oth, and until his loathsome combatant floated on its
back, mere carrion for the scavengers of the sea.

Then Perseus hewed off the chains that held Andromeda, and in his arms
he held her tenderly as he flew with her to her father's land.

Who so grateful then as the king and queen of Ethiopia? and who so
happy as Andromeda? for Perseus, her deliverer, dearest and greatest
hero to her in all the world, not only had given her her freedom, but
had given her his heart.

Willingly and joyfully her father agreed to give her to Perseus for
his wife. No marriage feast so splendid had ever been held in Ethiopia
in the memory of man, but as it went on, an angry man with a band of
sullen-faced followers strode into the banqueting-hall. It was
Phineus, he who had been betrothed to Andromeda, yet who had not dared
to strike a blow for her rescue. Straight at Perseus they rushed, and
fierce was the fight that then began. But of a sudden, from the
goatskin where it lay hid, Perseus drew forth the head of Medusa, and
Phineus and his warriors were turned into stone.

For seven days the marriage feast lasted, but on the eighth night
Pallas Athene came to Perseus in a dream.

"Nobly and well hast thou played the hero, O son of Zeus!" she said;
"but now that thy toil is near an end and thy sorrows have ended in
joy, I come to claim the shoes of Hermes, the helmet of Pluto, the
sword, and the shield that is mine own. Yet the head of the Gorgon
must thou yet guard awhile, for I would have it laid in my temple at
Seriphos that I may wear it on my shield for evermore."

As she ceased to speak, Perseus awoke, and lo, the shield and helmet
and the sword and winged shoes were gone, so that he knew that his
dream was no false vision.

Then did Perseus and Andromeda, in a red-prowed galley made by cunning
craftsmen from Phoenicia, sail away westward, until at length they
came to the blue water of the AEgean Sea, and saw rising out of the
waves before them the rocks of Seriphos. And when the rowers rested on
their long oars, and the red-prowed ship ground on the pebbles of the
beach, Perseus and his bride sought Danae, the fair mother of Perseus.

Black grew the brow of the son of Danae when she told him what cruel
things she had suffered in his absence from the hands of Polydectes
the king. Straight to the palace Perseus strode, and there found the
king and his friends at their revels. For seven years had Perseus been
away, and now it was