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The Beginning
A King, slightly ashamed that he had a daughter and therefore, no heir to his throne, seeks help from the oracle at Delphi to see what he could do and if he would ever have a son. She tells him no, but that his daughter's son would cause his destruction. Like any king, he doesn't like thsoe odds, and locks away his daughter in a cell of bronze that allowed light to come in so she would never marry or have children in an attempt to preserve his own life without having to kill his daughter. -
You Too?!
As Danae sat in her "cell", a golden shower rained down from Zeus. Zeus impregnates her and she bears a son and somehow keeps the child from her father. It seems like everybody gets pregnant from Zeus if they're locked away or hidden....
Anyway, she keeps the son away from her father and names him Perseus. One day the king finds out about the son and asks her how she had this child when she had been locked away. She proudly acclaims Zeus is the father, but the King doesn't believe her. -
Let's Try Again
The King, in another attempt to stay alive longer, locks his daughter Danae and Perseus in a chest and sends it on a boat to drown them out at sea. Either Fate or Zeus willed that they would be discovered by a fisherman on the boat who takes them to his home where his wife accepts them and they become foster parents for an abandoned child and her son. -
Can He Do It Alone?
Everyone knew that no one could slay Medusa without divine help. Perseus traveled to Delphi to see what help he could get from the oracle. All she could say is to go to the land where they ate acorns instead of Demeter's grain. Going there, they could only tell him that the gods were protecting him. It seemed like no one knew where the Gorgons lived. -
The Journey Begins
The king of where the fisherman and his wife lived hadn't noticed that Danae and her son were in the kingdom for a long time, but when he did, he fell in love with Danae. By the way, doesn't it seem that in all these stories, people fall in love with other people upon first sight? It's kind of scary. Anyway, he loved Danae, but he wanted nothing to do with Perseus. As a present to the king, Perseus offered to acquire the heads of one of the Gorgons who were awful monsters known for their power. -
Hermes, Where Have You Been All My Life?
When Perseus met Hermes, holding a winged wand and wearing winged helmet and sandals, hope filled him. This is a little strange since Hermes is known for his michief. If anything, he should probably feel a little skeptical. But like a fairy godmother, Hermes actually does wonders and tells him to go to the Gray Women to find where the Nymphs are. He tells him exactly how to get the Gray Women to give him directions, and even told him he would lead him to them and give him a sword to kill Medusa. -
Nymphs Are Cool
When he arrives to the nymphs, they show him overwhelming kindness and gave him more gifts for his journey to the Gorgons: Winged sandals, a magic wallet that changes sizes to accomodate anything that needs to go inside, and a helmet of invisibility. Perseus now had everything he needed to slay Medusa. -
Lady Luck Loves Perseus
Perseus finds the Gorgon sisters asleep on their island, a very lucky thing for his behalf. In the mirror of the shield, he could see them clearly. Athena and Hermes point out Medusa which helps because the other two are immortal. Perseus hovered, looking at them through the shield. He aimed for Medusa's throat with the sword guided by Athena, like a parent teaching a child how to ride a bike by holding onto the handle bars. -
Athena To The Rescue!
Athena then shows herself to Perseus, and gives him her breastplate and tells him to use it as a mirror. Now fully equipped to kill Medusa, he just needs to find out where he lives. He goes on the journey with Hermes to the Gray Women, steals their eye that they share, and threatens that he won't give it back until he gets the directions to the nymphs. They give him the directions right away, like children that tell the truth after you take their favorite toy away. -
Kill The Ruthless King!
He sails back to find his mother with his new bride. When he gets to his house, he finds no one there. The kind fisherman's wife was long dead, and his mother and the fisherman had taken refuge in a temple somewhere because the king was angry that she refused to marry him. The King was holding a banquet for his supporters, so Perseus showed up and turned them all to stone with the head of Medusa which he pulled out of the magic wallet. -
Things Come True
He finds his mother and the fisherman, and instantly makes the fisherman king. Perseus, his mother and his new wife decide to go find his mothers father, the first king in the story, in Greece. They find he left and no one knew where he was. Perseus then attends an athletic contest and competes, but during the discus throwing contest his disc goes into the audience and hits a man, killing him. Later, they find out it was his grandfather. The Oracle was right, Perseus does kill him! -
Let's Get Out of Here!
Perseus swoops down to get the head right as the two remaining sisters wake up. He put the head into the magic wallet and put on his invisibility cap to get away from the enraged Gorgon sisters. He flees and goes to Ethiopia and Hermes leaves him. He falls in love with a maiden that was sentenced to be slain by a sea serpant because her family is vain and boast about beauty they didn't have. He slays the serpant himself and marries her. -
Happy Endings
With his grandfather's death, his family's troubles went away. Unlike previous stories we have read, Perseus and his wife don't die, and neither does his mother. They actually continue out their lives happily, and Perseus and his wife even have a son. As for Medusa's head, it's with Athena and she always bore it on Zeus's shield, which she carried for him.