Her Story

She was the most beautiful in all of the land. No one could challenge her beauty, despite numerous attempts to undermine it. People gossiped about how it was almost impossible to have a face and body that pretty. Although she was pretty, she wasn’t humble. She bragged to her ugly brothers and sisters, born from her sea witch of a mother, about how ugly they were and how pretty she was. People came from all over to see her beauty, and everyone envied her. One day, she swam up to a rock in the middle of the sea and started bragging out loud about how much prettier she was than Athena. Athena heard this and became furious. She screamed to the girl, saying, “You will only live your life with such ugliness, and anyone who looks at you will turn to stone in an instant! One unknown day, a boy will kill you! I have cursed you to a retched death, and you will live in fear!” Athena returned to the ocean, leaving the girl to ponder what Athena had done to her. After a minute or so, she felt a horrible pain in her head and looked down at her reflection from the sea, to see a pile of twisted snakes instead of hair. She was no longer beautiful, but a horrible monster, just like her siblings. Now, when people came to look for her and see her beauty, they froze in stone once they made eye contact with her. As a reminder of what she had done and how much of a monster she had become, she kept the heads lined up in her cave. She had become a monster. And her name… was Medusa.

Our story doesn’t end there, no, no. As Athena said, a boy was sent to kill Medusa, but he didn’t know it yet. An old fisherman found a dirty chest and opened it to see a young woman and a boy, all curled up and shivering. “Praise Athena, we are free!” the woman said, “This is my son, Perseus, and I am Danae. We don’t know why we’re here, only that my father sent us in this chest.” The fisherman took Danae and Perseus to his home, where he took care of their wounds and fed them. “Do not venture to the other side of the island,” said the old fisherman, “My evil brother lives there, and if he finds you, then you will be in great danger.” Danae and Perseus lived like that for a while, but one day, Danae thought about how there was little harm in going to the other side of the island. So, she ventured to the other side, where the guards of the fishermen’s brother took her. Perseus saw this and followed Danae over to the other side of the island, only to be captured by the same guards and taken prisoner.

Danae and Perseus were taken to a giant hall, where Polydectes, the fisherman’s brother, sat on a throne. He ordered the guards to bring Danae to him so he could have a closer look at her. He was astonished by her beauty and immediately told her that she would marry him the next morning. He heard a voice that sounded like honey that said, “You can get the boy away by telling him to gather the head of Medusa, so then you can have her all to yourself.” Polydectes was baffled by the idea, but it might have worked. He told Perseus the task and that it was a wedding gift. Little did he know about the curse Athena had set, and what was in store for him…

Perseus thought about what Polydectes had told him, and didn’t know the tale of the snake-headed monster that he was sent to slay. But, he had to do the task; his and his mother’s lives were at risk. While he was thinking about how the task was impossible, Athena appeared with Hermes and told him, “Come with us to go to the Gray Sisters. They can tell you how to get to Medusa.” Perseus had no other choice but to follow them, so he did. Athena and Hermes took him to a remote island, where three horrifying gray creatures were standing, and each one had a gaping hole in the middle of its head where an eye should have been. Athena told Perseus that they all share one eye, and the gray creatures spoke in perfect unison, saying, “Who speaks?” The first sister grabbed the eye from the second and stuffed it into the hole in her head, while she screamed. The third sister told her to hand her the eye, and while one of the Gray Sisters passed her sister the eye, Perseus took it and said, “I now have your eye, and if you want it back, you’ll have to tell me where to find Medusa.” The sisters flailed and tried to reach for the eye, but Perseus held it above his head. “Tell me!” He yelled. One of the sisters said, “Fine. You must venture beyond the sea to the Isle of the North. There, the nymphs of the winds will help you and give you what you need to finally get to Medusa’s cave. Our eye now!”

Perseus dropped the eye, and Hermes & Athena flew him over the sea. While he was watching the landscape change from land to ocean, Perseus heard voices calling out to him. Soon, he felt sandals strapped to his feet, a bag on his shoulder, and a helmet on his head. “Go, go to the Isle of the Hyperboreans, where you will find who you seek.”

He reached the Isle of the Hyperboreans and saw a cave, with a hunched-over creature in the shadows. “Remember,” Athena said, “Never look into the eyes of Medusa, as you will turn to stone in an instant. Look at your reflection in this shield, and use my sword to chop off her head. The sword will fly at your command. Now go!” He entered the cave and used the shield to see that Medusa was sleeping. He raised his sword as she woke, and she screeched. Her snakes withered slowly as he placed her head in his bag.

The walk to the island was brutal, as Perseus kept thinking about his bad deed, but his mind always fluttered to how his mother would’ve died if he hadn’t done it. When he finally got to the island, he saw the old fisherman’s brother with a knife raised to kill Danae, but Perseus stopped him. “Wait!” He yelled, “I have Medusa’s head.” Everyone turned as he told his mother to close her eyes, and they all became stone statues in an instant when he pulled Medusa’s head out of the bag. He pulled his mother into a tight embrace as they cried happily. They went back to the old fisherman, where Danae lived for the rest of her life, while Perseus sought adventure out in the world. Athena threw Medusa’s head into the ocean, where her blood fed the ocean life, making the darkest red parts of coral come to life, becoming the only thing left of Medusa.