McGraw©Hill/Focus/Perseus p. 165////R7N10/ ***** Perseus was the son of Zeus and Danaá‰á. His grandfather

Acrisius alarmed by an oracle that had told him his daughter's

child would be the instrument of his death, had the mother and

child shut up in a chest and set adrift on the sea. The chest

floated towards Seriphus, where it was found by a fisherman who

took the mother and infant to Polydectes, the king of the

country, by whom they were treated with kindness. When Perseus was grown, Polydectes sent him to conquer

Medusa, a terrible monster who had ravaged the country. She was

once a beautiful maiden whose hair was her chief glory. When she

dared to compete in beauty with Athena, the goddess deprived her

of her charms and changed her beautiful ringlets into hissing

serpents. Medusa became a cruel monster of so frightful an

aspect that no living thing could behold her without being turned

into stone. All around the cavern where she dwelt were the stony figures

of people and animals which had chanced to catch a glimpse of her

and had been petrified with the sight. Perseus, favored by the goddess Athena, who lent him her

shield, and the god Hermes, who lent him his winged shoes,

approached Medusa while she slept. Taking care not to look

directly at her, but guided by her image reflected in the bright

shield which he bore, he cut off her head. Then bearing with him

the head of the Gorgon, he flew far and wide over land and sea.