So she became the sister of the Gorgons, Stheino and Euryte the
abhorred, the daughters of the Queen of the Sea. Touch them not,
for they are immortal; but bring me only Medusa's head.'
'And I will bring it!' said Perseus; 'but how am I to escape her
eyes? Will she not freeze me too into stone?'
'You shall take this polished shield,' said Athene, 'and when you
come near her look not at her herself, but at her image in the
brass; so you may strike her safely. And when you have struck off
her head, wrap it, with your face turned away, in the folds of the
goat-skin on which the shield hangs, the hide of Amaltheie, the
nurse of the AEgis-holder. So you will bring it safely back to me,
and win to yourself renown, and a place among the heroes who feast
with the Immortals upon the peak where no winds blow.'
Then Perseus said, 'I will go, though I die in going. But how
shall I cross the seas without a ship? And who will show me my
way? And when I find her, how shall I slay her, if her scales be
iron and brass?'
Then the young man spoke: 'These sandals of mine will bear you
across the seas, and over hill and dale like a bird, as they bear
me all day long; for I am Hermes, the far-famed Argus-slayer, the
messenger of the Immortals who dwell on Olympus.'
Then Perseus fell down and worshipped, while the young man spoke
again:
'The sandals themselves will guide you on the road, for they are
divine and cannot stray; and this sword itself, the Argus-slayer,
will kill her, for it is divine, and needs no second stroke.
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