Acrisius, the King of Argos, had a daughter whose
beauty was so great that all men marveled to behold it. Her name was Danae. But
the King longed for a son to carry on his noble line. One day he sent a
messenger to the city of Delphi, where dwelt a famous oracle (prophet), and of
him he asked if he was destined to have a son. The oracle prophesied that
Danae, his daughter, would bear a male child. But this son would be the cause
of his death.
Acrisius was terrified. He did not want to have Danae
killed and so he ordered that a house of bronze be built with no windows and only
a single door, of which he himself kept the key. This house was sunk into the
ground and light and air came only through the top. Here Danae remained alone,
with only an old nurse to serve her. But one day, by chance, Zeus saw Danae and
at once fell in love with her. Soon after, as she lay bored and desolate in her
prison home, a shower of gold came falling through the tower’s opening. This
was no ordinary gold, however, but Zeus himself. When he left Danae’s side, he
did so as a glittering stream, which rose shining to the skies.
A son was born to Danae in course of time. Soon, the
king came to know of the birth. When he saw the child, and remembered the words
of the oracle, he was much frightened. He ordered a huge chest to be made and
in it he placed Danae and the newborn infant. The chest was taken to the sea
and set afloat on a stormy night.
The king had wanted to destroy them in this way. But
Fate had destined otherwise. The sea became calm, and the chest slowly and
slowly reached finally a country called Seriphus.
A fisherman, and a brother of the king of this land, found Danae and her
son. He was a good man, and childless, and he took Danae and the boy to live
with him in his humble but at the sea’s shore. He treated them with kindness.
The child grew to manhood and was of exceeding beauty, grace and strength. He
was named Perseus.
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