The Golden Fleece

by Padraic Colum

In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram, which can be procured in Colchis. It figures in the tale of Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest by order of King Pelias for the fleece in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus in Thessaly. The story is of great antiquity - it was current in the time of Homer.

Genres: Mythology, Fantasy, Classics, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult

174 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

Padraic Colum was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Celtic Revival. (Source)

Reviews

[May͛a · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Rant coming up ahead*

Ever heard of Jason and the Argonauts? No? WHY. Basically, they were what people used to fangirl about centuries ago, instead of Kaz Brekker and the Dregs.

Summary

So this boy Jason shows up one day in his hometown and walks straight up to his evil uncle aka King Pelias and says 'hey uh, that throne belongs to me. Cuz you know, you kinda stole it from my dad.' LITERALLY.

I don't get how people had the guts to be so straightforward back then.

Anyway, Pelias is like hm okay but before that you gotta bring me the Golden Fleece at the end of the rainbow. Because #yolo, Jason agrees. Then out of nowhere he gathers up a crew with star-studded names/a bunch of badass heroes who you'd probably recognize. (To be honest I knew Orpheus and Theseus were part of it, but Atalanta though?? I had no idea the squad was so lit.) And so they journey and have tons of fun and adventures and near death experiences, e.g. shaking Heracles' hand and defeating dragons.

Also, there's a witch somewhere along the way, straight out of Ravenclaw.

I'm a huge sucker for myths and folklore, so before I got into this book I was expecting to finish with a solid 4~5 stars. But we need to talk about—


The Writing

*clears throat*

"O my lord," the slave said, "I have come before thee sent by Æson, my master, who told me where to come and what blasts to blow upon the horn. And Æson, once King of Iolcus, bade me say to thee that if thou dost remember his ancient friendship with thee thou wilt, perchance, take this child and guard and foster him, and, as he grows, instruct him with thy wisdom."

"Ah, that I were as young as he is now! Ah, that I had been reared and fostered as he was reared and fostered by the wise centaur and under the eyes of the immortals!"



Suitable for kids in the 1600s? Hell yeah. Suitable for kids in the 21st century? Hell no.

Unless you could stand reading 320 pages of thee's and thou's. That's no problem, but it just wasn't for me. I legit struggled with deciding whether or not I should DNF this book and almost sobbed.

This book wasn't that bad but I felt like it kept jumping back and forth. It was as if instead of only covering the letter A, the author went like hmm A is related to B, because alphabets, right? So maybe I'll just tell my readers about ABCDEFGHIJ.

Oh no wait, how about AXCHGBEDIF? Just ??

????????

As if he had to tell us about every existing myth that had a connection to Jason. Which can possibly lead us to what? The creation of mankind, probably. Because Jason wouldn't exist if we didn't talk about how 'Heaven and Earth had children'. Plus, the order was super confusing.

Okay to be honest, some other stories weren't even related. I understand how the title of this book says 'The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles', but the main plot was originally about the Argonauts, so why talk about Pandora all of a sudden?

Oh and also, Hades is called Aidoneus over here. Don't ask me why. When the book talked about the gods I almost thought this man was left out at first lmao.

Because of the writing, I felt myself skimming a few pages in the middle. I'd still recommend it to some people, but if you're just starting Greek mythology, this book might be a tad overwhelming and confuse the soul out of you.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of five titles to be selected as a Newbery Honor Book in 1922, the year that the award was instituted, Padraic Colum's The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles reads like a children's version of Hesiod's Theogony . The tale of Jason and the Argonauts, who set out on a quest to Colchis - a kingdom located in the northern Black Sea area, in what is now the Republic of Georgia - hoping to obtain the fabled Golden Fleece and bring it back to Greece, the book also features numerous storytelling interludes in which Orpheus relates to the other heroes various tales concerning the creation of the world and the adventures of the Olympian gods and goddesses.

Here the young reader will encounter the odd story of the early races of men - the golden, silver, and bronze - who came before our own. Here too is the tale of Prometheus and his theft of fire, and of Deucalion and his extraordinary boat. Pandora, Hades and Persephone, the hero Perseus - all appear in Orpheus' tales, which are embedded in Colum's larger narrative about the Argonauts, their quest, and their adventures afterward.

I enjoyed this book, which made me feel quite nostalgic for the wonderful course in classical mythology I took while in college, and am now longing to see Ray Harryhousen's film, Jason and the Argonauts, again. That said, I can certainly understand why someone would hesitate to recommend this to young readers, as I don't think it makes a very good introduction to the subject. It does not have the uninterrupted sequential narrative that contemporary children might expect, and assumes a basic knowledge of Greek mythology. As an intermediate step however, between such classic children's book as D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths and actual classical texts like Hesiod's Theogony and the Homeric Hymns , this would be ideal, I think.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started out really liking this book, but about a quarter of the way through it began to bore me to tears. I think that it was Twain who said something like, "Don't tell your readers that the lady is singing. Bring her on stage and let them hear her." Well, this book was all telling.

I want a GOOD Greek-mythilogical fantasy.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first "real" book of myths I read as a child. It is a great introductory version of many of the classic Greek stories for kids. For adults, there are many, many better books out there.

[Francesca DiGiacomo · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were enjoyable parts and I was glad to be able to know where some of the myths I know came from and their fuller story.

[Elsie Dalton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just so good. I read this as a kid and loved it then, but coming back to it as an adult after having read more Greek plays and poetry for myself, I actually appreciate it more. An excellent introduction for middle size kids that really captures the spirit of the stories. Beautifully written.

Edit: When I say introduction, I mean this is an actual introduction to Ancient Greek culture and stories, not that it’s an easy reader for kids.

[Alessandro Duran · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Golden Fleece, and the Heroes before Achilles,” follows the story of a young man named Jason who was given a mission by his evil uncle Aetes, to go, and retrieve the legendary Golden Fleece. Along his travels, his crew mates and other individuals told stories about all of the Greek heroes, heroines, and the creation of everything.
I would highly recommend this book to a friend because, it contains action, humor, interesting, and extraordinary events.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully well written introduction to Greek mythology for children. It’s a “Please, mom! Just one more chapter” book.

[JoAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has always been nice to go back to one my earliest "fandoms"; including this book with some recognizable stories, and some newer-to-me stories or varations. Dry delivery, but imaginative otherwise!

[Barb Middleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have liked newer translations. There is not as much character development in this one.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a time there were two brothers. One was a family guy and the other was a douche-bag who wanted to kill his nephew.

The family guy was pretty sketch of his bro (rightly so) and sent his baby to live with a centaur. Jason and the centaur lived in a cave until he got a powerful need to see his daddy-o.

Jason meets an old woman with mad strength. He makes his way to the kingdom where he meets his d-bag uncle. The uncle wants to kill him but realizes, like a vicious twitter roast, all the people who hate humans won’t let him get away with it.

Jason thinks that being a king is pretty dope. But Jason’s dad uses his eyes to say “dude, no, you can’t trust this jerk.” Jason wants lots of fame and adventure so he doesn’t care and boldly declares: “I’ll get that Golden Fleece!”

Lots of big name heroes gather together and a magnificent ship is built. Dad is super sad because his son is a glory-hound.

The Story of the Golden Fleece
A jealous wife wants to kill her husband’s mistress’s children. She concocts this super elaborate crazy plan to get them sacrificed. (I guess poison was too mundane at this point.) The mistress prays to a mystic golden ram who saves them, sort of, because the daughter still falls into the sea and dies. The jealous wife gets turned into a seagull and the king is turned into an eagle. Seems legit.

Jason and his crew land on a shore where a ferocious king comes and insists someone box him. If they don’t, look out!!

Then comes the Amazons. Luckily the men built all the houses before they were kicked out, because, you know, there’s no way women could build houses! Since they’re starting to get older they decide to have the great heroes stay for awhile. The men are so overcome with the lovely women they give up on adventuring. Lots of stories are told.

The Story of Pandora
The gods come up with this awesome idea to build a perfect woman. Voila! Pandora! Pandora is given every lovely gift and a titan falls in love with her. He takes Pandora and her jar down to the people because he wants everyone to gawk and admire her. All the simple-minded people do. But then the women start to get jealous of their hubbys spending all this time admiring Pandora. (Weird, they wouldn’t like that.) So, they go get Pandora’s jar hoping it will make them beautiful but instead they let out all the awful things in the world. As usual, everything is blamed on women.

The Argonauts continue on and come to the mountain where Prometheus is chained and his liver eaten everyday. (Zeus has very creative punishments.) Heracles insists he needs to stay and beat the vulture so they leave the poor guy there and head on.

Jason is finally able to get the fleece but, he’s not really the hero. Medea is. I like how that part is conveniently passed over. Medea is rightly mad when she is used as a pawn.

Jason and the Argonauts continue on, meet Circes, pass the Sirens, and come to a beautiful island. Many other stories are told.

Finally they come home but Jason gets some bad news- his uncle has gone even more cray-cray. Now Jason can’t go home and show off his shiny fleece.

Lots more stories are told about all the fellas of the Argonaut. Basically all the stories show what a bunch of show-off jocks the lot are. They all think they’re god’s gift to the world and in some cases, I suppose they are.

Reminded me a lot of reading The Odyssey or Iliad but in a kid-friendly version. All the guys are d-bags who think women are prizes to be won. Also, they don’t really do anything brave, they’re just given special gifts that allow them to do something miraculous leading us to learn that all depends on the will of the gods.

I suppose that is the lesson I learn from myths- Fate’s a bitch. She doesn’t really care what happens. Sometimes good things happen sometimes bad and we don’t have a lot to say about it.

All that said, I quite enjoyed this audio book. I think myths are a lot of fun and I liked the simple easy way all the stories were told. Some were a little different than I have heard before but all the classics are there. One of the better Newbery Books I’ve read.

[Slayermel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoy Mythology of all types, but I do have a certain weakness for Greek mythology, I’m not sure what it was that originally attracted me to it as a child but the Minotaur, the Labyrinth, Zeus and his lightning bolts, all that was absolutely fascinating to me.

This is the story of Jason who was supposed to be the king of Iolcus but his uncle Pelias had taken the thrown from Jason’s father Aeson. Aeson worried that his brother Pelias was going to do harm to his young son as he may view him as a threat to the throne, so Aeson sent his young son with a servant up into the mountains to be raised by Chiron who had trained many young heroes in the past.

Pelias had been warned that a young man half shod coming to his Kingdom could be a danger to his thrown, so when Jason arrives as a grown man in Iolcus wearing only one sandal Pelias decides to send Jason on a quest to retrieve the golden fleece which is dangerous and near impossible, therefore removing the threat from himself.

Jason has Pelias build him a ship and request the presence of any other young men who wish to join on the quest to make a name for themselves. They named the ship the Argo and that is how the Men became known as the Argonauts. :0)

There are lots of other side stories to the original quest and we learn a lot about some of the other Argonauts on the many adventures they encounter. Some of the other characters who appear whose names you may recognize Artemis, Orpheus, Heracles, and Atalanta.

I actually listened to this one as an audio book in the car back and forth to work; the reader was Fred Williams who has a very calm and soothing voice to the point where he almost put me to sleep at first when I started listening to it. I eventually got used to it but it took a while. I found some of the story jumped around a bit and there where so many characters that in some parts I couldn’t remember who was who anymore and who they were related too. I enjoyed it as I have some back ground knowledge of the stories already, but I think for anyone just starting out in Greek Mythology it could be confusing and a bit over whelming.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a Newbery Honor book in 1922. It is written well and the stories are easy to get into. This would have been a great book to have during my mythology class in jr. high as well as in college. Next time I listen to 'Birdhouse In Your Soul' by They Might Be Giants, I will smile smugly knowing that I'm now a bit more knowledgeable about Jason and the Argonauts.

[Sarah Holz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m bumping this to perhaps a generous four because I found Padraic Colum’s bending of pre-Trojan classical myth into one unified story charming and Homeric. We forget these stories came down in multiple versions once upon a time and this is very much in the spirit of the original Greek storytellers we look back to so reverently.

[Tammie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually started this a loooong time ago (easily 5 years) but found it a bit boring so I discontinued reading. I picked it up again after recently completing Edith Hamilton's compilation of myths - that helped a lot.

This book by Padraic Colum is supposedly meant for children / YA. Fair enough, as far as Greek mythologies go, they are filled with lusty and violent tales of gods and mortals, and these elements may not be suitable for young impressionable minds. However, even if you redact this, you still have to appeal to your target audience, which I think Colum failed to accomplish. His tales are matter-of-fact, and straightforward; he doesn't seek to excite you. I find it a great pity, because I liked his editorial choice of using the Argonauts as narrative vessels to help weave in snippets of the Olympians. Other than that, it really was quite dry, which explains why I dropped this book the first time.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a well-written and engaging retelling of Greek heroes, mainly following Jason and the Argonauts. I'm not overly familiar with many of these stories, so I can't speak as to the accuracy to source material. I did notice that the Pandora story went a bit different than I thought it was, but I don't know if I knew wrong or if this was an alternate version. Overall, an enjoyable read.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good stories. Sometimes it uses name variants that are less familiar.

Narrator OK, but not great - very dry.

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't get how this was ever for children, even 100 years ago. It started out mildly interesting, but it quickly became too dense and hard to follow.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Newbery book from 1922 and I’m SO GLAD books written for children have improved. This was fine, just boring as all get out.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Padraic Colum, author of The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, was born December 8, 1881, in County Longford, Ireland. In 1914, he and his wife, Mary, moved to the United States where he began writing children’s stories and books based on Irish folklore and mythology. In 1922, his retelling of Greek myths was recognized as a Newbery Honor Book. Padraic Colum later authored two more Newbery Honor books, The Voyagers: Being Legends and Romances of Atlantic Discovery in 1926 and Big Tree of Bunlahy: Stories on My Own Countryside in 1934. In addition to publishing more than 60 books over his lifetime, Padraic Colum was a professor at both Columbia University and the City College of New York. He died in Enfield , Connecticut on January 11, 1972, at the age of 91.
Padraic Colum’s retelling of the story of Jason and the Argonauts begins in the forests of Mountain Pelion where a servant has brought the young boy Jason to Chiron, the centaur, with a request from Æson, the deposed king of Iolcus, that Chiron “rear and foster this child” as he had once cared for Heracles. Years pass, Jason grows to manhood under the tutelage of Chiron and when he has learned all that the centaur can teach him, he returns to Iolcus to reunite with his father and perhaps seek revenge against his wicked uncle Pelias who had overthrown the peace-loving king of Iolchus, Æson. Pelias sends Jason on a quest to Colchis to win the Golden Fleece from King Ætes. Part I of the book details the adventures of the Argonauts as they sail to Colchis.
Part II of the story opens in the court of King Ætes where Jason has asked the king to give him the Golden Fleece in exchange for their services as warriors against the Sauromatæ, enemies of the king. instead offers Jason a trial of bravery – yoke two fire-breathing bulls to a plow of adamant, plow the field of Ares, sow it with the teeth of a dragon, and slay the armed men as they sprout. Jason accepts the challenge and with the help of Medea, Ætes’ sorceress daughter who has fallen in love with Jason, is successful; but King Ætes does not honor his pledge. Jason and Medea conspire to take the Golden Fleece and make their escape. The remainder of Part II tells of the Argo’s return to Greece.
In Part III the reader is entertained with tales of the heroes of the quest, Atalanta, Peleus, Theseus, Heracles, Admetus, Orpheus, and Jason and Medea. Pen and ink drawings created by Willy Pogany illustrate the text in a style reminiscent of ancient Greek art.
While I enjoyed reading this rendition of the story of Jason and the Argonauts, I am not sure that the youthful reader of today would have spent much time trying to slog through the 287 pages of text filled with archaic words and sentence structure. While appropriate to the theme, the writing style made for a slow read. This reading challenge entails reading all of the Newbery Honor and Medal books since inception of the award in 1922, so I will be reading the two other honor books written by Padraic Colum. I’m just not sure that I am looking forward to the experience.

[Angie Lisle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember this book being read to me as a child and I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. The prose is quasi-archaic with thous and thees thrown into passive sentences that tell rather than show what happens. It makes for a dull read.

The myths aren't in chronological order even though they could be sorted and told in such a manner instead of bouncing back and forth in time. As a child, I couldn't keep the chronology straight, not without backtracking and rereading (which I wasn't inclined to do; thankfully, I heard the stories and my relatives could quickly catch me up to where I needed to be or I would've abandoned the book). As an adult, I've been exposed to Edith Hamilton and I prefer her versions of the myths.

As a child, I had problems visualizing the ancient Greek world. I couldn't keep places straight and adult-me still thinks a map should've been included for reference. I also would have liked a small dictionary to help with pronunciation (and maybe a quick lesson on the evolution of the Greek alphabet). I feel like this book missed a lot of teaching opportunities.

[Isaiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book The Golden Fleece and the Hero's Who Lived Before Achilles by Padraic Colum is about a young boy named Jason goes on a quest to find the golden fleece. Jason was the son of king Aeson, but becomes an orphan when he was 3 years old. Aeson send one of his slaves to take Jason to the king centaur. The slave did what he wished for. The centaur told the slave that he would look after the child until the child became a man. This centaurs name was King Chiron. After a few years later Jason was given the chance to go see his parents and live free. Jason wanted to see his parents so he took the chance. Jason met with his uncle and was furious after hearing that he was the new king. Jason told him he would do anything to give back his father the throne, so the king sent him on a journey to get the golden fleece. Along with the of other heroes, will Jason survive or not?

I recommend this book to anyone who like ancient greek mythology and likes fantasies.
I liked this book because it was interesting how they did these awesome things in there.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book describes the voyage of the Argonauts in quest of the Golden Fleece.

I see two problems in this book:

a) Apparently it was too short, so the author "completed" it with several other Greek myths, some related, as to what happened to Jason's companions before or after the quest; some totally unrelated, as the stories of Perseus; Epimetheus and Pandora; or Prometheus.

b) The fact that the author is writing for children apparently moved him to soften some of the more grisly elements of the stories, although this is difficult to do when adapting Greek myths, for they frequently are gruesome enough. In these cases, I prefer eliding parts of the stories to changing them. This is done, for example, while describing the end of the relation between Medea and Jason, which departs significantly from the version by Euripides.

[Jamisen Blackwell]

This book is about a youth named Jason who was fostered by a Chiron, the centaur. After he was fostered by Chiron he went back to his real father. Then he meets the king of his country, king Pelias, who makes him go on a daring voyage for THE GOLDEN FLEECE. He gets his army ready with famous people such as: Hercules, Orpheus, Atalanta, Theseus, and Medea. Will Jason be able to get THE GOLDEN FLEECE back to king Pelias, or will he die on his voyage to get it.

I would give this book to anyone. The plot had a lot of twist and turns. I really like the part where the book tells my favorite greek stories such as: Theseus and the Minotaur, Hercules and his fights against monsters like the Hydra, Orpheus trying to get his bride from the Underworld.

[Sam N · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Golden Fleece is about a boy named jason who goes on a journey for the Golden Fleece. He gets a crew of hero's that build a boat called the Argo. They start on their journey to the island of Colchis is, on their way they take breaks on other islands and help the community that is on the island. On the islands, they Save King Phineus from harpies and tell stories to the women of Lemnos. They finally get to Colchis and get the Golden Fleece. And return home.
I would recommend this book to any one that has read the Percy Jackson series. It is a very good book that is for all ages.

[Casey O · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Golden Fleece by Padraic Colum is a book about a group of ancient heros who try to win the golden fleece. Jason one of the heros, is mad at King Aeson, his uncle as he rules Iolcus as a tyrant, raised by Chrion a great centaur, jason to win back Iolcus from his uncle, but he says he must win the golden fleece to rule Iolcus. Jason Gathers together many heros that are determined to win the golden fleece.

I disliked this book because it was very boring and had a very boring stile. I did not like how the story kept trailing off and told me diffenrt storys about other heros. The one thing I did like was the combat in the book.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fantastically detailed compilation of dozens and dozens of ancient mythology couched in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. It is so comprehensive that at times it was difficult for children to remember the main story since there are so many side mythologies conveyed in this book. It is definitely an achievement for the author to have woven this tale, and if you need a crash course in Greek mythology in three hundred pages, pick this up.

Side note: the grammar in this book (perhaps purposefully) is quite poor. I often found it distracting as did my kids to whom I read this book aloud. This is the only real complaint about the book.

[Crystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn't have even given this book a chance if I hadn't read the forward by Rick Riordan. His forward made the book sound so exciting. It wasn't. The story is constantly jumping from one myth to another. The author has the heroes tell stories (myths) to each other while on their journey to gain back the Golden Fleece. All of the myth telling was boring and confusing. It was almost like the author thought he had to cover all the Greek myths in one book. Rather than reading the cliff notes versions of many myths I would have rather read a book about Jason and the Argonauts.

[Maurice · Rating 4 out of 5]

watered down ( PG )version of great greek tales of heroism and adventure. i love it, but when compared to other accounts of these legendary quests all of the guts seem removed (literally).

i recommend this for those new to greek mythology and any one, who like me, wants to know the answer to those jeopardy questions the next time around. :)

[Sean Menon · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far I think The Golden Fleece and the Heros Who Lived Before Achilles is a cool book that is written in old english. Sometimes the story is hard to understand because it is thousands of years old. Overall, I think the book The Golden Fleece and the Heros Who Lived Before Achilles is an awesome book but is for people with high reading skills.