heroes, the sons of the Immortals, who are blest, but not
like the souls of clay. For I drive them forth by strange

paths, Perseus, that they may fight the Titans and the
monsters, the enemies of Gods and men. Through doubt and

need, danger and battle, I drive them; and some of them are
slain in the flower of youth, no man knows when or where; and

some of them win noble names, and a fair and green old age;
but what will be their latter end I know not, and none, save

Zeus, the father of Gods and men. Tell me now, Perseus,
which of these two sorts of men seem to you more blest?'

Then Perseus answered boldly: 'Better to die in the flower
of youth, on the chance of winning a noble name, than to live

at ease like the sheep, and die unloved and unrenowned.'
Then that strange lady laughed, and held up her brazen

shield, and cried: 'See here, Perseus; dare you face such a
monster as this, and slay it, that I may place its head upon

this shield?'
And in the mirror of the shield there appeared a face, and as

Perseus looked on it his blood ran cold. It was the face of
a beautiful woman; but her cheeks were pale as death, and her

brows were knit with everlasting pain, and her lips were thin
and bitter like a snake's; and instead of hair, vipers

wreathed about her temples, and shot out their forked
tongues; while round her head were folded wings like an

eagle's, and upon her bosom claws of brass.
And Perseus looked awhile, and then said: 'If there is

anything so fierce and foul on earth, it were a noble deed to
kill it. Where can I find the monster?'

Then the strange lady smiled again, and said: 'Not yet; you
are too young, and too unskilled; for this is Medusa the

Gorgon, the mother of a monstrous brood. Return to your
home, and do the work which waits there for you. You must

play the man in that before I can think you worthy to go in
search of the Gorgon.'

Then Perseus would have spoken, but the strange lady
vanished, and he awoke; and behold, it was a dream. But day

and night Perseus saw before him the face of that dreadful
woman, with the vipers writhing round her head.

So he returned home; and when he came to Seriphos, the first
thing which he heard was that his mother was a slave in the

house of Polydectes.
Grinding his teeth with rage, he went out, and away to the

king's palace, and through the men's rooms, and the women's
rooms, and so through all the house (for no one dared stop

him, so terrible and fair was he), till he found his mother
sitting on the floor, turning the stone hand-mill, and

weeping as she turned it. And he lifted her up, and kissed
her, and bade her follow him forth. But before they could

pass out of the room Polydectes came in, raging. And when
Perseus saw him, he flew upon him as the mastiff flies on the

boar. 'Villain and tyrant!' he cried; 'is this your respect
for the Gods, and thy mercy to strangers and widows? You

shall die!' And because he had no sword he caught up the
stone hand-mill, and lifted it to dash out Polydectes'

brains.
But his mother clung to him, shrieking, 'Oh, my son, we are

strangers and helpless in the land; and if you kill the king,
all the people will fall on us, and we shall both die.'

Good Dictys, too, who had come in, entreated him. 'Remember
that he is my brother. Remember how I have brought you up,

and trained you as my own son, and spare him for my sake.'
Then Perseus lowered his hand; and Polydectes, who had been

trembling all this while like a coward, because he knew that
he was in the wrong, let Perseus and his mother pass.

Perseus took his mother to the temple of Athene, and there
the priestess made her one of the temple-sweepers; for there

they knew she would be safe, and not even Polydectes would
dare to drag her away from the altar. And there Perseus, and

the good Dictys, and his wife, came to visit her every day;
while Polydectes, not being able to get what he wanted by

force, cast about in his wicked heart how he might get it by
cunning.

Now he was sure that he could never get back Danae as long as
Perseus was in the island; so he made a plot to rid himself

of him. And first he pretended to have forgiven Perseus, and
to have forgotten Danae; so that, for a while, all went as

smoothly as ever.
Next he proclaimed a great feast, and invited to it all the

chiefs, and landowners, and the young men of the island, and
among them Perseus, that they might all do him homage as

their king, and eat of his banquet in his hall.
On the appointed day they all came; and as the custom was

then, each guest brought his present with him to the king:
one a horse, another a shawl, or a ring, or a sword; and

those who had nothing better brought a basket of grapes, or
of game; but Perseus brought nothing, for he had nothing to

bring, being but a poor sailor-lad.
He was ashamed, however, to go into the king's presence

without his gift; and he was too proud to ask Dictys to lend
him one. So he stood at the door sorrowfully, watching the

rich men go in; and his face grew very red as they pointed at
him, and smiled, and whispered, 'What has that foundling to

give?'
Now this was what Polydectes wanted; and as soon as he heard

that Perseus stood without, he bade them bring him in, and
asked him scornfully before them all, 'Am I not your king,

Perseus, and have I not invited you to my feast? Where is
your present, then?'

Perseus blushed and stammered, while all the proud men round
laughed, and some of them began jeering him openly. 'This

fellow was thrown ashore here like a piece of weed or drift-
wood, and yet he is too proud to bring a gift to the king.'

'And though he does not know who his father is, he is vain
enough to let the old women call him the son of Zeus.'

And so forth, till poor Perseus grew mad with shame, and
hardly knowing what he said, cried out, - 'A present! who are

you who talk of presents? See if I do not bring a nobler one
than all of yours together!'

So he said boasting; and yet he felt in his heart that he was
braver than all those scoffers, and more able to do some

glorious deed.
'Hear him! Hear the boaster! What is it to be?' cried they

all, laughing louder than ever.
Then his dream at Samos came into his mind, and he cried

aloud, 'The head of the Gorgon.'
He was half afraid after he had said the words for all

laughed louder than ever, and Polydectes loudest of all.
'You have promised to bring me the Gorgon's head? Then never

appear again in this island without it. Go!'
Perseus ground his teeth with rage, for he saw that he had

fallen into a trap; but his promise lay upon him, and he went
out without a word.

Down to the cliffs he went, and looked across the broad blue
sea; and he wondered if his dream were true, and prayed in

the bitterness of his soul.
'Pallas Athene, was my dream true? and shall I slay the

Gorgon? If thou didst really show me her face, let me not
come to shame as a liar and boastful. Rashly and angrily I

promised; but cunningly and patiently will I perform.'
But there was no answer, nor sign; neither thunder nor any

appearance; not even a cloud in the sky.
And three times Perseus called weeping, 'Rashly and angrily I

promised; but cunningly and patiently will I perform.'
Then he saw afar off above the sea a small white cloud, as

bright as silver. And it came on, nearer and nearer, till
its brightness dazzled his eyes.

Perseus wondered at that strange cloud, for there was no
other cloud all round the sky; and he trembled as it touched

the cliff below. And as it touched, it broke, and parted,
and within it appeared Pallas Athene, as he had seen her at

Samos in his dream, and beside her a young man more light-
limbed than the stag, whose eyes were like sparks of fire.

By his side was a scimitar of diamond, all of one clear
precious stone, and on his feet were golden sandals, from the

heels of which grew living wings.
They looked upon Perseus keenly, and yet they never moved

their eyes; and they came up the cliffs towards him more
swiftly than the sea-gull, and yet they never moved their

feet, nor did the breeze stir the robes about their limbs;
only the wings of the youth's sandals quivered, like a hawk's

when he hangs above the cliff. And Perseus fell down and
worshipped, for he knew that they were more than man.

But Athene stood before him and spoke gently, and bid him
have no fear. Then -

'Perseus,' she said, 'he who overcomes in one trial merits
thereby a sharper trial still. You have braved Polydectes,

and done manfully. Dare you brave Medusa the Gorgon?'
And Perseus said, 'Try me; for since you spoke to me in Samos

a new soul has come into my breast, and I should be ashamed
not to dare anything which I can do. Show me, then, how I

can do this!'
'Perseus,' said Athene, 'think well before you attempt; for

this deed requires a seven years' journey, in which you
cannot repent or turn back nor escape; but if your heart

fails you, you must die in the Unshapen Land, where no man
will ever find your bones.'

'Better so than live here, useless and despised,' said
Perseus. 'Tell me, then, oh tell me, fair and wise Goddess,

of your great kindness and condescension, how I can do but
this one thing, and then, if need be, die!'

Then Athene smiled and said -
'Be patient, and listen; for if you forget my words, you will

indeed die. You must go northward to the country of the
Hyperboreans, who live beyond the pole, at the sources of the

cold north wind, till you find the three Gray Sisters, who
have but one eye and one tooth between them. You must ask

them the way to the Nymphs, the daughters of the Evening
Star, who dance about the golden tree, in the Atlantic island

of the west. They will tell you the way to the Gorgon, that
you may slay her, my enemy, the mother of monstrous beasts.

Once she was a maiden as beautiful as morn, till in her pride
she sinned a sin at which the sun hid his face; and from that

day her hair was turned to vipers, and her hands to eagle's
claws; and her heart was filled with shame and rage, and her

lips with bitter venom; and her eyes became so terrible that
whosoever looks on them is turned to stone; and her children

are the winged horse and the giant of the golden sword; and
her grandchildren are Echidna the witch-adder, and Geryon the

three-headed tyrant, who feeds his herds beside the herds of
hell. So she became the sister of the Gorgons, Stheino and

Euryte the abhorred, the daughters of the Queen of the Sea.
Touch them not, for they are mortal" target="_blank" title="a.不死的n.不朽的人物">immortal; but bring me only

Medusa's head.'
'And I will bring it!' said Perseus; 'but how am I to escape

her eyes? Will she not freeze me too into stone?'
'You shall take this polished shield,' said Athene, 'and when

you come near her look not at her herself, but at her image
in the brass; so you may strike her safely. And when you

have struck off her head, wrap it, with your face turned
away, in the folds of the goat-skin on which the shield

hangs, the hide of Amaltheie, the nurse of the AEgis-holder.
So you will bring it safely back to me, and win to yourself

renown, and a place among the heroes who feast with the
Immortals upon the peak where no winds blow.'

Then Perseus said, 'I will go, though I die in going. But
how shall I cross the seas without a ship? And who will show

me my way? And when I find her, how shall I slay her, if her
scales be iron and brass?'

Then the young man spoke: 'These sandals of mine will bear
you across the seas, and over hill and dale like a bird, as

they bear me all day long; for I am Hermes, the far-famed
Argus-slayer, the messenger of the Immortals who dwell on

Olympus.'
Then Perseus fell down and worshipped, while the young man

spoke again:
'The sandals themselves will guide you on the road, for they

are divine and cannot stray; and this sword itself, the
Argus-slayer, will kill her, for it is divine, and needs no

second stroke. Arise, and gird them on, and go forth.'
So Perseus arose, and girded on the sandals and the sword.

And Athene cried, 'Now leap from the cliff and be gone.'
But Perseus lingered.

'May I not bid farewell to my mother and to Dictys? And may
I not offer burnt-offerings to you, and to Hermes the far-

famed Argus-slayer, and to Father Zeus above?'
'You shall not bid farewell to your mother, lest your heart

relent at her weeping. I will comfort her and Dictys until