Quest heart of a beautiful maiden/ princess. An early quest story tells the tale of Gilgamesh, who seeks a secret to eternal life after the death of Enkidu, including the search for an emerald. Another ancient quest tale, Homer's "Odyssey", tells of Odysseus, whom the gods have cursed to wander and suffer for many years before Athena persuades the Olympians to allow him to return home. Recovering the Golden Fleece is the object of the travels of Jason and the Argonauts in the "Argonautica". Psyche, having lost Cupid, hunted through the world for him, and was set tasks by Venus, including
Tintin and the Golden Fleece swims away, but fortunately Calculus has invented a special tablet called "Super-Cuthbertoleum" which, mixed with the remaining fuel, is more than enough to get the boat started and enables them to reach their destination, the island of Thassika. The map includes an X just off the island's coast and, using his pendulum, Calculus locates the gold's location. Swimming underwater, Tintin discovers a chest filled with strange dark bars but which he guesses is the gold which has been painted over. No sooner have the members of the Golden Fleece got the chest out of the water that they are held