Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Perseus

Perseus is the son of Zeus. After his birth, his grandfather Acrisios, the king of Argos, put Perseus and his mother Danae in a box and threw them into the sea.For an oracle told the king that his grandson would take his throne and murder his life.Zeus blessed the mother and child drifting in the sea, and guided the box through the wind and waves, and finally the box floated to the island of Serifos, near the coast.There were two brothers on the island, Dictes and Polydectes, who ruled the island of Serifos.Dictes was fishing by the sea, when he saw a wooden box floating in the water, he quickly pulled it ashore.Back home, the two brothers sympathized with the abandoned refugees and took them in.Polydectes married Danae and raised Perseus carefully.

When Perseus grew up, his stepfather Polydectes persuaded him to go out and take risks, hoping that he could make great achievements.The brave young man was ambitious and determined to cut off the ugly head of the banshee Medusa, take it to Serifos, and give it to the king. After packing his luggage, Perseus set out on the road.The gods led him as far as the land where Phorcus, the terrible father of all monsters, dwelt.There Perseus met the three daughters of Phorcus: Graier.They were born with white hair, and the three of them had only one eye and one tooth, which they used in turn.Perseus took their teeth and eyes.They demanded the return of their indispensable possessions.He made a condition that they should show the way to the fairies.These fairies know magic and have several treasures: a pair of flying shoes, a magic bag, and a dog leather helmet.No matter who has these things, he can fly freely as he wants, see who he wants to see, but others can't see him.The daughters of Phorcus showed Perseus the way and got their eyes and teeth back.

When he arrived at the fairy, Perseus got three treasures.He put on his god bag, his flying shoes, and his dog-skin helmet.In addition, he received a bronze shield from Hermes.He armed himself with these fetishes, and flew towards the sea.There lived the other three daughters of Phorcus, the Gorgon.Among the three daughters, the youngest daughter Medusa was mortal, and Perseus was ordered to take her head.Perseus found the gorgons sleeping.Their heads are covered with scales, they have no hair, and there are poisonous snakes coiled around their heads.They had the tusks of a boar, and they had iron hands, and wings of gold, and any man who looked at them would be turned to stone at once.Perseus knew the secret.He turned his face away, not looking at the sleeping woman, and then used the bright shield as a mirror to clearly see their three heads, and recognized Medusa.Athena instructed him how to do it again, so he successfully cut off the banshee's head.

Before Perseus put away his knife, a winged flying horse Pegasus suddenly jumped out from the body of the banshee, followed by a giant Chrysaor. They are all descendants of Poseidon .Perseus carefully stuffed Medusa's head in the pouch on his back and left there.At this time, Medusa's sisters sat up from the bed.Seeing the body of their slain sister, they immediately spread their wings and flew into the air in pursuit of the murderer.But Perseus, wearing the fairy's dog-skin helmet, escaped the stalking and pursuit.However, he was also hit by a strong wind in the air and was blown left and right.As he swung through the Libyan desert, the blood dripped from Medusa's head until it fell to the ground and turned into vipers of every color, and many parts of the world have since had dangerous snakes.

Perseus continued to fly westward, and finally landed in the land of King Atlas, wanting to rest for a while.There is a jungle here, with golden fruits on the trees, and a huge dragon guarding it.Perseus begged to let him stay here for the night, but was not allowed.Because Atlas was worried that his golden fruit would be stolen, he ruthlessly expelled Perseus from the palace.Perseus was very angry, and took out Medusa's head from the god's bag on the spot, but turned his back and handed the head to the king. The king was tall, like a giant.As soon as he saw Medusa's head, he turned into a huge rock, almost like a mountain, his beard and hair became a vast forest, his shoulders, arms and thighs became ridges, and his head became a high mountain peak.

Perseus re-laced his flying shoes, put on his helmet, and flew into the sky with his magic bag on his back.He flew all the way to the coast of Ethiopia, where King Cepheus ruled.Perseus saw a young girl bound to a rock rising out of the sea.The sea breeze messed up her hair, and the girl burst into tears.Fascinated by her youthful beauty, Perseus greeted her. "Why are you tied up here? What's your name and where do you live?" With her hands behind her back, the girl was silent at first, afraid to speak to a stranger.If she could move, she would have covered her face with her hands.In order not to give the stranger the illusion that she had really done something shameful, she replied, with tears in her eyes, "My name is Andromeda, and I am the daughter of King Cepheus of Ethiopia. My mother I once boasted that I was more beautiful than the daughters of the sea god Nereus, the nymphs of the sea. The sea nymphs were very angry. They had fifty sisters in total, and together they asked the sea god to send a flood to submerge the entire country. The sea god also sent A monster swallowed everything on the land. The oracle declared: If you want to save the country, you must throw me, the king's daughter, to the monster to feed. The people suddenly made a fuss, asking my father to sacrifice his daughter to save the country. The whole country. In desperation, the king ordered me to be locked here."

Just as the girl finished speaking, monstrous waves rolled in.A monster emerged from the sea, its broad chest covering the entire surface of the water.When the girl saw it, she screamed in fright, and her parents hurried over.They saw that their daughter was in great distress, and they were extremely desperate, and the mother showed a painful expression because of guilt.They hugged their bound daughter tightly, but they could do nothing to save her. At this time Perseus said: "You have to cry, there will be plenty of time in the future; right now, the top priority is to save people. My name is Perseus, the son of Zeus and Danae. I defeated Medusa. God's wings Let me fly high in the sky. If a girl is free and willing to choose a spouse, she will definitely look at me first. But as she is now, I want to propose to her formally, and I am willing to go to rescue her. Are you willing to accept What about my conditions?" The parents were glad to have met the savior, nodded repeatedly, not only promised to betroth their daughter to him, but also agreed to give him the kingdom as a dowry.

While talking, the monster has already swam over, and there is only one arrow left.Seeing this, the young man kicked up with his feet and rose into the air. Seeing the shadow he cast on the sea, the monster chased the shadow furiously, as if realizing that someone was going to snatch its prey.Perseus swooped down from the sky like a vigorous eagle.He stabbed the monster's back with the sharp sword that killed Medusa, so that only the hilt was exposed.He pulled out the sword, and the monster jumped into the air in pain, and then sank to the bottom of the water, struggling frantically.Perseus stabbed at it again and again until black blood gushed from its mouth.At this time, its wings were also wet, and he did not dare to stay in the air for a long time.A reef happened to be exposed on the surface of the water, so he flapped his wings and landed gently on the rock wall, and then stirred the monster's stomach three or four times with his sword.The waves carried its carcass away, and soon it disappeared from the surface of the sea.Perseus flew to the shore, climbed to the top of the mountain, unchained the girl, and handed her over to her unfortunate parents.He was lavishly entertained and became a distinguished guest and son-in-law at court.

While the wedding was going on happily, there was a sudden commotion in the antechamber of the palace, and a dull roar came.It turned out that Phineus, the younger brother of King Cepheus, broke in with a group of warriors.He had courted Andromeda before, but abandoned her when she was in danger.Now he comes to reiterate his claim.Phineus broke into the wedding hall brandishing a spear, and shouted at the astonished Perseus: "Here I am, you have taken my fiancée, and I want revenge. Whether your treasure or your father Zeus I can't protect you!" As he spoke, he put on a stance and was about to throw the spear over.

Cepheus rose from the table. "You're crazy!" he snapped. "Perseus didn't take your betrothed. When we were forced to sacrifice her, you saw her tied there. Why didn't you save her yourself, instead Stand by and watch?" Phineus couldn't answer, and he stared at his brother and his rival as if wondering which one to attack first.Finally, with all his strength in madness, he threw his spear at Perseus.But his eyesight was bad, and the spear sank into the cushion. Perseus sprang to his feet and threw his javelin towards the door, and it flew straight at Phineus.Had Phineus not bounded behind the altar, the javelin would have pierced his chest.Though Phineus escaped, one of his entourage was stabbed in the forehead, and now the warriors swarmed up, fighting with the wedding guests.The warriors who broke in were numerous and powerful, and surrounded King Perseus, his wife and his new wife.Arrows were like locusts, shooting from all directions.With his back against a large pillar, Perseus parried his enemies, struggling to stop their advance, killing one advancing enemy after another.Later, seeing that his strength alone was no longer effective, he decided to make a last resort. "I'm also forced to do nothing," he said, "I have to ask the enemies of the past to help me. Please turn my friends away!" After speaking, he took out Medusa's head from the magic bag , stretched towards the approaching opponent.The opponent is rushing towards here blindly. "Let your magic frighten people," he shouted contemptuously as he charged, "they will be frightened by your nonsense." But when he raised his hand to throw his spear, his hand froze in the air. up.The people behind are also unable to escape the fate of being turned into stones.At this time, Perseus simply lifted Medusa's head high so that everyone else could see it immediately.In this way he reduced the last of the people to stiff stones.It wasn't until this moment that Phineus regretted making trouble so unreasonably and provoking trouble.He looked at the stone statues with different postures on the left and right, and called out the names of his friends, but no one answered.He touched their bodies with his hands in disbelief, but they had all turned into granite.He was terrified, changed from his previous arrogance, and begged desperately: "Spare my life! I will give you the kingdom and the bride!" After speaking, he turned around.But Perseus did not want to forgive him. "You thief," he raged, "I will forever erect a monument to you in my father-in-law's palace!"

Phineus dodged left and right, not wanting to see the terrifying head, but it finally did not escape.Immediately, Phineus turned into a stone with a horrified expression, standing there with his hands drooping, looking like a humble servant. Perseus was finally able to return home with his young wife Andromeda.Long and happy days awaited him.He also found his mother, Danae.But he still could not avoid bringing disaster to his grandfather Acrisios.Fearing the oracle, my grandfather fled quietly to King Pilaszi.At that time, a contest was being held here.He didn't know that his grandfather was here, and he was planning to go to Argos to greet his grandfather.Perseus was very happy to see the contest. He grabbed a discus and threw it out, unfortunately, he just hit his grandfather.It wasn't long before he found out who the man he had killed was.He mourned the dead man deeply, buried him outside the city, and exchanged the kingdom he had inherited.From then on, the god of fate never envied him again.Andromeda bore him a series of lovely sons, who have always kept their father's honor.