Part 4 (1/2)

Then Perseus went to the eastward, along the Red Sea sh.o.r.e; and then, because he was afraid to go into the Arabian deserts, he turned northward once more, and this time no storm hindered him.

He went past the Isthmus, and Mount Casius, and the vast Serbonian bog, and up the sh.o.r.e of Palestine, where the dark-faced aethiops dwelt.

He flew on past pleasant hills and valleys, like Argos itself, or Lacedaemon, or the fair Vale of Tempe. But the lowlands were all drowned by floods, and the highlands blasted by fire, and the hills heaved like a babbling cauldron, before the wrath of King Poseidon, the shaker of the earth.

And Perseus feared to go inland, but flew along the sh.o.r.e above the sea; and he went on all the day, and the sky was black with smoke; and he went on all the night, and the sky was red with flame.

And at the dawn of day he looked toward the cliffs; and at the water's edge, under a black rock, he saw a white image stand.

'This,' thought he, 'must surely be the statue of some sea-G.o.d; I will go near and see what kind of G.o.ds these barbarians wors.h.i.+p.'

So he came near; but when he came, it was no statue, but a maiden of flesh and blood; for he could see her tresses streaming in the breeze; and as he came closer still, he could see how she shrank and s.h.i.+vered when the waves sprinkled her with cold salt spray. Her arms were spread above her head, and fastened to the rock with chains of bra.s.s; and her head drooped on her bosom, either with sleep, or weariness, or grief.

But now and then she looked up and wailed, and called her mother; yet she did not see Perseus, for the cap of darkness was on his head.

[Picture: Perseus and the maid]

Full of pity and indignation, Perseus drew near and looked upon the maid.

Her cheeks were darker than his were, and her hair was blue-black like a hyacinth; but Perseus thought, 'I have never seen so beautiful a maiden; no, not in all our isles. Surely she is a king's daughter. Do barbarians treat their kings' daughters thus? She is too fair, at least, to have done any wrong I will speak to her.'

And, lifting the hat from his head, he flashed into her sight. She shrieked with terror, and tried to hide her face with her hair, for she could not with her hands; but Perseus cried-

'Do not fear me, fair one; I am a h.e.l.len, and no barbarian. What cruel men have bound you? But first I will set you free.'

And he tore at the fetters, but they were too strong for him; while the maiden cried-

'Touch me not; I am accursed, devoted as a victim to the sea-G.o.ds. They will slay you, if you dare to set me free.'

'Let them try,' said Perseus; and drawing, Herpe from his thigh, he cut through the bra.s.s as if it had been flax.

'Now,' he said, 'you belong to me, and not to these sea-G.o.ds, whosoever they may be!' But she only called the more on her mother.

'Why call on your mother? She can be no mother to have left you here.

If a bird is dropped out of the nest, it belongs to the man who picks it up. If a jewel is cast by the wayside, it is his who dare win it and wear it, as I will win you and will wear you. I know now why Pallas Athene sent me hither. She sent me to gain a prize worth all my toil and more.'

And he clasped her in his arms, and cried, 'Where are these sea-G.o.ds, cruel and unjust, who doom fair maids to death? I carry the weapons of Immortals. Let them measure their strength against mine! But tell me, maiden, who you are, and what dark fate brought you here.'

And she answered, weeping-

'I am the daughter of Cepheus, King of Iopa, and my mother is Ca.s.siopoeia of the beautiful tresses, and they called me Andromeda, as long as life was mine. And I stand bound here, hapless that I am, for the sea-monster's food, to atone for my mother's sin. For she boasted of me once that I was fairer than Atergatis, Queen of the Fishes; so she in her wrath sent the sea-floods, and her brother the Fire King sent the earthquakes, and wasted all the land, and after the floods a monster bred of the slime, who devours all living things. And now he must devour me, guiltless though I am-me who never harmed a living thing, nor saw a fish upon the sh.o.r.e but I gave it life, and threw it back into the sea; for in our land we eat no fish, for fear of Atergatis their queen. Yet the priests say that nothing but my blood can atone for a sin which I never committed.'

But Perseus laughed, and said, 'A sea-monster? I have fought with worse than him: I would have faced Immortals for your sake; how much more a beast of the sea?'

Then Andromeda looked up at him, and new hope was kindled in her breast, so proud and fair did he stand, with one hand round her, and in the other the glittering sword. But she only sighed, and wept the more, and cried-

'Why will you die, young as you are? Is there not death and sorrow enough in the world already? It is n.o.ble for me to die, that I may save the lives of a whole people; but you, better than them all, why should I slay you too? Go you your way; I must go mine.'

But Perseus cried, 'Not so; for the Lords of Olympus, whom I serve, are the friends of the heroes, and help them on to n.o.ble deeds. Led by them, I slew the Gorgon, the beautiful horror; and not without them do I come hither, to slay this monster with that same Gorgon's head. Yet hide your eyes when I leave you, lest the sight of it freeze you too to stone.'

But the maiden answered nothing, for she could not believe his words.

And then, suddenly looking up, she pointed to the sea, and shrieked-