But on inquiry among the people of Iolchos , he found that there was really a man in the city , by the name of Argus , who was a very skilful builder of vessels . This showed some intelligence in the oak ; else how should it have known that any such person existed ? At Jason 's request , Argus readily consented to build him a galley so big that it should require fifty strong men to row it ; although no vessel of such a size and burden had heretofore been seen in the world . So the head carpenter and all his journeymen and apprentices began their work ; and for a good while afterwards , there they were , busily employed , hewing out the timbers , and making a great clatter with their hammers ; until the new ship , which was called the Argo , seemed to be quite ready for sea . And , as the Talking Oak had already given him such good advice , Jason thought that it would not be amiss to ask for a little more . He visited it again , therefore , and standing beside its huge , rough trunk , inquired what he should do next . This time , there was no such universal quivering of the leaves , throughout the whole tree , as there had been before . But after a while , Jason observed that the foliage of a great branch which stretched above his head had begun to rustle , as if the wind were stirring that one bough , while all the other boughs of the oak were at rest . `` Cut me off ! '' said the branch , as soon as it could speak distinctly ; `` cut me off ! cut me off ! and carve me into a figure-head for your galley . '' Accordingly , Jason took the branch at its word , and lopped it off the tree . A carver in the neighborhood engaged to make the figurehead . He was a tolerably good workman , and had already carved several figure-heads , in what he intended for feminine shapes , and looking pretty much like those which we see nowadays stuck up under a vessel 's bowsprit , with great staring eyes , that never wink at the dash of the spray . But -LRB- what was very strange -RRB- the carver found that his hand was guided by some unseen power , and by a skill beyond his own , and that his tools shaped out an image which he had never dreamed of . When the work was finished , it turned out to be the figure of a beautiful woman , with a helmet on her head , from beneath which the long ringlets fell down upon her shoulders . On the left arm was a shield , and in its center appeared a lifelike representation of the head of Medusa with the snaky locks . The right arm was extended , as if pointing onward . The face of this wonderful statue , though not angry or forbidding , was so grave and majestic , that perhaps you might call it severe ; and as for the mouth , it seemed just ready to unclose its lips , and utter words of the deepest wisdom .
Jason was delighted XXXXX the oaken image , and gave the carver no rest until it was completed , and set up where a figure-head has always stood , from that time to this , in the vessel 's prow .
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