upiter.

When Perseus saw the king rushing like a madman after his mother, he
threw himself before him and bade him stop. But the king struck at him
furiously with his sword. Perseus caught the blow on his shield, and at
the same moment took the head of Medusa from his magic pouch.

"I promised to bring you a present, and here it is!" he cried.

The king saw it, and was turned into stone, just as he stood, with his
sword uplifted and that terrible look of anger and passion in his face.

The people of the island were glad when they learned what had happened,
for no one loved the wicked king. They were glad, too, because Perseus
had come home again, and had brought with him his beautiful wife,
Andromeda. So, after they had talked the matter over among themselves,
they went to him and asked him to be their king. But he thanked them,
and said that he would rule over them for one day only, and that then he
would give the kingdom to another, so that he might take his mother back
to her home and her kindred in distant Argos.

On the morrow therefore, he gave the kingdom to the kind man who had
saved his mother and himself from the sea; and then he went on board his
ship, with Andromeda and Danae, and sailed away across the sea towards
Argos.

VIII. THE DEADLY QUOIT.

When Danae's old father, the king of Argos, heard that a strange ship
was coming over the sea with his daughter and her son on board, he was
in great distress; for he remembered what the Pythia had foretold about
his death. So, without waiting to see the vessel, he left his palace in
great haste and fled out of the country.

"My daughter's son cannot kill me if I will keep out of his way," he
said.

But Perseus had no wish to harm him; and he was very sad when he learned
that his poor grandfather had gone away in fear and without telling any
one where he was going. The people of Argos welcomed Danae to her old
home; and they were very proud of her handsome son, and begged that he
would stay in their city, so that he might some time become their king.

It happened soon afterwards that the king of a certain country not far
away was holding games and giving prizes to the best runners and leapers
and quoit throwers. And Perseus went thither to try his strength with
the other young men of the land; for if he should be able to gain a
prize, his name would become known all over the world. No one in that
country knew who he was, but all wondered at his