ily, "Think not, lady, to escape me thus. If thou wilt not
hearken to my words, thy child shall not remain with thee, but I will
send him forth far away into the western land, that he may bring me
the head of the Gorgon Medusa."

So Danae sat weeping when Polydektes had left her, and when Perseus
came he asked her why she mourned and wept, and he said, "Tell me, my
mother, if the people of this land have done thee wrong, and I will
take a sword in my hand and smite them." Then Danae answered, "Many
toils await thee in time to come, but here thou canst do nothing. Only
be of good courage, and deal truly, and one day thou shalt be able to
save me from my enemies."

Still, as the months went on, Polydektes sought to gain the love of
Danae, until at last he began to hate her because she would not listen
to his prayer. And he spake the word, that Perseus must go forth to
slay Medusa, and that Danae must be shut up in a dungeon until the boy
should return from the land of the Graiai and the Gorgons.

So once more Danae lay within a prison, and the boy Perseus came to
bid her farewell before he set out on his weary journey. Then Danae
folded her arms around him, and looked sadly into his eyes, and said,
"My child, whatever a mortal man can do for his mother, that, I know,
thou wilt do for me, but I can not tell whither thy long toils shall
lead thee, save that the land of the Gorgons lies beyond the
slow-rolling stream of Ocean. Nor can I tell how thou canst do the
bidding of Polydektes, for Medusa alone of the Gorgon sisters may grow
old and die, and the deadly snakes will slay those who come near, and
one glance of her woeful eye can turn all mortal things to stone.
Once, they say, she was fair to look upon, but the lady Athene has
laid on her a dark doom, so that all who see the Gorgon's face must
die. It may be, Perseus, that the heart of Medusa is full rather of
grief than hatred, and that not of her own will the woeful glare of
her eye changes all mortal things into stone, and, if so it be, then
the deed which thou art charged to do shall set her free from a
hateful life, and bring to her some of those good things for which now
she yearns in vain. Go, then, my child, and prosper. Thou hast a great
warfare before thee, and though I know not how thou canst win the
victory, yet I know that true and fair dealing gives a wondrous might
to the children of men, and Zeus will strengthen the arm of those who
hate treachery and