Andromeda

So he turned around, and held the shining shield before him, in such a way that by looking into it, he could see objects behind him as in a mirror.

ah what a dreadful sight it was half hidden among the weeds lay the three monsters fast asleep with their golden wings folded about them their brazen claws were stretched out as though ready to seize their prey and their shoulders were covered with sleeping snakes the two largest of the gorgons lay with their heads tucked under their wings as birds hide their heads when they go to sleep but the third who lay between them slept with her face turned up towards the sky and perseus knew that she was medusa very stealthily he went nearer and nearer always with his back towards the monsters and always looking into his bright shield to see where to go then he drew his sharp sword and dashing quickly downward struck a back blow so sure so swift that the head of medusa was cut from her shoulders and the black blood gushed like a river from her neck quick as thought he thrust the terrible head into his magic pouch and leaped again into the air and flew away with the speed of the wind then the two older gorgons awoke and rose with dreadful screams and spread their great wings and dashed after him they could not see him for the cap of darkness hid him from even their eyes but they scented the blood of the head which he carried in the pouch and like hounds in the chase they followed him sniffing the air and as he flew through the clouds he could hear their dreadful cries and the clatter of their golden wings and the snapping of their horrible jaws but the magic slippers were faster than any wings and in a little while the monsters were left far behind and their cries were heard no more and perseus flew on alone six the great sea-beast perseus soon crossed the ocean and came again to the land of the west far below him he could see the three maidens dancing around the golden tree but he did not stop for now that he had the head of medusa safe in the pouch at his side he must hasten home straight east he flew over the great sea and after a time he came to a country where there were palm trees and pyramids and a great river flowing from the south here as he looked down a strange sight met his eyes he saw a beautiful girl chained to a rock by the sea-shore and far away a huge sea-beast swimming towards her to devour her quick as thought he flew down and spoke to her but as she could not see him for the cap of darkness which he wore his voice only frightened her then perseus took off his cap and stood upon the rock and when the girl saw him with his long hair and wonderful eyes and laughing face she thought him the handsomest young man in the world oh save me save me she cried as she reached out her arms towards him perseus drew his sharp sword and cut the chain which held her and then lifted her high up upon the rock but by this time the sea monster was close at hand lashing the water with his tail and opening his wide jaws as though he could swallow not only perseus and the young girl but even the rock on which they were standing he was a terrible fellow and yet not half so terrible as the gorgon as he came roaring towards the shore perseus lifted the head of medusa from his pouch and held it up and when the beast saw the dreadful face he stopped short and was turned into stone and men say that the stone beast may be seen in that self-same spot to this day then perseus slipped the gorgon's head back into the pouch and hastened to speak with the young girl whom he had saved she told him that her name was andromeda and that she was the daughter of the king of that land she said that her mother the queen was very beautiful and very proud of her beauty and every day she went down to the seashore to look at her face as it was pictured in the quiet water and she had boasted that not even the nymphs who live in the sea were as handsome as she when the sea nymphs heard about this they were very angry and asked great neptune the king of the sea to punish the queen for her pride so neptune sent a sea monster to crush the king's ships and kill the cattle along the shore and break down all the fishermen's huts the people were so much distressed that they sent at last to ask the pythia what they should do and the pythia said there was only one way to save the land from destruction that they must give the king's daughter andromeda to the monster to be devoured the king and the queen loved their daughter very dearly for she was their only child and for a long time they refused to do as the pythia had told them but day after day the monster laid waste to the land and threatened to destroy not only the farms but the towns and so they were forced in the end to give up andromeda to save their country this then was why she had been chained to the rock by the shore and left there to perish in the jaws of the beast while perseus was yet talking with andromeda the king and the queen and a great company of people came down to the shore weeping and tearing their hair for they were sure that by this time the monster had devoured his prey but when they saw her alive and well and learned that she had been saved by the handsome young man who stood beside her they could hardly hold themselves for joy and perseus was so delighted with andromeda's beauty that he almost forgot his quest which was not yet finished and when the king asked him what he should give him as a reward for saving andromeda's life he said give her to me for my wife This pleased the king very much, and so on the seventh day Perseus and Andromeda were married, and there was a great feast in the king's palace, and everybody was merry and glad.

And the two young people lived happily for some time in the land of palms and pyramids, and from the sea to the mountains nothing was talked about but the courage of Perseus and the beauty of Andromeda.

7.

THE TIMELY RESCUE But Perseus had not forgotten his mother, and so one fine summer day he and Andromeda sailed in a beautiful ship to his own home, for the magic slippers could not carry both him and his bride through the air.

The ship came to land at the very spot where the wooden chest had been cast so many years before, and Perseus and his bride walked through the fields towards the town.

Now the wicked king of that land had never ceased trying to persuade Dania to become his wife, but she would not listen to him, and the more he pleaded and threatened, the more she disliked him.

It fell in the crowd of lookers-on and struck a stranger who was standing there.

Poured gold into the scheme, taxed and fought for lumber, lumber, more and more to reap and build and burn.

Andromeda, he called me, his ten-fingered servants already in my grasp.

Though he was not my Perseus.

Day by day, he and his teams grew more broken and more silent, quivering in fear beneath the trees' intolerable embrace.

End of Perseus and Atlas.

Perseus and Andromeda.

Of a dramatic version of Greek Myths and Hero Tales by Fanny Amanda Comstock.

This is a LibriVox recording.

End footnote.

Noble, read by Agnes Robert Baer.

Andromeda, read by T.

Craft.