“But what must I do,” asked Perseus, “when we meet them?”

Quicksilver explained to Perseus how the Three Gray Women managed with their one eye.  They were in the habit, it seems, of changing it from one to another, as if it had been a pair of spectacles, or—­which would have suited them better—­a quizzing glass.  When one of the three had kept the eye a certain time, she took it out of the socket and passed it to one of her sisters, whose turn it might happen to be, and who immediately clapped it into her own head, and enjoyed a peep at the visible world.  Thus it will easily be understood that only one of the Three Gray Women could see, while the other two were in utter darkness; and, moreover, at the instant when the eye was passing from hand to hand, neither of the poor old ladies was able to see a wink.  I have heard of a great many strange things, in my day, and have witnessed not a few; but none, it seems to me, that can compare with the oddity of these Three Gray Women, all peeping through a single eye.

So thought Perseus, likewise, and was so astonished that he almost fancied his companion was joking with him, and that there were no such old women in the world.

“You will soon find whether I tell the truth or no,” observed Quicksilver.  “Hark! hush! hist! hist!  There they come, now!”

Perseus looked earnestly through the dusk of the evening, and there, sure enough, at no great distance off, he descried the Three Gray Women.  The light being so faint, he could not well make out what sort of figures they were; only he discovered that they had long gray hair; and, as they came nearer, he saw that two of them had but the empty socket of an eye, in the middle of their foreheads.  But, in the middle of the third sister’s forehead, there was a very large, bright, and piercing eye, which sparkled like a great diamond in a ring; and so penetrating did it seem to be, that Perseus could not help thinking it must possess the gift of seeing in the darkest midnight just as perfectly as at noonday.  The sight of three persons’ eyes was melted and collected into that single one.

Thus the three old dames got along about as comfortably, upon the whole, as if they could all see at once.  She who chanced to have the eye in her forehead led the other two by the hands, peeping sharply about her, all the while; insomuch that Perseus dreaded lest she should see right through the thick clump of bushes behind which he and Quicksilver had hidden themselves.  My stars! it was positively terrible to be within reach of so very sharp an eye!

But, before they reached the clump of bushes, one of the Three Gray Women spoke.

“Sister!  Sister Scarecrow!” cried she, “you have had the eye long enough.  It is my turn now!”

“Let me keep it a moment longer, Sister Nightmare,” answered Scarecrow.  “I thought I had a glimpse of something behind that thick bush.”

“Well, and what of that?” retorted Nightmare, peevishly.  “Can’t I see into a thick bush as easily as yourself?  The eye is mine as well as yours; and I know the use of it as well as you, or maybe a little better.  I insist upon taking a peep immediately!”