PERSEUS FINDS THE GORGONS
Medusa was the youngest of three sisters known as the Gorgons, who
lived somewhere in the far west by the ocean. She was the fairest of
the three and in her youth had been a famous beauty. But having
insulted Athena in her holy temple, that goddess punished her by
spoiling her beauty in a most ghastly way. She changed her beautiful
locks into living snakes. A great horror settled on the face of the
poor girl, and it became so terrible in its look of agony, with its
frightful frame of snakes, that no one could bear the sight. Whoever
looked at her turned to stone.
Perseus set forth to find Medusa with the courage of a youth who has
never known defeat. The goddess, Athena, who particularly despised
the Gorgon, lent him her aid. She advised him to go to three aged
women, who lived in a dark cavern near the entrance to the infernal
regions. They were old women from their birth, gray-haired, misshapen,
and had but one eye and a single tooth for the three. These they
exchanged, each taking a turn at using the tooth and eye, while the
other two sat toothless and blind.
Perseus approached them quietly, for they were easily alarmed and
always on the lookout for something to dread. As they were passing the
eye from one to the other, Perseus seized it, and they pleaded
piteously for him to restore it. This Perseus refused to do until they
should tell him the way to the home of the nymphs who took care of the
invisible helmet of Hades and the winged shoes of Hermes, messenger of
the gods. The three miserable old women were glad to get back their
eye and tooth, although they were loath to give Perseus the
information he wanted. But they told him the way to find the home of
the nymphs, and he went on with a happier heart.
Perseus received the winged sandals from the nymphs and bound them to
his own feet. They gave him a mantle, too, which he threw over his
shoulders. It made him invisible, just as the darkness of night hides
everything from human eyes. They put the helmet of Hades on his head.
Whoever wore this helmet could see others, but no one could see him.
Moreover, Hermes gave him a two-edged sword and Athena gave him a
shield of brass, which was polished on the inside until it glittered
like a mirror and reflected the image of everything back of the person
using it.
Perseus, being thus armed, went flying toward the ocean and found the
Gorgons lying on the shore. There were three of them and they were
sisters. Medusa alone was immortal. The other Gorgons, as well as
Medusa, had snakes on their heads instead of hair, and large teeth
like wild beasts, and iron hands with golden nails. Athena had taught
Perseus how to approach them without being the victim of Medusa's
deadly stare. Instead of facing her, he kept his face turned toward
his shield and looked at her image only.
In this way, guarded by his cloak and helmet of invisibility, he came
close to Medusa, and with one blow from his two-edged sword cut off
the monster's head. As the blood flowed down over the sand, there
sprang from it a beautiful white-winged horse. Perseus had brought a
large pouch which the nymphs had given him; a magic pocket that could
be distended to almost any size. He hurried the head into the pouch
without looking at it and flew away as fast as his winged sandals
would carry him; the other Gorgons followed him in vain, for he was
invisible to them.