18  The Golden Fleece

King Athamus of northern Greece had two children， Phrixus and Helle．After he left his first wife and mar ried Ino，a wicked woman，the two children received all the cruel treatment that a stepmother could  devise ，At one timethe kingdom was ruined by a famine．Ino persuaded her credulous husband into  believing  that his son，Phrixus，was the actual cause of the disaster，and should be sacrificed to Zeus to endit．The poor boy was then placed on the altar and was ut tobe