Perseus saw that one old woman had one eye, and no tooth; that another one had one tooth and no eye; and that the third had neither eye nor tooth. Perseus said, “I have lost my way and wish to stay here for the night.” But the one with the eye looked at him and said, “I hear a voice but see no one.” Then she took out her eye and passed it to the other two sisters in turn, who put it in their eye sockets, but they also said, “No, we see nothing.”
Then Perseus took off his helmet and said, “Perhaps you see me now.” Then the old women looked at him one at a time and saw him. His helmet had made him invisible. Then the old woman asked him to wait while they ate. They passed the eye and the tooth from one to another and each one ate until all had enough. Then they took the eye and the tooth and locked them up in a box and asked Perseus to go to bed.
But Perseus seized the box and said, “Now, you can never see, nor eat again, unless you tell me where the Gorgons live, and where I can find Medusa. I have come to cut off her head.”
The old women cried and stumbled around blind and toothless, but they finally promised to tell Perseus the hiding place of the demon sisters if he would return the eye and the tooth. To-morrow we shall see what happened.
THE ADVENTURES OF PERSEUS
Part Two
Wherein the hero slays the Gorgon, and has other adventures.
Perseus gave back to the old women their only eye and tooth, on condition that they would tell him where the Medusa lived.
The oldest woman said, “You must go on until you come to the country of King Atlas, called Mauretania. Here you will find a garden guarded by a dragon. If you get by the dragon you will find trees with golden apples. After you have walked a great distance you will come to a lake where the Gorgons live.”