d kissed him, and Perseus laughed for
joy and flew upward, while Andromeda crouched trembling on the rock.

On came the great sea-monster, lazily breasting the ripple and
stopping at times by creek or headland. His great sides were fringed
with clustering shells and seaweeds, and the water gurgled in and out
of his wide jaws as he rolled along. At last he saw Andromeda and shot
forward to take his prey.

Then down from the height of the air fell Perseus like a shooting
star, down to the crests of the waves, while Andromeda hid her face as
he shouted, and then there was silence for a while.

When at last she looked up trembling, Andromeda saw Perseus springing
towards her, and instead of the monster, a long black rock, with the
sea rippling quietly round it.

Who then so proud as Perseus, as he leapt back to the rock and lifted
his fair Andromeda in his arms and flew with her to the cliff-top, as
a falcon carries a dove! Who so proud as Perseus, and who so joyful as
the people of the land!

And the King and the Queen came, and all the people came with songs
and dances to receive Andromeda back again, as one alive from the
dead.

Then the King said to Perseus, "Hero of the Hellens, stay here with me
and be my son-in-law, and I will give you the half of my kingdom."

"I will be your son-in-law," said Perseus, "but of your kingdom will I
have none, for I long after the pleasant land of Greece, and my mother
who waits for me at home."

Then said the King, "You must not take my daughter away at once, for
she is to us as one alive from the dead. Stay with us here a year, and
after that you shall return with honor."

And Perseus consented, but before he went to the palace he bade the
people bring stones and wood and build an altar to Athene, and there
he offered bullocks and rams. Then they made a great wedding feast,
which lasted seven whole days.

But on the eighth night Perseus dreamed a dream. He saw standing
beside him Athene as he had seen her 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. Now give me the sword and the
sandals, and the hat of darkness, that I may give them back to those
to whom they belong. But the Gorgon's head you shall keep a while, for
you will need it in your land of Hellas."

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