Flying over mountains and deserts and the narrow green valley of the Nile, Perseus came to the shore of Palestine, the home of the Ethiopians, which he found inundated with floods and strewn with the wreckage of towns and villages. Traveling slowly above the sea-coast of this unfortunate country, he spied something white at the water's edge, and coming closer saw that it was a maiden chained by her wrists and ankles to a rock, while not far distant and ever approaching closer, was the most terrifying monster that he had ever seen. On the star maps this creature is labeled a "whale." It may have been a whale, and it may not, who knows? Sixty or seventy feet of whale lashing a tail big enough to destroy a large boat would certainly seem a terrible sea-monster to people who had never seen a whale. How could they know that its fifteen or sixteen feet of gaping mouth had never tasted anything but tiny crustaceans and acalephæ strained from sea-water! Hero indeed was Perseus, for he skimmed swiftly down to a nearby wave, and poising upon its frothy peak, thrust the monster deep below the jaw. A brave, brave deed was this, and the people shouted their vast amazement and delight. As the great sea-creature leaped and lunged and fell, Perseus again snatched the blood-freezing head of the Medusa from his wallet--and the cliffs trembled as the monster hit the bottom of the sea! [Figure 32: THE STORY OF ANDROMEDA IMMORTALIZED IN STARS. "She still in heaven her captive form retains, And on her wrists still hang the galling chains." --_Aratus._] According to some of the poets, Jupiter was so inordinately proud of the youth's achievements, that he caused all the principal characters in his adventures to be immortalized in stars, the sea-monster sharing the honor in a dim constellation far to the south. He, as well as the horse, has been given a name and even grave astronomers call him "Cetus." For a thousand years the famous rock was shown at Joppa and the slaying of the Medusa and the rescue of Andromeda were favorite subjects in ancient art. Artists thrilled to their theme as they made it glow in colors on their canvases, and poets made the story live again and again. If anyone wonders what became of the awful Medusa's head after Perseus had won Andromeda for his bride, it might be well to add that after reducing two courts of cowardly nobles to statues of stone, Perseus gave the head to the goddess Minerva who placed it on her shield. This goddess is very chaste and with the fearful head has since succeeded in freezing all beholders. ANDROMEDA, THE PRINCESS [Figure 33]