The Gorgon’s Head
Anne Terry White
The
King of Argos-Acrisius received a dreadful oracle. It has been said that no son
shall be born to him but you shall have a grandson and by his hand you shall
die. In fear of the oracle the King locked up his maiden daughter Danae in
house of bronze all sunk underground but he forgot to take the gods into
account. So when Zeus beheld the beautiful Danae looking up the sky he turned
himself in a shower of gold and barged into her room. Not long after Danae bore
a son which she hid from the King but the King eventually found out. In fear of
the god’s wrath he threw both Danae and her child in a chest into the sea.
Dictys found the chest which held both Danae and her child. When Perseus had
grown into a fine young man, Danae’s beauty never changed so it wasn’t a shock
that King Polydectes, the brother of Dictys fell in love with her. King
Polydectes hated Perseus for the attention Danae was giving him so thought of
sending the naiive Perseus to behead the gorgon Medusa for he knew it was an
impossible task. Perseus as naiive as he can be played right into the cruel
King’s plan. Perseus was successful in cutting off Medusa’s head on his way
back he saw a beautiful maiden about to be sacrificed to the sea serpent, her
name was Andromeda. Perseus used the gorgon’s head to defeat the sea serpent.
He then took Andromeda as his wife. Next he killed Phineas the man who tried to
steal his wife. After that he went back to King Polydectes to show that he had
indeed slain Medusa. But the King taunted Perseus, so Perseus made the King
into stone. Not long after Perseus, his mother and wife sailed back to Argos
for Danae had missed her father. When they arrived the King was not around and
at the same time he heard that there were games being held so he want there and
joined. When it was his turn to throw the discus, it swayed and killed an old
man in the audiences, it was King Acrisius.
-The
values in this story is that we should be brave enough to face the challenges
in our life. Goodness will always win and the evil will always be vanquished.
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