ther she wished or not.
One day he called all the young men of his country together and told
them that he was soon to be wedded to the queen of a certain land beyond
the sea. Would not each of them bring him a present to be given to her
father? For in those times it was the rule, that when any man was about
to be married, he must offer costly gifts to the father of the bride.
"What kind of presents do you want?" said the young men.
"Horses," he answered; for he knew that Perseus had no horse.
"Why don't you ask for something worth the having?" said Perseus; for
he was vexed at the way in which the king was treating him. "Why don't
you ask for Medusa's head, for example?"
"Medusa's head it shall be!" cried the king. "These young men may give
me horses, but you shall bring Medusa's head."
"I will bring it," said Perseus; and he went away in anger, while his
young friends laughed at him because of his foolish words.
What was this Medusa's head which he had so rashly promised to bring?
His mother had often told him about Medusa. Far, far away, on the very
edge of the world, there lived three strange monsters, sisters, called
Gorgons. They had the bodies and faces of women, but they had wings of
gold, and terrible claws of brass, and hair that was full of living
serpents. They were so awful to look upon, that no man could bear the
sight of them, but whoever saw their faces was turned to stone. Two of
these monsters had charmed lives, and no weapon could ever do them harm;
but the youngest, whose name was Medusa, might be killed, if indeed
anybody could find her and could give the fatal stroke.
When Perseus went away from the king's palace, he began to feel sorry
that he had spoken so rashly. For how should he ever make good his
promise and do the king's bidding? He did not know which way to go to
find the Gorgons, and he had no weapon with which to slay the terrible
Medusa. But at any rate he would never show his face to the king again,
unless he could bring the head of terror with him. He went down to the
shore and stood looking out over the sea towards Argos, his native land;
and while he looked, the sun went down, and the moon arose, and a soft
wind came blowing from the west. Then, all at once, two persons, a man
and a woman, stood before him. Both were tall and noble. The man looked
like a prince; and there were wings on his cap and on his feet, and he
carried a winged staff, around which two golden serpe
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