过了一段时间，一名卫士急匆匆地来到国王阿克里西俄斯的王宫。惊讶的国王被告知达那厄生下了一个儿子，名叫柏修斯。阿克里西俄斯当即决定母子俩都得死，这样他才能保住性命。很快他就令人做了一只大箱子，把达那厄母子俩关在里面，并把他们扔到海里漂流。这位可怜的母亲的祈祷得到了宙斯的回应。宙斯让箱子漂到赛瑞费斯国。该国国王波吕得克忒斯先是友好地招待他们，后来却变得残忍无情。柏修斯长大成人后，波吕得克忒斯派他去杀墨杜萨。
墨杜萨曾是一位美丽少女。但是因她亵渎了雅典娜在利比尔的神殿，女神就把它的美发变成了蛇，她的身体也成了怪物的体态。她丑陋狰狞，任何人只要看到她的面孔就会立即变成石头。雅典娜和其他的神向柏修斯伸出了救援的手。雅典娜借给他闪亮的盾。她警告他只能看墨杜萨映在上面的像。哈得斯借给他隐身盔甲;海尔墨斯为他提供带翼鞋，穿上它就能快步如飞。从神那里还得到了剑和魔袋。
遵照雅典娜的忠告，柏修斯向西走，他首先找到了格赖埃三姐妹。她们知道墨杜萨的行踪。这三位妇人共用一颗牙，一只眼。于是，柏修斯抓着他们的牙和眼，强迫她们道出实情。一天晚上，年轻人飞越天空时，他发现了在岩石上睡觉的墨杜萨。他飞下去砍掉了墨杜萨的头。然后转身走向与母亲告别的地方。
Acrisius，king of Argos，was Hypermnestra' s grandson.He had one beautiful daughter， Danae by name. So much did he love her that he decided not to remarry after the death of his wife. But one day an oracle from Delphi prophesied that he would be killed by the son of Danae.He felt so upset that his love suddenly changed to fear and hatred. To avoid the disaster he built a tall bronze tower，wherein he shut Danaeup with her nurse.he kept the key of the tower himself，and left only the roof open for Danae to take an occasional look at the blue sky above. One bright sunny morning Danae felt a childish joy at the sight of the clear，blue sky and longed for freedom when a golden shower of sunlight shot through the open roof and spread all over her.A wave of happiness spread all over her，and Zeus himself stood before her in his splendour and won her.
Some time later，a guard came rushing into King Acrisius' palace and told the astonished king that Danae had given birth toa son. The baby was called Perseus. Acrisius decided that both mother and son must die if he wanted to live himself. Very soon he had a great chest built，where he put Danae and her son，and then set it adrift on the sea . Answering the sad prayers of the poor mother，Zeus had the chest swept onto the land of the Seriphos. Polydectes，king of the country，treated them at first with kindness，but afterwards with cruelty. When Perseus was grown up，Polydectes sent him to kill Medusa.
Medusa had been a beautiful maiden，but as she once violated Athena' s temple in Lybia the goddess changed her beautifulhair into snakes and her body into that of a monster. So ugly and terrible was she that anyone looking on her face was immediatelyturned to stone. But Athena and other gods came to help Perseus. Athena lent him her brightly polished shield in which she warned him to look at the reflection of Medusa only; Hades gave him his helmet which made its wearer invisible;and Hermesoffered him his winged shoes so that he could travel fast overlong distances. From the gods he also took a sword and a magic wallet.
Acting on the advice of Athena，Perseus travelled west and first sought out the three grey women，known as the Graeae whok new the whereabouts of Medusa. These women had one toothand one eye between them，so Perseus grabbed the tooth and theeye from them and forced them to tell him the truth. This the grey women did，and one night while flying across the sky theyoung man found Medusa sleeping on a rock. Flying down，hestruck off the head of Medusa and turned back to the land where he had left his mother.
