THE GORGON’S HEAD. 4,7

and ordered him, with the stern, deep voice of authority,
on his peril, to produce the head.

“Show me the Gorgon’s head, or I will cut off your
own!”

And Perseus sighed.

“This instant,” repeated Polydectes, “‘ or you die

“ Behold it, then!’ cried Perseus, in a voice like the
blast of a trumpet.

And, suddenly holding up the head, not an eyelid had
time to wink before the wicked King Polydectes, his evil
counsellors, and all his fierce subjects were no longer
anything but the mere images of a monarch and his peo-
ple. They were all fixed, forever, in the look and atti-
tude of that moment! At the first glimpse of the terri-
ble head of Medusa, they whitened into marble! And
Perseus thrust the head back into his wallet, and went
to tell his dear mother that she need no longer be afraid
of the wicked King Polydectes.

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