is hand, had slain.

And because he had slain the king by chance Perseus would not go to
Argos, nor take over the kingdom that his grandfather had reigned over.
With Andromeda he went to Seriphus where his mother was. And in
Seriphus there still reigned Polydectes, who had put upon him the
terrible task of winning the Gorgon's head.

He came to Seriphus and he left Andromeda in the but of Dictys the
shepherd. No one knew him; he heard his name spoken of as that of a
youth who had gone on a foolish quest and who would never again be
heard of. To the temple where his mother was a priestess he came.
Guards were placed all around it. He heard his mother's voice and it
was raised in lament: "Walled up here and given over to hunger I shall
be made go to Polydectes's house and become his wife. O ye gods, have
ye no pity for Danae, the mother of Perseus?"

Perseus cried aloud, and his mother heard his voice and her moans
ceased. He turned around and he went to the palace of Polydectes, the
king.

The king received him with mockeries. "I will let you stay in Seriphus
for a day," he said, "because I would have you at a marriage feast. I
have vowed that Danae, taken from the temple where she sulks, will be
my wife by to-morrow's sunset."

So Polydectes said, and the lords and princes who were around him
mocked at Perseus and flattered the king. Perseus went from them then.
The next day he came back to the palace. But in his hands now there was
a dread thing--the bag made from the hide of the sea monster that had
in it the Gorgon's head.

He saw his mother. She was brought in white and fainting, thinking that
she would now have to wed the harsh and overbearing king. Then she saw
her son, and hope came into her face.

The king seeing Perseus, said: "Step forward, O youngling, and see your
mother wed to a mighty man. Step forward to witness a marriage, and
then depart, for it is not right that a youth that makes promises and
does not keep them should stay in a land that I rule over. Step forward
now, you with the empty hands."

But not with empty hands did Perseus step forward. He shouted out: "I
have brought something to you at last, O king--a present to you and
your mocking friends. But you, O my mother, and you, O my friends,
avert your faces from what I have brought." Saying this Perseus drew
out the Gorgon's head. Holding it by the snaky locks he stood before
the company. His mother and his friends averted their faces.