stopped short, and stiffened each man as he stood; and before
Perseus had drawn the goat-skin over the face again, they

were all turned into stone.
Then Persons bade the people bring levers and roll them out;

and what was done with them after that I cannot tell.
So they made a great wedding-feast, which lasted seven whole

days, and who so happy as Perseus and Andromeda?
But on the eighth night Perseus dreamed a dream; and he saw

standing beside him Pallas Athene, as he had seen her in
Seriphos, seven long years before; and she stood and called

him by name, and said -
'Perseus, you have played the man, and see, you have your

reward. Know now that the Gods are just, and help him who
helps himself. Now give me here Herpe the sword, and the

sandals, and the hat of darkness, that I may give them back
to their owners; but the Gorgon's head you shall keep a

while, for you will need it in your land of Greece. Then you
shall lay it up in my temple at Seriphos, that I may wear it

on my shield for ever, a terror to the Titans and the
monsters, and the foes of Gods and men. And as for this

land, I have appeased the sea and the fire, and there shall
be no more floods nor earthquakes. But let the people build

altars to Father Zeus, and to me, and worship the Immortals,
the Lords of heaven and earth.'

And Perseus rose to give her the sword, and the cap, and the
sandals; but he woke, and his dream vanished away. And yet

it was not altogether a dream; for the goat-skin with the
head was in its place; but the sword, and the cap, and the

sandals were gone, and Perseus never saw them more.
Then a great awe fell on Perseus; and he went out in the

morning to the people, and told his dream, and bade them
build altars to Zeus, the Father of Gods and men, and to

Athene, who gives wisdom to heroes; and fear no more the
earthquakes and the floods, but sow and build in peace. And

they did so for a while, and prospered; but after Perseus was
gone they forgot Zeus and Athene, and worshipped again

Atergatis the queen, and the undying fish of the sacred lake,
where Deucalion's deluge was swallowed up, and they burnt

their children before the Fire King, till Zeus was angry with
that foolish people, and brought a strange nation against

them out of Egypt, who fought against them and wasted them
utterly, and dwelt in their cities for many a hundred years.

PART V - HOW PERSEUS CAME HOME AGAIN
AND when a year was ended Perseus hired Phoenicians from

Tyre, and cut down cedars, and built himself a noble galley;
and painted its cheeks with vermilion, and pitched its sides

with pitch; and in it he put Andromeda, and all her dowry of
jewels, and rich shawls, and spices from the East; and great

was the weeping when they rowed away. But the remembrance of
his brave deed was left behind; and Andromeda's rock was

shown at Iopa in Palestine till more than a thousand years
were past.

So Perseus and the Phoenicians rowed to the westward, across
the sea of Crete, till they came to the blue AEgean and the

pleasant Isles of Hellas, and Seriphos, his ancient home.
Then he left his galley on the beach, and went up as of old;

and he embraced his mother, and Dictys his good foster-
father, and they wept over each other a long while, for it

was seven years and more since they had met.
Then Perseus went out, and up to the hall of Polydectes; and

underneath the goat-skin he bore the Gorgon's head.
And when he came into the hall, Polydectes sat at the table-

head, and all his nobles and landowners on either side, each
according to his rank, feasting on the fish and the goat's

flesh, and drinking the blood-red wine. The harpers harped,
and the revellers shouted, and the wine-cups rang merrily as

they passed from hand to hand, and great was the noise in the
hall of Polydectes.

Then Persons stood upon the threshold, and called to the king
by name. But none of the guests knew Perseus, for he was

changed by his long journey. He had gone out a boy, and he
was come home a hero; his eye shone like an eagle's, and his

beard was like a lion's beard, and he stood up like a wild
bull in his pride.

But Polydectes the wicked knew him, and hardened his heart
still more; and scornfully he called -

'Ah, foundling! have you found it more easy to promise than
to fulfil?'

'Those whom the Gods help fulfil their promises; and those
who despise them, reap as they have sown. Behold the

Gorgon's head!'
Then Perseus drew back the goat-skin, and held aloft the

Gorgon's head.
Pale grew Polydectes and his guests as they looked upon that

dreadful face. They tried to rise up from their seats: but
from their seats they never rose, but stiffened, each man

where he sat, into a ring of cold gray stones.
Then Perseus turned and left them, and went down to his

galley in the bay; and he gave the kingdom to good Dictys,
and sailed away with his mother and his bride.

And Polydectes and his guests sat still, with the wine-cups
before them on the board, till the rafters crumbled down

above their heads, and the walls behind their backs, and the
table crumbled down between them, and the grass sprung up

about their feet: but Polydectes and his guests sit on the
hillside, a ring of gray stones until this day.

But Perseus rowed westward toward Argos, and landed, and went
up to the town. And when he came, he found that Acrisius his

grandfather had fled. For Proetus his wicked brother had
made war against him afresh; and had come across the river

from Tiryns, and conquered Argos, and Acrisius had fled to
Larissa, in the country of the wild Pelasgi.

Then Perseus called the Argives together, and told them who
he was, and all the noble deeds which he had done. And all

the nobles and the yeomen made him king, for they saw that he
had a royal heart; and they fought with him against Argos,

and took it, and killed Proetus, and made the Cyclopes serve
them, and build them walls round Argos, like the walls which

they had built at Tiryns; and there were great rejoicings in
the vale of Argos, because they had got a king from Father

Zeus.
But Perseus' heart yearned after his grandfather, and he

said, 'Surely he is my flesh and blood, and he will love me
now that I am come home with honour: I will go and find him,

and bring him home, and we will reign together in peace.'
So Perseus sailed away with his Phoenicians, round Hydrea and

Sunium, past Marathon and the Attic shore, and through
Euripus, and up the long Euboean sea, till he came to the

town of Larissa, where the wild Pelasgi dwelt.
And when he came there, all the people were in the fields,

and there was feasting, and all kinds of games; for
Teutamenes their king wished to honour Acrisius, because he

was the king of a mighty land.
So Perseus did not tell his name, but went up to the games

unknown; for he said, 'If I carry away the prize in the
games, my grandfather's heart will be softened toward me.'

So he threw off his helmet, and his cuirass, and all his
clothes, and stood among the youths of Larissa, while all

wondered at him, and said, 'Who is this young stranger, who
stands like a wild bull in his pride? Surely he is one of

the heroes, the sons of the Immortals, from Olympus.'
And when the games began, they wondered yet more; for Perseus

was the best man of all at running, and leaping, and
wrestling and throwing the javelin; and he won four crowns,

and took them, and then he said to himself, 'There is a fifth
crown yet to be won: I will win that, and lay them all upon

the knees of my grandfather.'
And as he spoke, he saw where Acrisius sat, by the side of

Teutamenes the king, with his white beard flowing down upon
his knees, and his royal staff in his hand; and Perseus wept

when he looked at him, for his heart yearned after his kin;
and he said, 'Surely he is a kingly old man, yet he need not

be ashamed of his grandson.'
Then he took the quoits, and hurled them, five fathoms beyond

all the rest; and the people shouted, 'Further yet, brave
stranger! There has never been such a hurler in this land.'

Then Perseus put out all his strength, and hurled. But a
gust of wind came from the sea, and carried the quoit aside,

and far beyond all the rest; and it fell on the foot of
Acrisius, and he swooned away with the pain.

Perseus shrieked, and ran up to him; but when they lifted the
old man up he was dead, for his life was slow and feeble.

Then Perseus rent his clothes, and cast dust upon his head,
and wept a long while for his grandfather. At last he rose,

and called to all the people aloud, and said -
'The Gods are true, and what they have ordained must be. I

am Perseus, the grandson of this dead man, the far-famed
slayer of the Gorgon.'

Then he told them how the prophecy had declared that he
should kill his grandfather, and all the story of his life.

So they made a great mourning for Acrisius, and burnt him on
a right rich pile; and Perseus went to the temple, and was

purified from the guilt of the death, because he had done it
unknowingly.

Then he went home to Argos, and reigned there well with fair
Andromeda; and they had four sons and three daughters, and

died in a good old age.
And when they died, the ancients say, Athene took them up

into the sky, with Cepheus and Cassiopoeia. And there on
starlight nights you may see them shining still; Cepheus with

his kingly crown, and Cassiopoeia in her ivory chair,
plaiting her star-spangled tresses, and Perseus with the

Gorgon's head, and fair Andromeda beside him, spreading her
long white arms across the heaven, as she stood when chained

to the stone for the monster.
All night long, they shine, for a beacon to wandering

sailors; but all day they feast with the Gods, on the still
blue peaks of Olympus.

STORY II. - THE ARGONAUTS
PART I - HOW THE CENTAUR TRAINED THE HEROES ON PELION

I HAVE told you of a hero who fought with wild beasts and
with wild men; but now I have a tale of heroes who sailed

away into a distant land, to win themselves renown for ever,
in the adventure of the Golden Fleece.

Whither they sailed, my children, I cannot clearly tell. It
all happened long ago; so long that it has all grown dim,

like a dream which you dreamt last year. And why they went I
cannot tell: some say that it was to win gold. It may be

so; but the noblest deeds which have been done on earth have
not been done for gold. It was not for the sake of gold that

the Lord came down and died, and the Apostles went out to
preach the good news in all lands. The Spartans looked for

no reward in money when they fought and died at Thermopylae;
and Socrates the wise asked no pay from his countrymen, but

lived poor and barefoot all his days, only caring to make men
good. And there are heroes in our days also, who do noble

deeds, but not for gold. Our discoverers did not go to make
themselves rich when they sailed out one after another into

the drearyfrozen seas; nor did the ladies who went out last
year to drudge in the hospitals of the East, making

themselves poor, that they might be rich in noble works. And
young men, too, whom you know, children, and some of them of

your own kin, did they say to themselves, 'How much money
shall I earn?' when they went out to the war, leaving wealth,

and comfort, and a pleasant home, and all that money can
give, to face hunger and thirst, and wounds and death, that

they might fight for their country and their Queen? No,
children, there is a better thing on earth than wealth, a

better thing than life itself; and that is, to have done
something before you die, for which good men may honour you,

and God your Father smile upon your work.
Therefore we will believe - why should we not? - of these

same Argonauts of old, that they too were noble men, who
planned and did a noble deed; and that therefore their fame

has lived, and been told in story and in song, mixed up, no
doubt, with dreams and fables, and yet true and right at

heart. So we will honour these old Argonauts, and listen to
their story as it stands; and we will try to be like them,

each of us in our place; for each of us has a Golden Fleece
to seek, and a wild sea to sail over ere we reach it, and

dragons to fight ere it be ours.
And what was that first Golden Fleece? I do not know, nor

care. The old Hellens said that it hung in Colchis, which we
call the Circassian coast, nailed to a beech-tree in the war-

God's wood; and that it was the fleece of the wondrous ram
who bore Phrixus and Helle across the Euxine sea. For