An oracle told him that I was fated to kill him,” he explained. “For five days my mother and I were the playthings of the winds, tossed by the waves this way and that. Eventually we washed up with the flotsam and jetsam on the shore of the island of Seriphos where we were discovered by a fisherman. He brought us to King Polydectes who took us into his palace and looked after us. The only problem was, see, he fancied my mother, the beautiful Danae, the bride of Zeus. He came to her as a shower of golden rain.”
“As Zeus does,” I said.
“As time went by, and I grew older, Polydectes resented me more and more. He thought that I was keeping my mother from him. So when it was his birthday, he came up with a wheeze to get me out of the way. I asked him what he wanted as a present – and he replied: “The head of the Gorgon Medusa.”
“The head of who?”
“Medusa. She was once a beautiful woman, but she too found a way to anger the gods by violating the temple of Athena. The vengeful goddess gave Medusa the worst hair day in all of history. She made her head full of snakes – hissing, spitting and writhing. She is so terrifying to behold that any man who looks at her immediately turns into stone. She is quite literally petrifying.”
“And women?” I asked.
“I do not know. I believe it is men who fear the head of Medusa most.”
“Well that’s quite a quest,” I said. “I wish you luck with it.” I thought perhaps that when he next flew off, he would never come back. It was a pity, because as I said, he was a nice looking chap. He had muscles alright. But we did not have time to chat more because who should turn up then, but the most annoying man in my life – and that’s saying something – Uncle Phineus, the pirate who thought he had a right to marry his own niece. Well now I had a protector who would show him. There was only one problem. My uncle had a whole army with him.
When my uncle and would-be husband saw Perseus sitting cosily close up to me, his eyes blazed with fury. He raised his spear ready to throw it at my body. That wasn’t nice. My father stood up and called out:
"Brother, what are you doing? Perseus has won the right to marry my daughter. Do not blame him for losing your bride. It was Poseidon who meant to take her away from all of us by sending his sea serpent to devour her."
Phineus had a hot temper, however, and would hear none of it. He threw his spear and missed. Perseus would have returned it with interest – but my uncle sought divine protection by diving behind the altar of Bacchus. Then there broke out an almighty brawl between Phineus’ army of pirates and my father’s body guards. Perseus was active too, cutting down pirates right and left with his sword, but it was clear that our side of the family was heavily outnumbered. When things were looking bad for us, Perseus picked up his goatskin sack. I thought “Uh oh, he’s off, preparing to make his getaway,” but now I know that Perseus is not one to flee from a fight. He called out: “Our side, all look away – Now!” And turning his own head away, he reached inside the bag and pulled out the head of Medusa. I could look at it because I am a girl, and we women are not so easily petrified by revolting stuff as men are. It was truly hideous – more so than that sea monster. It was the combination of a pale but beautiful face and those foul snakes. They made my blood run cold, but I did not turn to stone. The pirates of Phineus however, all instantly became statues. My uncle had managed to look away at the last moment and was shielding his eyes with his sleeve. Now he started to plead:
“Perseus. You are the rightful husband of Andromeda. I acknowledge that I was wrong to attack you. Show mercy. Spare me.” But my fiance called back:
“You shall not suffer the sword. I will cause you to be an enduring monument through the ages, and you will always be seen in my father-in-law’s palace.”
He walked over to where Phineus was hiding and dangled the snakes over his face – and he too turned into a statue. A well deserved fate, I say.
By now I realised that Perseus had already completed his mission to cut off the Gorgon’s head. He told me how Athena had given him the equipment he needed for the deed. She provided him with the shiny shield, and told him to look only at Medusa’s reflection, not at her directly. She gave him too the divine sword with which to cut off her horrid head
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