Andromeda, in utter despair, bowed her head,—then looked up quickly on hearing the cheers of the people, for the hero Perseus had appeared, bounding and skimming along the sky and slanting downward toward the foaming waves. The hero gave one glance at the awful monster, then drew his sword and drove it deep into the sea-beast's scaly neck. With his other hand he pulled the Medusa's head from his wallet,—and the sea-beast slowly hardened into a beast of stone. With its glassy eyes protruding like balls of obsidian, the creature then sank in a petrified mass to the bottom of the sea.
The heroic youth, amazed at the effectiveness of the terrifying head, flew quickly to Andromeda and struck away the fetters which bound her to the shore. The King and his subjects then swarmed around them and amid great rejoicing carried them to the palace. Not long after, the Princess became the bride of the hero, who put away his fluttering shoes and set sail in a ship to the island of Seriphus.
CEPHEUS, THE KING
This is Cepheus as he is traced among the stars, a king done in shorthand. He claims no star above the 3rd magnitude, but since his constellation is near the North Star and just above the Chair of his Queen, a large and conspicuous "W," it is easy to find and may be seen any clear night the year around. Cepheus may be seen at his best during the summer evenings when his stars are nearly overhead in the dome of the sky.
The other characters in this drama were placed among bright stars and are therefore more easily found, although to less romantic moderns these stars merely indicate the part of the sky-field where the ancients claim the royal family were lifted to the stars.
