fearful.

The feast was laid on a great table, and the heroes were invited
to sit down to it. The king did not come into the hall before
they sat down, but a table with food was set before the dais.
When the heroes had feasted, the king came into the hall. He sat
at the table, blind, white-faced, and shrunken, and the Argonauts
all turned their faces to him.

Said Phineus, the blind king: "You see, O heroes, how much my
wisdom avails me. You see me blind and shrunken, who tried to
make myself in wisdom equal to the gods. And yet you have not
seen all. Watch now and see what feasts Phineus, the wise king,
has to delight him."

He made a sign, and the white-faced and trembling servants
brought food and set it upon the table that was before him. The
king bent forward as if to eat, and they saw that his face was
covered with the damp of fear. He took food from the dish and
raised it to his mouth. As he did, the doors of the hall were
flung open as if by a storm. Strange shapes flew into the hall
and set themselves beside the king. And when the Argonauts looked
upon them they saw that these were terrible and unsightly shapes.

They were things that had the wings and claws of birds and the
heads of women. Black hair and gray feathers were mixed upon
them; they had red eyes, and streaks of blood were upon their
breasts and wings. And as the king raised the food to his mouth
they flew at him and buffeted his head with their wings, and
snatched the food from his hands. Then they devoured or scattered