great cast, far beyond the rest,
but the disc swerved, and fell among the crowd. Then Perseus was afraid,
and ran like the wind to the place where the disc fell. There lay an old
man, smitten sorely by the disc, and men said that he had killed King
Acrisius.

Thus the word of the prophetess and the will of Fate were fulfilled.
Perseus went weeping to the King of Phthia, and told him all the truth,
and the king, who knew, as all Greece knew, how Acrisius had tried to
drown his daughter and her child, believed the tale, and said that
Perseus was guiltless. He and Danae and Andromeda dwelt for a year in
Phthia, with the king, and then Perseus with an army of Pelasgians and
Myrmidons, marched south to Argos, and took the city, and drove out his
cousins, the sons of Proetus. There in Argos Perseus, with his mother
and beautiful Andromeda, dwelt long and happily, and he left the kingdom
to his son when he died.

* * * * *

_The story of Ulysses is taken mainly from the Iliad, the Odyssey, and
the_ Post Homerica _of Quintus Smyrnaeus. As we have no detailed account of
the stealing of the Palladium by Ulysses, use has been made of Helen's
tale about his entry into Troy in the disguise of a beaten beggar.

The chief source of 'The Fleece of Gold' is tradition, with the
Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius; the fight between Polydeuces and the
Giant is best reported by Theocritus.

No epic or tragedy concerning the early fortunes of Theseus and the
history of Perseus has reached us: summaries in Plutarch and Apollodorus
provide the outlines of the legends.

The descriptions of costume, arms, and mode of life are derived from
Homer and from the 'Mycenaean' relics discovered in the last thirty years
by Dr. Schliemann, Mr. A. J. Evans, and many other explorers.

'The Fleece of Gold,' first published in an American magazine, has also
appeared in America in a little volume (Henry Altemus & Co.). It is here
reprinted by permission of Messrs. Altemus, with some changes and
corrections._

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without
note.

Some Illustrations have been moved to avoid splitting paragraphs and
make smoother reading.

There are inconsistencies in the use of ligatures in some of the names.
These inconsistencies have been left as in the original text.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTE