As for Perseus, he leaped again into the air, and the Magic Slippers
bore him southward with the speed of the wind. Very soon he left the
frozen sea behind him and came to a sunny land, where there were green
forests and flowery meadows and hills and valleys, and at last a
pleasant garden where were all kinds of blossoms and fruits. He knew
that this was the famous Western Land, for the Gray Sisters had told him
what he should see there. So he alighted and walked among the trees
until he came to the center of the garden. There he saw the three
Maidens of the West dancing around a tree which was full of golden
apples, and singing as they danced. For the wonderful tree with its
precious fruit belonged to Juno, the queen of earth and sky; it had been
given to her as a wedding gift, and it was the duty of the Maidens to
care for it and see that no one touched the golden apples.
Perseus stopped and listened to their song:
"We sing of the old, we sing of the new,--
Our joys are many, our sorrows are few;
Singing, dancing,
All hearts entrancing,
We wait to welcome the good and the true.
The daylight is waning, the evening is here,
The sun will soon set, the stars will appear.
Singing, dancing,
All hearts entrancing,
We wait for the dawn of a glad new year.
The tree shall wither, the apples shall fall,
Sorrow shall come, and death shall call,
Alarming, grieving,
All hearts deceiving,--
But hope shall abide to comfort us all.
Soon the tale shall be told, the song shall be sung,
The bow shall be broken, the harp unstrung,
Alarming, grieving,
All hearts deceiving,
Till every joy to the winds shall be flung.
But a new tree shall spring from the roots of the old,
And many a blossom its leaves shall unfold,
Cheering, gladdening,
With joy maddening,--
For its boughs shall be laden with apples of gold."
[Illustration: Perseus stopped and listened to their song]
Then Perseus went forward and spoke to the Maidens. They stopped
singing, and stood still as if in alarm. But when they saw the Magic
Slippers on his feet, they ran to him, and welcomed him to the Western
Land and to their garden.
"We knew that you were coming," they said, "for the winds told us. But
why do you come?"
Perseus told them of all that had happened to him since he was a child,
and of his quest of Medusa's head; and he said that he had come to ask
them to give him three things to help him in his fight with the Gorgons.
The Maidens answered that they would give him not three things, but
four. Then one of them gave him a sharp sword, which was crooked like a
sickle, and which she fastened to the belt at his waist; and another
gave him a shield, which was brighter than any looking-glass you ever
saw; and the third gave him a magic pouch, which she hung by a long
strap over his shoulder.
"These are three things which you must have in order to obtain Medusa's
head; and now here is a fourth, for without it your quest must be in
vain." And they gave him a magic cap, the Cap of Darkness; and when they
had put it upon his head, there was no creature on the earth or in the
sky--no, not even the Maidens themselves--that could see him.
When at last he was arrayed to their liking, they told him where he
would find the Gorgons, and what he should do to obtain the terrible
head and escape alive. Then they kissed him and wished him good luck,
and bade him hasten to do the dangerous deed. And Perseus donned the Cap
of Darkness, and sped away and away towards the farthermost edge of the
earth; and the three Maidens went back to their tree to sing and to
dance and to guard the golden apples until the old world should become
young again.