But Perseus laughed and said, “A sea-monster!  I have fought with worse than he.”

Andromeda looked up at him, and new hope was kindled in her heart, so proud and fair did he stand, with one hand round her, and in the other the glittering sword.

But still she sighed and said, “Why will you die, young as you are?  Go you your way, I must go mine.”

Perseus cried, “Not so:  I slew the Gorgon by the help of the gods, 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.”

But the maiden answered nothing, for she could not believe his words.

Then suddenly looking up, she pointed to the sea and shrieked, “There he comes with the sunrise as they said.  I must die now.  Oh go!” And she tried to thrust him away.

And Perseus 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, for I am a King’s son.  Promise me, and seal it with a kiss.”

Then she lifted up her face and kissed him, and Perseus laughed for joy and flew upward, while Andromeda crouched trembling on the rock.

On came the great sea-monster, lazily breasting the ripple and stopping at times by creek or headland.  His great sides were fringed with clustering shells and seaweeds, and the water gurgled in and out of his wide jaws as he rolled along.  At last he saw Andromeda and shot forward to take his prey.

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.

When at last she looked up trembling, Andromeda saw Perseus springing towards her, and instead of the monster, a long black rock, with the sea rippling quietly round it.

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!  Who so proud as Perseus, and who so joyful as the people of the land!

And the King and the Queen came, and all the people came with songs and dances to receive Andromeda back again, as one alive from the dead.

Then the King said to Perseus, “Hero of the Hellens, stay here with me and be my son-in-law, and I will give you the half of my kingdom.”

“I will be your son-in-law,” said Perseus, “but of your kingdom will I have none, for I long after the pleasant land of Greece, and my mother who waits for me at home.”

Then said the King, “You must not take my daughter away at once, for she is to us as one alive from the dead.  Stay with us here a year, and after that you shall return with honor.”

And Perseus consented, but before he went to the palace he bade the people bring stones and wood and build an altar to Athene, and there he offered bullocks and rams.  Then they made a great wedding feast, which lasted seven whole days.