Heroes Every Child Should Know

adows and vineyards, sheep and oxen, great herds of horses feeding down in Lerna Fen, and all that men could need to make them blest: and yet they were wretched, because they were j

own blood shall rise up against you; because you have sinned against your kindred, by your kindred you shall be punished. Your da

ing kind to them, he went on to be more cruel than ever: for he shut up his fair daughter Danae in a cavern underground, lined with brass, tha

ve had pity on it. But he had no pity; for he took Danae and her babe down to the seashore, and put them into

of Argos, and away and out to sea. And away and out to sea before it floated the mothe

upon its mother's breast: but the poor mother could not sleep, but watched and wept, and she sa

re is nothing round them but the waves, and the sky, and the wind. But the

anae was faint with hunger and weeping, and yet no land appeared. And all the while the babe slept quie

all red in the setting sun, and around her rocks and breakers, and flying flakes of foam. She clasped her hands together, and shrieked aloud for help. And when she c

he was no common man by his stature, and his walk, and his flowing golden hair and beard; and by the two servants who came behind him, carrying baskets for his fish. But she had hardly time to look

e by the hand, and lifted he

island in so frail a ship? Who are you, and whence? Surely you ar

to the babe; for its face s

eld down her hea

come, unhappy that I am; and

d dwell in it. I am the brother of Polydectes the King; and men c

t his feet, and embrac

reat me honourably, for I was once a king's daughter, and this my boy (as you have truly said) is of no common race. I will not b

t Dictys stopped her, an

e then, and you shall be a daughter to me and to my wife, and this babe shall be our grandchild. For I fear the gods,

with Dictys the good fisherman, and

rtal man, and called him Zeus, the son of the king of the Immortals. For though he was but fifteen, he was taller by a head than any man in the island; and he was the most skilful of all in running and wrestling and boxing, and in throwing the quoi

ood to get out of the sun, and sat down on the turf and fell asleep. And as he slep

r long blue robes, hung a goat-skin, which bore up a mighty shield of brass, polished like a mirror. She stood and looked at him with her clear grey eyes; and Perseus saw that her eyelids never moved, nor her eyeballs, but looked straight through and t

must do an e

dy? And how do y

t not by me. They fatten at ease, like sheep in the pasture, and eat what they did not sow, like oxen in the stall. They grow and spread, like the gourd along the ground; bu

paths, Perseus, that they may fight the Titans and the monsters, the enemies of gods and men. Through doubt and need, danger and battle, I drive them; and some of them are slain in the flower of youth, no man knows when or where; and

of youth, on the chance of winning a noble name, than to li

and cried: "See here, Perseus; dare you face such a monster as

eks were pale as death, and her brows were knit with everlasting pain, and her lips were thin and bitter like a snake's; and, instead of hair, vipers w

is anything so fierce and foul on earth, it were a n

et; you are too young, and too unskilled; for this i

ul has come into my breast, and I should be ashamed not to da

years' journey, in which you cannot repent or turn back nor escape; but if your heart

me, then, oh tell me, fair and wise Goddess, how I c

ne smiled

d of the west. They will tell you the way to the Gorgon, that you may slay her, my enemy, the mother of monstrous beasts. Once she was a maiden as beautiful as morn, till in her pride she sinned a sin at which the sun hid his face; and from that day her hair was turned to vipers, and her hands to eagle's claws; and her heart was filled with shame and rage, and her lips with bitter venom; and her eyes became so

"but how am I to escape her eyes? W

e her safely. And when you have struck off her head, wrap it, with your face turned away, in the folds of the goatskin on which the shield hangs. So you

I cross the seas without a ship? And who will show me my way? And wh

e like sparks of fire. By his side was a scimitar of diamond, all of one clear preciou

nd over hill and dale like a bird, as they bear me all day long; for I am Hermes,

and worshipped, while t

cannot stray; and this sword itself the Argus-slayer, will kill her, for it

nd girded on the sa

"Now leap from the

seus li

may I not offer burnt offerings to you, and to Hermes

ort her and Dictys until you return in peace. Nor shall you offer burnt offerings to the Olymp

was ashamed to show his dread. Then he thought of Medusa

He looked back, but Athene had vanished, and Hermes; and the sandals led him

joyful, for the winged sandals bore him each day a seven days' journey. And he turned neither to

feathers, and the soil was hard with ice; and there at last he found the three Grey Sisters, by the shore of the freezing sea, nodding upon a

of snow; and it frosted the hair of the three Grey Sisters, and the bones in the ice cliff above their heads. They passed the eye from one to the other, but for all that they could not see; and they passed the tooth fro

aughter of old age. You therefore should know many

es us with old age?" And another, "This i

id not love the children of men, left off pitying them. Then he stepped close to them, and watched till they passed the eye from hand to hand. And as they groped about betwee

l throw it into the sea, unless you tell me the path t

in. They were forced to tell the truth, though, when

Atlas the Giant, who holds the heaven and the earth apart. And you must ask his daughters, the Hesperides,

and offered to carry him on their back. And all night long the sea nymphs sang sweetly. Day by day the sun rose higher and leaped more swiftly into the sea at night, and more swiftly out of the sea at dawn; while Perseus skimmed over the billows like a

sang like nightingales among the thickets, and Perseus stopped to hear their song; but the words which they spoke he could not understand. So he stepped forward and saw them dancing, hand in hand around the charmed tree

ause he was bashful before those fair maids; but when they saw

er, the home of the south wind and the sun. Come hither and play with us awhile; we have dan

o the errand of the Immortals. So tell me the way to

hed and wept;

e will freeze y

ke an ox in a stall. The Immortals have lent me

he Gorgon; but we will ask the giant Atlas above upon the mountain peak." So they went up the mountain to Atlas thei

nd, "I can see the Gorgons lying on an island far away, but this youth can never com

"Where is that hat,

epths of Hades, in the regions of the dead. But my nieces are immortal, and the

shall show me the beautiful horror, that I may lose my feeling and my breathing, and becom

wn, and into a dark cavern among the cliffs, out of which c

ymph came up again; and her face was pale, and her eyes dazzled with the light

while; but he was only impatient to be gone. And at last they

n Land, till he heard the rustle of the Gorgons' wings and saw the glitter of their brazen

ose aloft into the air, and held the mirror of the shield above his

t see him, because the hat of darkness hid him; and yet he trembl

lessly, and as she tossed Perseus pitied her. But as he looked, from among her tresses the vipers' heads awoke, and peeped up with th

looked steadfastly on his mirror, and struck with He

turning away his eyes, and sprang into the

she sank dead upon the rocks; and her two

nd flapping, like eagles after a hare; and Perseus's blood ran cold as he saw them come howling on

fast followed the hounds of Death. But the sandals were too swift, even for Gorgons, and by nightfall

oaned, and said, "Fulfil thy promise to me." Then Perseus held up to him the Gorgon's head, and he h

, "By what road shall I go homeward again,

t stay and play with us, the lonely maidens,

leapt down the mountain, and went on, lessening a

er many a league of sea, till he came to the r

unshine, and the skeletons of great sea monsters, and dead bones of ancient giants, strewn up and down upon the old sea floor. And as he w

hes, and their houses of the eggshells of the cranes; and Perseus laughed, and went his way to the northe

even the winged sandals could not prevail. So he was forced to float down the wind all night; and when the morning daw

s, for Athene will not lie. Were not these sandals to lead me in the rig

f him was a glen in the sand, and marble rocks, and date trees, and a lawn of gay green grass. And through the lawn a streamlet sparkled and wandered out beyond the trees, and va

across the mountain till the day began to dawn, and rosy-fingered Eos came blushing up the sky.

d clambering gourds; and saw the people coming out of the gates of a great city, and setting to work, each in his place, among the water courses, parting the streams am

; for thy skin is white like ivory, and ours is red like clay. Thy hair is like threads of gold, and ours is black a

I have slain the Gorgon in the wilderness, and bear her head with me

slain, the priests came out to meet him, and the maidens, with songs and dances, and timbrels and harps; and they would have

ove the sea; and he went on all the

he cliffs; and at the water's edge, under

tue of some sea god; I will go near and see

nk and shivered when the waves sprinkled her with cold salt spray. Her arms were spread above her head, and fastened to the rock with chains of brass; and her head drooped on her bos

g the hat from his head, he flashed into her sight. She shrieked with terror, and tri

, and no barbarian. What cruel men have

but they were too strong for

cursed, devoted as a v

ou, if you dare

wing Herpe from his thigh, he cut thr

to these sea gods, whosoever they may be!"

r? She can be no mother

answered

e that I was fairer than the Queen of the Fishes; so she in her wrath sent the sea floods, and her brother the Fire King sent the earthquakes, and wasted all the land, and after the floods a monster bred of the slime what devours all living things. And now he must devour me, guiltl

fought with worse than him: I would have faced Immor

so proud and fair did he stand with one hand round her, and in the othe

or me to die, that I may save the lives of a whole people; but you, better than them all, why should I slay y

w shall I endure it? Oh, go! Is it not dreadful enough to be torn piece

slay this beast you will be my wife, and come back with me to m

nd Perseus laughed for joy, and flew upward, w

k galley. His great sides were fringed with clustering shells

take his prey, while the waves foamed white be

ing star; down to the crests of the waves, while Andromeda hid

inging toward her; and instead of the monster a long

ock, and lifted his fair Andromeda in his arms, and fle

messenger had gone to Cepheus and Cassiopoeia, where they sat in sackcloth and ashes on the ground, in the innermost palace chambers, awaiting their daughter's end. And the

stay here with me and be my son-in-law, a

kingdom I will have none, for I long after the pleasant

at you shall return with honour." And Perseus consented. So they went up to the palace; and when they came in, there stood in the hall Phineus, the b

one knows even the name. Was not Andromeda betrothed to my so

"If your son is in want of a bride,

And as he spoke Phineus and all his men-at-arms stopped short, and stiffened each man as he stood; and before Perseus had drawn

which lasted seven whole days, and w

itched its sides with pitch; and in it he put Andromeda, and all her dowry of jewels, and rich shawls, and spices from the East; and great was the weeping when the

ard, across the sea, till they came to the pleasa

ced his mother, and Dictys his good foster-father, and they wept over eac

Argos, and reigned

ill of the gods was

her, for he died from

us had thro

may see them shining still; Cepheus with his kingly crown, and Cassiopoeia in her ivory chair, plaiting her star- spangled tresses, and Perseus with the Gorgon's head, and fair Andromeda beside him, spreading her long w