Perseus blushed and stammered, while all the proud men round laughed and mocked, till the lad grew mad with shame, and hardly knowing what he said, cried out:
"A present! See if I do not bring a nobler one than all of yours together!"
"Hear the boaster! What is the present to be?" cried they all, laughing louder than ever.
Then Perseus remembered his strange dream, and he cried aloud, "The head of Medusa the Gorgon!"
He was half afraid after he had said the words, for all laughed louder than ever, and Polydectes loudest of all, while he said:
"You have promised to bring me the Gorgon's head. Then never appear again in this island without it. Go!"
Perseus saw that he had fallen into a trap, but he went out without a word.
Down to the cliffs he went, and looked across the broad blue sea, and wondered if his dream were true.
"Athene, was my dream true? Shall I slay the Gorgon?" he prayed. "Rashly and angrily I promised, but wisely and patiently will I perform."