"Ha!" muttered he, "here is the one-san
dalled fellow, sure enough! What can I do
with him? "'

And he clutched more closely the great knife
in his hand, as if he were half a mind to slay
Jason, instead of the black bull. The people
round about caught up the king's words, indis-
tinctly as they were uttered; and first there wag
a murmur among them, and then a loud shout.

"The one-sandalled man has come! The
prophecy must be fulfilled!"

For you are to know, that, many years before,
King Pelias had been told by the Speaking Oak
of Dodona, that a man with one sandal should
cast him down from his throne. On this ac-
count, he had given strict orders that nobody
should ever come into his presence, unless both
sandals were securely tied upon his feet; and
he kept an officer in his palace, whose sole busi-
ness it was to examine people's sandals, and to
supply them with a new pair, at the expense of
the royal treasury, as soon as the old ones began
to wear out. In the whole course of the king's
reign, he had never been thrown into such a
fright and agitation as by the spectacle of poor

[[286]]

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v?