So Danae and her son stayed in the house of the kind man who had saved them from the sea.  Years passed by, and Perseus grew up to be a tall young man, handsome, and brave, and strong.  The king of the island, when he saw Danae, was so pleased with her beauty that he wanted her to become his wife.  But he was a dark, cruel man, and she did not like him at all; so she told him that she would not marry him.  The king thought that Perseus was to blame for this, and that if he could find some excuse to send the young man on a far journey, he might force Danae to have him whether 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 serpents were twined.