, with the snakes still writhing
upon it, and thrust it in.

"Your task is done," said the calm voice. "Now fly, for the other
Gorgons will do their utmost to take vengeance for Medusa's death."

It was, indeed, necessary to take flight, for Perseus had not done the
deed so quietly but that the clash of his sword and the hissing of the
snakes and the thump of Medusa's head as it tumbled upon the
sea-beaten sand awoke the other two monsters. There they sat for an
instant, sleepily rubbing their eyes with their brazen fingers, while
all the snakes on their heads reared themselves on end with surprise
and with venomous malice against they knew not what. But when the
Gorgons saw the scaly carcass of Medusa, headless, and her golden
wings all ruffled and half spread out on the sand, it was really awful
to hear what yells and screeches they set up. And then the snakes!
They sent forth a hundredfold hiss with one consent, and Medusa's
snakes answered them out of the magic wallet.

No sooner were the Gorgons broad awake than they hurtled upward into
the air, brandishing their brass talons, gnashing their horrible tusks
and flapping their huge wings so wildly that some of the golden
feathers were shaken out and floated down upon the shore. And there,
perhaps, those very feathers lie scattered till this day. Up rose the
Gorgons, as I tell you, staring horribly about, in hopes of turning
somebody to stone. Had Perseus looked them in the face or had he
fallen into their clutches, his poor mother would never have kissed
her boy again! But he took good care to turn his eyes another way; and
as he wore the helmet of invisibility, the Gorgons knew not in what
direction to follow him; nor did he fail to make the best use of the
winged slippers by soaring upward a perpendicular mile or so. At that
height, when the screams of those abominable creatures sounded faintly
beneath him, he made a straight course for the island of Seriphus, in
order to carry Medusa's head to King Polydectes.

I have no time to tell you of several marvelous things that befell
Perseus on his way homeward, such as his killing a hideous sea monster
just as it was on the point of devouring a beautiful maiden, nor how
he changed an enormous giant into a mountain of stone merely by
showing him the head of the Gorgon. If you doubt this latter story,
you may make a voyage to Africa some day or other and see the very
mountain, which is still known by the ancient giant