in her hand a spear. And over her shoulder, above her long blue robes,
hung a goat-skin, which bore up a mighty shield of brass, polished
like a mirror.

She stood and looked at him with her clear gray eyes. And Perseus
dropped his eyes, trembling and blushing, as the wonderful lady spoke.
"Perseus, you must do an errand for me."

"Who are you, lady? And how do you know my name?"

Then the strange lady, whose name was Athene, laughed, and held up
her brazen shield, and cried, "See here, Perseus, dare you face such
a monster as this and slay it, that I may place its head upon this
shield?"

And in the mirror of the shield there appeared a face, and as Perseus
looked on it his blood ran cold. It was the face of a beautiful woman,
but her cheeks were pale, and her lips were thin. Instead of hair,
vipers wreathed about her temples and shot out their forked tongues,
and she had claws of brass.

Perseus looked awhile and then said, "If there is anything so fierce
and ugly on earth, it were a noble deed to kill it. Where can I find
the monster?"

Then the strange lady smiled again and said, "You are too young, for
this is Medusa the Gorgon. Return to your home, and when you have done
the work that awaits you there, you may be worthy to go in search of
the monster."