<h3><!-- page 36--><SPAN name="page36"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>PART IV<br/> HOW PERSEUS CAME TO THE ÆTHIOPS</h3>
<p>So Perseus flitted onward to the north-east, over many a
league of sea, till he came to the rolling sand-hills and the
dreary Lybian shore.</p>
<p>And he flitted on across the desert: over rock-ledges, and
banks of shingle, and level wastes of sand, and shell-drifts
bleaching in the sunshine, and the skeletons of great
sea-monsters, and dead bones of ancient giants, strewn up and
down upon the old sea-floor. And as he went the blood-drops
fell to the earth from the Gorgon’s head, and became
poisonous asps and adders, which breed in the desert to this
day.</p>
<p>Over the sands he went,—he never knew how far or how
long, feeding on the fruit which the Nymphs had given him, till
he saw the hills of the Psylli, and the Dwarfs who fought with
cranes. Their spears were of reeds and rushes, and their
houses of the egg-shells of the cranes; and Perseus laughed, and
went his way to the north-east, hoping all day long to see the
blue Mediterranean sparkling, that he might fly across it to his
home.</p>
<p>But now came down a mighty wind, and swept him back southward
toward the desert. All day long he strove against it; but
even the winged sandals could not prevail. So he was forced
to float down the wind all night; and when the morning dawned
there was nothing to be seen, save the same old hateful waste of
sand.</p>
<p>And out of the north the sandstorms rushed upon him, blood-red
pillars and wreaths, blotting out the noonday sun; and Perseus
fled before them, lest he should be choked by the burning
dust. At last the gale fell calm, and he tried to go
northward again; but again came down the sandstorms, and swept
him back into the waste, and then all was calm and cloudless as
before. Seven days he strove against the storms, and seven
days he was driven back, till he was spent with thirst and
hunger, and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. Here
and there he fancied that he saw a fair lake, and the sunbeams
shining on the water; but when he came to it it vanished at his
feet, and there was nought but burning sand. And if he had
not been of the race of the Immortals, he would have perished in
the waste; but his life was strong within him, because it was
more than man’s.</p>
<p>Then he cried to Athené, and said—</p>
<p>‘Oh, fair and pure, if thou hearest me, wilt thou leave
me here to die of drought? I have brought thee the
Gorgon’s head at thy bidding, and hitherto thou hast
prospered my journey; dost thou desert me at the last? Else
why will not these immortal sandals prevail, even against the
desert storms? Shall I never see my mother more, and the
blue ripple round Seriphos, and the sunny hills of
Hellas?’</p>
<p>So he prayed; and after he had prayed there was a great
silence.</p>
<p>The heaven was still above his head, and the sand was still
beneath his feet; and Perseus looked up, but there was nothing
but the blinding sun in the blinding blue; and round him, but
there was nothing but the blinding sand.</p>
<p>And Perseus stood still a while, and waited, and said,
‘Surely I am not here without the will of the Immortals,
for Athené will not lie. Were not these sandals to
lead me in the right road? Then the road in which I have
tried to go must be a wrong road.’</p>
<p>Then suddenly his ears were opened, and he heard the sound of
running water.</p>
<p>And at that his heart was lifted up, though he scarcely dare
believe his ears; and weary as he was, he hurried forward, though
he could scarcely stand upright; and within a bowshot of him was
a glen in the sand, and marble rocks, and date-trees, and a lawn
of gay green grass. And through the lawn a streamlet
sparkled and wandered out beyond the trees, and vanished in the
sand.</p>
<p>The water trickled among the rocks, and a pleasant breeze
rustled in the dry date-branches and Perseus laughed for joy, and
leapt down the cliff, and drank of the cool water, and ate of the
dates, and slept upon the turf, and leapt up and went forward
again: but not toward the north this time; for he said,
‘Surely Athené hath sent me hither, and will not
have me go homeward yet. What if there be another noble
deed to be done, before I see the sunny hills of
Hellas?’</p>
<p>So he went east, and east for ever, by fresh oases and
fountains, date-palms, and lawns of grass, till he saw before him
a mighty mountain-wall, all rose-red in the setting sun.</p>
<p>Then he towered in the air like an eagle, for his limbs were
strong again; and he flew all night across the mountain till the
day began to dawn, and rosy-fingered Eos came blushing up the
sky. And then, behold, beneath him was the long green
garden of Egypt and the shining stream of Nile.</p>
<p>And he saw cities walled up to heaven, and temples, and
obelisks, and pyramids, and giant Gods of stone. And he
came down amid fields of barley, and flax, and millet, and
clambering gourds; and saw the people coming out of the gates of
a great city, and setting to work, each in his place, among the
water-courses, parting the streams among the plants cunningly
with their feet, according to the wisdom of the Egyptians.
But when they saw him they all stopped their work, and gathered
round him, and cried—</p>
<p>‘Who art thou, fair youth? and what bearest thou beneath
thy goat-skin there? Surely thou art one of the Immortals;
for thy skin is white like ivory, and ours is red like
clay. Thy hair is like threads of gold, and ours is black
and curled. Surely thou art one of the Immortals;’
and they would have worshipped him then and there; but Perseus
said—</p>
<p>‘I am not one of the Immortals; but I am a hero of the
Hellens. And I have slain the Gorgon in the wilderness, and
bear her head with me. Give me food, therefore, that I may
go forward and finish my work.’</p>
<p>Then they gave him food, and fruit, and wine; but they would
not let him go. And when the news came into the city that
the Gorgon was slain, the priests came out to meet him, and the
maidens, with songs and dances, and timbrels and harps; and they
would have brought him to their temple and to their king; but
Perseus put on the hat of darkness, and vanished away out of
their sight.</p>
<p>Therefore the Egyptians looked long for his return, but in
vain, and worshipped him as a hero, and made a statue of him in
Chemmis, which stood for many a hundred years; and they said that
he appeared to them at times, with sandals a cubit long; and that
whenever he appeared the season was fruitful, and the Nile rose
high that year.</p>
<p>Then Perseus went to the eastward, along the Red Sea shore;
and then, because he was afraid to go into the Arabian deserts,
he turned northward once more, and this time no storm hindered
him.</p>
<p>He went past the Isthmus, and Mount Casius, and the vast
Serbonian bog, and up the shore of Palestine, where the
dark-faced Æthiops dwelt.</p>
<p>He flew on past pleasant hills and valleys, like Argos itself,
or Lacedæmon, 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.</p>
<p>And Perseus feared to go inland, but flew along the shore
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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>‘This,’ thought he, ‘must surely be the
statue of some sea-God; I will go near and see what kind of Gods
these barbarians worship.’</p>
<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 shivered when the waves sprinkled her with cold salt
spray. Her arms were spread above her head, and fastened to
the rock with chains of brass; 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.</p>
<p style="text-align: center">
<SPAN href="images/p43b.jpg">
<ANTIMG alt= "Perseus and the maid" title= "Perseus and the maid" src="images/p43s.jpg" /></SPAN></p>
<p>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.’</p>
<p>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—</p>
<p>‘Do not fear me, fair one; I am a Hellen, and no
barbarian. What cruel men have bound you? But first I
will set you free.’</p>
<p>And he tore at the fetters, but they were too strong for him;
while the maiden cried—</p>
<p>‘Touch me not; I am accursed, devoted as a victim to the
sea-Gods. They will slay you, if you dare to set me
free.’</p>
<p>‘Let them try,’ said Perseus; and drawing,
Herpé from his thigh, he cut through the brass as if it
had been flax.</p>
<p>‘Now,’ he said, ‘you belong to me, and not
to these sea-Gods, whosoever they may be!’ But she
only called the more on her mother.</p>
<p>‘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
Athené sent me hither. She sent me to gain a prize
worth all my toil and more.’</p>
<p>And he clasped her in his arms, and cried, ‘Where are
these sea-Gods, 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.’</p>
<p>And she answered, weeping—</p>
<p>‘I am the daughter of Cepheus, King of Iopa, and my
mother is Cassiopoeia 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 shore 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.’</p>
<p>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?’</p>
<p>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—</p>
<p>‘Why will you die, young as you are? Is there not
death and sorrow enough in the world already? It is noble
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.’</p>
<p>But Perseus cried, ‘Not so; for the Lords of Olympus,
whom I serve, are the friends of the heroes, and help them on to
noble 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.’</p>
<p>But the maiden answered nothing, for she could not believe his
words. And then, suddenly looking up, she pointed to the
sea, and shrieked—</p>
<p>‘There he comes, with the sunrise, as they
promised. I must die now. How shall I endure
it? Oh, go! Is it not dreadful enough to be torn
piecemeal, without having you to look on?’ And she
tried to thrust him away.</p>
<p>But he said, ‘I go; yet promise me one thing ere I go:
that if I slay this beast you will be my wife, and come back with
me to my kingdom in fruitful Argos, for I am a king’s
heir. Promise me, and seal it with a kiss.’</p>
<p>Then she lifted up her face, and kissed him; and Perseus
laughed for joy, and flew upward, while Andromeda crouched
trembling on the rock, waiting for what might befall.</p>
<p>On came the great sea-monster, coasting along like a huge
black galley, lazily breasting the ripple, and stopping at times
by creek or headland to watch for the laughter of girls at their
bleaching, or cattle pawing on the sand-hills, or boys bathing on
the beach. His great sides were fringed with clustering
shells and sea-weeds, and the water gurgled in and out of his
wide jaws, as he rolled along, dripping and glistening in the
beams of the morning sun.</p>
<p>At last he saw Andromeda, and shot forward to take his prey,
while the waves foamed white behind him, and before him the fish
fled leaping.</p>
<p>Then down from the height of the air fell Perseus like a
shooting star; down to the crests of the waves, while Andromeda
hid her face as he shouted; and then there was silence for a
while.</p>
<p>At last she looked up trembling, and saw Perseus springing
toward her; and instead of the monster a long black rock, with
the sea rippling quietly round it.</p>
<p>Who then so proud as Perseus, as he leapt back to the rock,
and lifted his fair Andromeda in his arms, and flew with her to
the cliff-top, as a falcon carries a dove?</p>
<p>Who so proud as Perseus, and who so joyful as all the
Æthiop people? For they had stood watching the
monster from the cliffs, wailing for the maiden’s
fate. And already a messenger had gone to Cepheus and
Cassiopoeia, where they sat in sackcloth and ashes on the ground,
in the innermost palace chambers, awaiting their daughter’s
end. And they came, and all the city with them, to see the
wonder, with songs and with dances, with cymbals and harps, and
received their daughter back again, as one alive from the
dead.</p>
<p>Then Cepheus said, ‘Hero of the Hellens, stay here with
me and be my son-in-law, and I will give you the half of my
kingdom.’</p>
<p>‘I will be your son-in-law,’ said Perseus,
‘but of your kingdom I will have none, for I long after the
pleasant land of Greece, and my mother who waits for me at
home.’</p>
<p>Then Cepheus said, ‘You must not take my daughter away
at once, for she is to us like one alive from the dead.
Stay with us here a year, and after that you shall return with
honour.’ And Perseus consented; but before he went to
the palace he bade the people bring stones and wood, and built
three altars, one to Athené, and one to Hermes, and one to
Father Zeus, and offered bullocks and rams.</p>
<p>And some said, ‘This is a pious man;’ yet the
priests said, ‘The Sea Queen will be yet more fierce
against us, because her monster is slain.’ But they
were afraid to speak aloud, for they feared the Gorgon’s
head. So they went up to the palace; and when they came in,
there stood in the hall Phineus, the brother of Cepheus, chafing
like a bear robbed of her whelps, and with him his sons, and his
servants, and many an armed man; and he cried to
Cepheus—</p>
<p>‘You shall not marry your daughter to this stranger, of
whom no one knows even the name. Was not Andromeda
betrothed to my son? And now she is safe again, has he not
a right to claim her?’</p>
<p>But Perseus laughed, and answered, ‘If your son is in
want of a bride, let him save a maiden for himself. As yet
he seems but a helpless bride-groom. He left this one to
die, and dead she is to him. I saved her alive, and alive
she is to me, but to no one else. Ungrateful man! have I
not saved your land, and the lives of your sons and daughters,
and will you requite me thus? Go, or it will be worse for
you.’ But all the men-at-arms drew their swords, and
rushed on him like wild beasts.</p>
<p>Then he unveiled the Gorgon’s head, and said,
‘This has delivered my bride from one wild beast: it shall
deliver her from many.’ And as he spoke Phineus and
all his men-at-arms stopped short, and stiffened each man as he
stood; and before Perseus had drawn the goat-skin over the face
again, they were all turned into stone.</p>
<p>Then Persons bade the people bring levers and roll them out;
and what was done with them after that I cannot tell.</p>
<p>So they made a great wedding-feast, which lasted seven whole
days, and who so happy as Perseus and Andromeda?</p>
<p>But on the eighth night Perseus dreamed a dream; and he saw
standing beside him Pallas Athené, as he had seen her in
Seriphos, seven long years before; and she stood and called him
by name, and said—</p>
<p>‘Perseus, you have played the man, and see, you have
your reward. Know now that the Gods are just, and help him
who helps himself. Now give me here Herpé the sword,
and the sandals, and the hat of darkness, that I may give them
back to their owners; but the Gorgon’s head you shall keep
a while, for you will need it in your land of Greece. Then
you shall lay it up in my temple at Seriphos, that I may wear it
on my shield for ever, a terror to the Titans and the monsters,
and the foes of Gods and men. And as for this land, I have
appeased the sea and the fire, and there shall be no more floods
nor earthquakes. But let the people build altars to Father
Zeus, and to me, and worship the Immortals, the Lords of heaven
and earth.’</p>
<p>And Perseus rose to give her the sword, and the cap, and the
sandals; but he woke, and his dream vanished away. And yet
it was not altogether a dream; for the goat-skin with the head
was in its place; but the sword, and the cap, and the sandals
were gone, and Perseus never saw them more.</p>
<p>Then a great awe fell on Perseus; and he went out in the
morning to the people, and told his dream, and bade them build
altars to Zeus, the Father of Gods and men, and to Athené,
who gives wisdom to heroes; and fear no more the earthquakes and
the floods, but sow and build in peace. And they did so for
a while, and prospered; but after Perseus was gone they forgot
Zeus and Athené, and worshipped again Atergatis the queen,
and the undying fish of the sacred lake, where Deucalion’s
deluge was swallowed up, and they burnt their children before the
Fire King, till Zeus was angry with that foolish people, and
brought a strange nation against them out of Egypt, who fought
against them and wasted them utterly, and dwelt in their cities
for many a hundred years.</p>
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