Then the anger of Athene became fiercer still, and she said, "Dost thou dare to vie with me? I stand by the side of Zeus, to do his will, and the splendor of his glory rests upon me, and what art thou, that thou shouldst speak to me such words as these? Therefore, hear thy doom. Henceforth, if mortal man ever look upon thee, one glance of thy face shall turn him to stone. Thy beauty shall still remain, but it shall be to thee the blackness of death. The hair which streams in golden tresses over thy fair shoulders shall be changed into hissing snakes, which shall curl and cluster round thy neck. On thy countenance shall be seen only fear and dread, that so all mortal things which look on thee may die." So Athene departed from her, and the blackness of the great horror rested on the face of Medusa, and the hiss of the snakes was heard as they twined around her head and their coils were wreathed about her neck. Yet the will of Athene was not wholly accomplished, for the heart of Medusa was not changed by the doom which gave to her face its deadly power, and she said, "Daughter of Zeus, there is hope yet, for thou hast left me mortal still, and, one day, I shall die."
DANAE.
From the home of Phœbus Apollo, at Delphi, came words of warning to Akrisios, the King of Argos, when he sent to ask what should befall him in the after days, and the warning was that he should be slain by the son of his daughter, Danae. So the love of Akrisios was changed towards his child, who was growing up fair as the flowers of spring, in her father's house, and he shut her up in a dungeon, caring nothing for her wretchedness. But the power of Zeus was greater than the power of Akrisios, and Danae became the mother of Perseus, and they called her child the Son of the Bright Morning, because Zeus had scattered the darkness of her prison-house. Then Akrisios feared exceedingly, and he spake the word that Danae and her child should die.
The first streak of day was spreading its faint light in the eastern sky when they led Danae to the sea-shore, and put her in a chest, with a loaf of bread and a flask of water. Her child slept in her arms, and the rocking of the waves, as they bore the chest over the heaving sea, made him slumber yet more sweetly, and the tears of Danae fell on him as she thought of the days that were past and the death which she must die in the dark waters. And she prayed to Zeus, and said, "O Zeus, who hast given me my child, canst thou hear me still and save me from this terrible doom?" Then a deep sleep came over Danae, and, as she slept with the babe in her arms, the winds carried the chest at the bidding of Poseidon, and cast it forth on the shore of the island of Seriphos.
Now it so chanced that Diktys, the brother of Polydektes, the King of the Island, was casting a net into the sea, when he saw something thrown up by the waves on the dry land, and he went hastily and took Danae with her child out of the chest, and said, "Fear not, lady, no harm shall happen to thee here, and they who have dealt hardly with thee shall not come nigh to hurt thee in this land." So he led her to the house of King Polydektes, who welcomed her to his home, and Danae had rest after all her troubles.
THEMIS (Goddess of Law).[ToList]
Thus the time went on, and the child Perseus grew up brave and strong, and all who saw him marveled at his beauty. The light of early morning is not more pure than was the color on his fair cheeks, and the golden locks streamed brightly over his shoulders, like the rays of the sun when they rest on the hills at midday. And Danae said, "My child, in the land where thou wast born, they called thee the Son of the Bright Morning. Keep thy faith, and deal justly with all men; so shalt thou deserve the name which they gave thee." Thus Perseus grew up, hating all things that were mean and wrong, and all who looked on him knew that his hands were clean and his heart pure.