rry him. If she had not been in the temple where she
was under the protection of the goddess he would have wed her against
her will.

"But I was growing up now, and I was able to give some protection to my
mother. My arm was a strong one, and Polydectes knew that if he wronged
my mother in any way, I had the will and the power to be deadly to him.
One day I heard him say before his princes and his lords that he would
wed, and would wed one who was not Danae, I was overjoyed to hear him
say this. He asked the lords and the princes to come to the wedding
feast; they declared they would, and they told him of the presents they
would bring.

"Then King Polydectes turned to me and he asked me to come to the
wedding feast. I said I would come. And then, because I was young and
full of the boast of youth, and because the king was now ceasing to be
a terror to me, I said that I would bring to his wedding feast the head
of the Gorgon.

"The king smiled when he heard me say this, but he smiled not as a good
man smiles when he hears the boast of youth. He smiled, and he turned
to the princes and lords, and he said 'Perseus will come, and he will
bring a greater gift than any of you, for he will bring the head of her
whose gaze turns living creatures into stone.'

"When I heard the king speak so grimly about my boast the fearfulness
of the thing I had spoken of doing came over me. I thought for an
instant that the Gorgon's head appeared before me, and that I was then
and there turned into stone.

"The day of the wedding feast came. I came and I brought no gift. I
stood with my head hanging for shame. Then the princes and the lords
came forward, and they showed the great gifts of horses that they had
brought. I thought that the king would forget about me and about my
boast. And then I heard him call my name. 'Perseus,' he said, 'Perseus,
bring before us now the Gorgon's head that, as you told us, you would
bring for the wedding gift.'

"The princes and lords and people looked toward me, and I was filled
with a deeper shame. I had to say that I had failed to bring a present.
Then that harsh and overbearing king shouted at me. 'Go forth,' he
said, 'go forth and fetch the present that you spoke of. If you do not
bring it remain forever out of my country, for in Seriphus we will have
no empty boasters.' The lords and the princes applauded what the king
said; the people were sad for me and sad for my mother, but they might
not do