The Forty-Fifth Night

 

On his weekly visit, Nick was eager for the continuation of my tale, and after supper we settled beneath the stars and I went on:

“Where did we leave off, again?”

“Perseus married Andromeda and ended the feast by killing Phineus.”

“Quite right. Once married, Perseus and Andromeda set out for Tiryns, where she bore Perses, the eldest son of Perseus, and with him began the dynasty of the Andromedans. Yet Perseus still had to return the monster’s head to Polydectes; thus he left Andromeda and the child in Tiryns and, ever equipped with Hermes’ sandals and the Gorgon’s head in his satchel, he flew back to Seriphos. On his way he passed over Libya, where drops of blood from the Gorgon’s head leaked from the bag and gave rise to serpents of the deadliest venom—serpents that infest that land to this very day.

“In Seriphos, he discovered that his mother had been forced to seek refuge in desolate lands, in order to protect herself from Polydectes’ harassment. Perseus presented himself before the king and his court and declared that he carried Medusa’s head there, within the bag he held.

“Polydectes demanded to see the head as proof of the truth, and Perseus showed it to him, slaying the wicked king along with many of his courtiers and soldiers. Forthwith, he made Dictys—his benefactor and Polydectes’ brother—the new king of Seriphos, who restored Danaë to the palace with the honors due a princess.

“Next, he turned his attention to his divine half-brothers and, in Hermes’ presence, returned to him the winged sandals and the helm of Ares. To Athena he delivered the dreadful head. The gray-eyed goddess set it upon her breastplate, thus making herself an invincible warrior.

“But while all these things were taking place, the sons of Medusa and Poseidon—born from her blood when she was beheaded—the winged horse Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor, went each upon his own path.

“Chrysaor entered at a very early age the court of the god Oceanus, where he married Callirrhoe, who bore him two children: the three-bodied giant Geryon, later slain by Heracles, and the fierce, devouring Echidna, half-maiden, half-serpent, enormous in size. Echidna, with Typhon, became the mother of a great number of monsters.

“Pegasus, for his part, raced through the air and reached Olympus, where Zeus charged him with bearing the thunderbolts and lightning forged for him by his brother Hephaestus in the depths of Etna.

“Whenever Pegasus struck the earth with his hoof, a spring would burst forth.

“And it came to pass that Poseidon fell in love with Eurynome, the wife of King Glaucus. Glaucus and Eurynome had two sons, Alcimenes and Piren, and by Poseidon she bore Bellerophon.

“One day it happened that Bellerophon accidentally killed his brother Piren during some games, and for this reason he was sent to King Proteus of Tiryns, that he might pronounce judgment upon his crime. Proteus, exercising his royal authority, forgave the accidental death caused by Bellerophon, and all would have ended happily—had not Proteus’ wife been inflamed with lust for Bellerophon and sought to lie with him. Out of respect for the king, Bellerophon refused her advances, and the wretch, offended, accused him before Proteus, claiming that he had tried to violate her.

“Proteus was furious with Bellerophon, yet because he was host to the son of Poseidon, he dared neither harm nor kill him, though such was his desire. Thus he swallowed his pride and conceived a perverse plan to cleanse his honor: he sent Bellerophon to his father-in-law Iobates, king of Lycia, charging him to deliver a sealed message: ‘Do me the favor of killing Bellerophon, violator of my wife, your daughter.’

“Unaware that he carried his own death sentence, Bellerophon journeyed to Lycia and delivered the letter to King Iobates.”

Having said this, I fell silent.

“And then?” Nick asked.

“Well, many things happened after that—but now I am tired, and the rest must wait.”

“Oh no! Again?!” my friend protested.