made a step farther . He therefore let go Medea 's hand , and walked boldly forward in the direction whither she had pointed . At some distance before him he perceived four streams of fiery vapor , regularly appearing and again vanishing , after dimly lighting up the surrounding obscurity . These , you will understand , were caused by the breath of the brazen bulls , which was quietly stealing out of their four nostrils , as they lay chewing their cuds . At the first two or three steps which Jason made , the four fiery streams appeared to gush out somewhat more plentifully ; for the two brazen bulls had heard his foot tramp , and were lifting up their hot noses to snuff the air . He went a little farther , and by the way in which the red vapor now spouted forth , he judged that the creatures had got upon their feet . Now he could see glowing sparks , and vivid jets of flame . At the next step , each of the bulls made the pasture echo with a terrible roar , while the burning breath , which they thus belched forth , lit up the whole field with a momentary flash . One other stride did bold Jason make ; and , suddenly as a streak of lightning , on came these fiery animals , roaring like thunder , and sending out sheets of white flame , which so kindled up the scene that the young man could discern every object more distinctly than by daylight . Most distinctly of all he saw the two horrible creatures galloping right down upon him , their brazen hoofs rattling and ringing over the ground , and their tails sticking up stiffly into the air , as has always been the fashion with angry bulls . Their breath scorched the herbage before them . So intensely hot it was , indeed , that it caught a dry tree under which Jason was now standing , and set it all in a light blaze . But as for Jason himself -LRB- thanks to Medea 's enchanted ointment -RRB- , the white flame curled around his body , without injuring him a jot more than if he had been made of asbestos . Greatly encouraged at finding himself not yet turned into a cinder , the young man awaited the attack of the bulls . Just as the brazen brutes fancied themselves sure of tossing him into the air , he caught one of them by the horn , and the other by his screwed-up tail , and held them in a gripe like that of an iron vice , one with his right hand , the other with his left . Well , he must have been wonderfully strong in his arms , to be sure . But the secret of the matter was , that the brazen bulls were enchanted creatures , and that Jason had broken the spell of their fiery fierceness by his bold way of handling them . And , ever since that time , it has been the favorite method of brave men , when danger assails them , to do what they call `` taking the bull by the horns '' ; and to gripe him by the tail is pretty much the same thing -- that is , to throw aside fear , and overcome the peril by despising it . It was now easy to yoke the bulls , and to harness them to the plow , which had lain rusting on the ground for a great many years gone by ; so long was it before anybody could be found capable of plowing that piece of land . Jason , I suppose , had been taught how to draw a furrow by the good old Chiron , who , perhaps , used to allow himself to be harnessed to the plow .
At any rate , our hero succeeded perfectly well in breaking up the greensward ; and , by the time XXXXX the moon was a quarter of her journey up the sky , the plowed field lay before him , a large tract of black earth , ready to be sown with the dragon 's teeth .
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