war can ever break it, and they know nothing of
malice and hatred, of sickness or old age.

But presently Perseus remembered his mother, Danae, as she lay in her
prison-house, at Seriphos, and he left the garden of the Hyperboreans
to return to the world of toiling men, but the people of the land knew
only that it lay beyond the slow-rolling Ocean stream, and Perseus saw
not whither he went as he rose on his golden sandals into the soft and
dreamy air. Onwards he flew, until far beneath he beheld the Ocean
river, and once more he saw the light of Helios, as he drove his fiery
chariot through the heaven. Far away stretched the mighty Libyan
plain, and further yet, beyond the hills which shut it in, he saw the
waters of the dark sea, and the white line of foam, where the breakers
were dashed upon the shore. As he came nearer, he saw the huge rocks
which rose out of the heaving waters, and on one of them he beheld a
maiden, whose limbs were fastened with chains to a stone. The folds of
her white robe fluttered in the breeze, and her fair face was worn and
wasted with the heat by day and the cold by night. Then Perseus
hastened to her, and stood a long time before her, but she saw him
not, for the helmet of Hades was on his head, and he watched her there
till the tears started to his eyes for pity. Her hands were clasped
upon her breast, and only the moving of her lips showed the greatness
of her misery. Higher and higher rose the foaming waters, till at last
the maiden said, "O Zeus, is there none whom thou canst send to help
me?" Then Perseus took the helmet in his hand, and stood before her in
all his glorious beauty, and the maiden knew that she had nothing to
fear when he said, "Lady, I see that thou art in great sorrow; tell me
who it is that has wronged thee, and I will avenge thee mightily." And
she answered, "Stranger, whoever thou art, I will trust thee, for thy
face tells me that thou art not one of those who deal falsely. My name
is Andromeda, and my father, Kepheus, is King of the rich Libyan land,
but there is strife between him and the old man, Nereus, who dwells
with his daughters in the coral caves, beneath the sea, for, as I grew
up in my father's house, my mother made a vain boast of my beauty, and
said that among all the children of Nereus there was none so fair as
I." So Nereus rose from his coral caves, and went to the King
Poseidon, and said, "King of the broad sea, Kassiopeia, hath done a
grievous w