'
So Danae was comforted, and went home with Dictys the good
fisherman, and was a daughter to him and to his wife, till fifteen
years were past.
PART II--HOW PERSEUS VOWED A RASH VOW
Fifteen years were past and gone, and the babe was now grown to be
a tall lad and a sailor, and went many voyages after merchandise to
the islands round. His mother called him Perseus; but all the
people in Seriphos said that he was not the son of mortal man, and
called him the son of Zeus, the king of the Immortals. For though
he was but fifteen, he was taller by a head than any man in the
island; and he was the most skilful of all in running and wrestling
and boxing, and in throwing the quoit and the javelin, and in
rowing with the oar, and in playing on the harp, and in all which
befits a man. And he was brave and truthful, gentle and courteous,
for good old Dictys had trained him well; and well it was for
Perseus that he had done so. For now Danae and her son fell into
great danger, and Perseus had need of all his wit to defend his
mother and himself.
I said that Dictys' brother was Polydectes, king of the island. He
was not a righteous man, like Dictys; but greedy, and cunning, and
cruel. And when he saw fair Danae, he wanted to marry her. But
she would not; for she did not love him, and cared for no one but
her boy, and her boy's father, whom she never hoped to see again.
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