Perseus soon crossed the ocean and came again to the Land of the West.
Far below him he could see the three Maidens dancing around the golden
tree; but he did not stop, for, now that he had the head of Medusa safe
in the pouch at his side, he must hasten home. Straight east he flew
over the great sea, and after a time he came to a country where there
were palm trees and pyramids and a great river flowing from the south.
Here, as he looked down, a strange sight met his eyes: he saw a
beautiful girl chained to a rock by the seashore, and far away a huge
sea beast swimming towards her to devour her. Quick as thought, he flew
down and spoke to her; but, as she could not see him for the Cap of
Darkness which he wore, his voice only frightened her.
Then Perseus took off his cap, and stood upon the rock; and when the
girl saw him with his long hair and wonderful eyes and laughing face,
she thought him the handsomest young man in the world.
"Oh, save me! save me!" she cried as she reached out her arms towards
him.
Perseus drew his sharp sword and cut the chain which held her, and then
lifted her high up upon the rock. But by this time the sea monster was
close at hand, lashing the water with his tail and opening his wide jaws
as though he would swallow not only Perseus and the young girl, but even
the rock on which they were standing. He was a terrible fellow, and yet
not half so terrible as the Gorgon. As he came roaring towards the
shore, Perseus lifted the head of Medusa from his pouch and held it up;
and when the beast saw the dreadful face he stopped short and was turned
into stone; and men say that the stone beast may be seen in that
selfsame spot to this day.
Then Perseus slipped the Gorgon's head back into the pouch and hastened
to speak with the young girl whom he had saved. She told him that her
name was Andromeda, and that she was the daughter of the king of that
land. She said that her mother, the queen, was very beautiful and very
proud of her beauty; and every day she went down to the seashore to look
at her face as it was pictured in the quiet water; and she had boasted
that not even the nymphs who live in the sea were as handsome as she.
When the sea nymphs heard about this, they were very angry and asked
great Neptune, the king of the sea, to punish the queen for her pride.
So Neptune sent a sea monster to crush the king's ships and kill the
cattle along the shore and break down all the fishermen's huts. The
people were so much distressed that they sent at last to ask the Pythia
what they should do; and the Pythia said that there was only one way to
save the land from destruction,--that they must give the king's
daughter, Andromeda, to the monster to be devoured.
The king and the queen loved their daughter very dearly, for she was
their only child; and for a long time they refused to do as the Pythia
had told them. But day after day the monster laid waste the land, and
threatened to destroy not only the farms, but the towns; and so they
were forced in the end to give up Andromeda to save their country. This,
then, was why she had been chained to the rock by the shore and left
there to perish in the jaws of the beast.
While Perseus was yet talking with Andromeda, the king and the queen and
a great company of people came down the shore, weeping and tearing their
hair; for they were sure that by this time the monster had devoured his
prey. But when they saw her alive and well, and learned that she had
been saved by the handsome young man who stood beside her, they could
hardly hold themselves for joy. And Perseus was so delighted with
Andromeda's beauty that he almost forgot his quest which was not yet
finished; and when the king asked him what he should give him as a
reward for saving Andromeda's life, he said:
"Give her to me for my wife."
This pleased the king very much; and so, on the seventh day, Perseus and
Andromeda were married, and there was a great feast in the king's
palace, and everybody was merry and glad. And the two young people lived
happily for some time in the land of palms and pyramids; and, from the
sea to the mountains, nothing was talked about but the courage of
Perseus and the beauty of Andromeda.
[Illustration: "THE KING SAW IT AND WAS TURNED INTO STONE."]