ht to have had. Finding that there
was no other way of recovering it, they at last told Perseus what he
wanted to know. No sooner had they done so than he immediately and
with the utmost respect clapped the eye into the vacant socket in one
of their foreheads, thanked them for their kindness and bade them
farewell. Before the young man was out of hearing, however, they had
got into a new dispute, because he happened to have given the eye to
Scarecrow, who had already taken her turn of it when their trouble
with Perseus commenced.

It is greatly to be feared that the Three Gray Women were very much in
the habit of disturbing their mutual harmony by bickerings of this
sort, which was the more pity, as they could not conveniently do
without one another and were evidently intended to be inseparable
companions. As a general rule, I would advise all people, whether
sisters or brothers, old or young, who chance to have but one eye
amongst them, to cultivate forbearance and not all insist upon peeping
through it at once.

Quicksilver and Perseus, in the meantime, were making the best of
their way in quest of the Nymphs. The old dames had given them such
particular directions that they were not long in finding them out.
They proved to be very different persons from Nightmare, Shakejoint
and Scarecrow; for, instead of being old, they were young and
beautiful; and instead of one eye amongst the sisterhood, each Nymph
had two exceedingly bright eyes of her own, with which she looked very
kindly at Perseus. They seemed to be acquainted with Quicksilver, and
when he told them the adventure which Perseus had undertaken, they
made no difficulty about giving him the valuable articles that were in
their custody. In the first place, they brought out what appeared to
be a small purse, made of deer skin and curiously embroidered, and
bade him be sure and keep it safe. This was the magic wallet. The
Nymphs next produced a pair of shoes or slippers or sandals, with a
nice little pair of wings at the heel of each.

"Put them on, Perseus," said Quicksilver. "You will find yourself as
light-heeled as you can desire for the remainder of our journey."

So Perseus proceeded to put one of the slippers on, while he laid the
other on the ground by his side. Unexpectedly, however, this other
slipper spread its wings, fluttered up off the ground and would
probably have flown away if Quicksilver had not made a leap and
luckily caught it in the air.