The story of Perseus

Perseus

This story is a Greek mythological story called Perseus. The main idea of this passage is that Perseus killed medusa. So, we begin when there was a king named Acrisius, he had a daughter in which she was called Danae. The oracle of Apollo told the king that Danae's son would someday kill him. He tried to prevent this by locking his daughter in a bronze tower so that she would never marry anybody, or have children. This being said, that tower had one very small window, and with that, one day a shower of gold came through that window. A man had appeared, holding a thunderbolt in his hand, Danae knew he was a god but didn't quite know which one. He said he was indeed a god and he wished to make her his wife, he could also change the bronze tower into a sunny land with many flowers. One day though Acrisius saw light coming from the tower, he ordered his men to tear down a wall, and he then saw Danae with a baby on her lap, she then said "I have named him Perseus." He was furious about this and so he locked Danae and Perseus inside a chest and made them float away. However, they somehow got safely to the island of Seriphos, where Polydectes was king. The king's brother, who was a fisherman, caught them in his net and pulled them to shore. His name was Dectys. Perseus grew up and became a strong young man. One day, though, Polydectes found out about Danae, and asked for her hand in marriage, to which she refused. He was going to marry her by force but Perseus made sure that didn't happen. He had decided on a plan to get rid of Perseus, he was going to pretend to marry a daughter of a friend of his. Everybody had to bring a present, even Perseus. Polydectes pretended to be angry when Perseus hadn't brought a present, because he was poor. Perseus said that he would bring Polydectes any present in the world, so he wanted the head of the gorgon Medusa, hoping that she would kill Perseus. For days he wandered, searching, until he realized things were hopeless. The gorgons were terrible creatures, instead of hair they had snakes on their heads, and if you looked a gorgon in the eyes you were instantly turned to stone. Suddenly a tall woman and a young man with winged sandals appeared. The young man said "I am Hermes and this is our sister Athena." He told Perseus that he was a son of Zeus, and that they had some that would help him to slay Medusa. Hermes gave him the winged sandals, and a sickle. Athena also gave him a gift, a shield to reflect Medusa's image, so that he wouldn't be turned to stone. Athena told Perseus to find the Graeae and have them tell him how to get to the Nymphs of the North, for they would give him the Cap of Darkness and a magic wallet along with telling him how to find the gorgons lair. So Perseus found the Graeae, they were strange women, there were three of them, and they shared one eye, of which they fought over. Perseus hid behind some bushes and watched them, when one took out the eye to give it to another Perseus snatched it up. He then said, "I have your eye and if you don't tell me how to find the Nymphs of the North you shall never have it back!" They told him where to find the Nymphs of the north, and then he flew off using his winged sandals. The kind Nymphs of the North gave him the Cap of Darkness which has the power to make it's wearer invisible and the magic wallet. Also telling him how to reach the gorgons, Perseus had wandered farther north until he found an island surrounded by rocks and statues of those that used to be men. Perseus had raised his shield and saw Medusa and her sisters sleeping, he put on the Cap of Darkness and flew down, he swung the sickle feeling it tear through sinew and bone, still looking into the shield he put the head into the magic wallet. Medusa's sisters had woken up and attacked Perseus, he had flown quickly away on his sandals and wasn't hurt. So, on his way back to Seriphus he had many adventures, one of them was that he had seen Atlas holding up the sky, and Perseus was sorry for him so he turned him to stone with Medusa's head so that he could no longer feel the weight of his burden. Later he saw something that looked like a statue that was chained to a rock, he flew down, and he saw that it was not a statue but that it was a woman. Perseus asked why she was chained to the rock, and she said that her name was Andromeda and that she was punished because of her vain mother, she had boasted that Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids, and Poseidon was angered. He had said that she must also be sacrificed to a sea monster, and when she spoke a monster had risen from the sea. Perseus had pulled Medusa's head out of the magic wallet and the sea monster had turned to stone and crumbled to pieces. Perseus cut Andromeda's chains and took her to her father, King Capheus of Phoenicia, Perseus asked for her hand in marriage and the king had ever so happily agreed. So they had set off for Seriphus, on the way they stopped at Larisa so Perseus could compete in some games, but when he threw a discus it had hit an old man in the stands who was Danae's father Acrisius. So the prophecy had come true and after morning, they set off for home. When they had arrived, they had met Dictys first, the fisherman who had brought Perseus and his mother to shore. He told Perseus and Andromeda that Polydectys had lied and never really married, but since Danae wouldn't marry him he had forced her to be his handmaiden, this news had made Perseus furious, he had then told Dictys to take care of Andromeda. Perseus had stormed into the palace, walked in and said, "Let all who are my friends shield their eyes!" After he had said that he raised Medusa's head and Polydectes along with his courtiers were changed to stone, becoming statues. Perseus and Andromeda lived happily for years and their descendants had become great kings, but the greatest one, was Heracles, the strongest man in the world. Later Perseus was killed by Dionysus, Perseus and Andromeda were put into the sky as constellations.