It is now the second millennium and for the past few centuries, Greece has been ruled by a King, named Acrisius, of Argos. His daughter was Princess Danaë, the most beautiful throughout the country. King Acrisius originally did not want to have a daughter; however, he learned to love her so throughout the ages. The King always wanted to have a son, one whom he could raise to be a strong, bold successor.

Therefore, King Acrisius boarded a train to the bustling metropolis of Delphi to ask a god if there was any hope of him ever having a son in his lifetime. The priestess responded with an unfortunate answer.

“You, my dear king Acrisius, will never bear a son who shall grow strong and become heir to your throne. You will never have a son. However, be warned, the daughter, in which you have already bore, will bear her own child, deemed to be a male, who will grow up to overthrow and worse, banish you from the pleasures of life.”

“Do you mean that my daughter, Danaë, will have a son who will eventually kill me,” Acrisius clarified in horror.

“I am afraid, my dear King Acrisius, that he will eventually murder you. However, you do have the ability to prevent this horrible fate from coming true. The only way which I shall reveal to you that will prevent your daughter’s son from murdering you is if you kill Danaë before she bears her son,” the priestess responded coldly.

“You want me to kill my own daughter,” the King questioned in fear.

“It is what you must do in order to save yourself from death. This is not what I want you to do. You do not have to do anything. However, it will not be long before you must decide whether or not to accept the death that shall be placed upon you very soon.”

At that time, the god disappeared and King Acrisius stood all alone at Delphi.

Acrisius pondered the idea of killing his own daughter through many sleepless nights in his palace. However, he could not do it. Instead, he had a better idea.

Acrisius locked Danaë up into a bronze, roofless house; sank it underground, and guarded it. While Danaë was imprisoned, a shower of gold fell upon her from the sky. Zeus had visited her in this form and from his visit; she bore his son, soon to be named Perseus. This was kept secret from King Acrisius for she did not want him to know about her son. However, one day to Acrisius’ surprise, he did discover that his daughter did have a son in the bronze chamber. It was at that time when Acrisius decided to lock both Danaë and her son, Perseus, into a chest and let the sea drown them both.

After a while of floating, the chest with Danaë and Perseus inside washed up on a sandy beach. A fisherman named Dictys discovered the chest, opened it, and took Danaë and Perseus home to his wife, where they received great care, compassion, and love.

Meanwhile, Polydectes, a harsh cruel brother of Dictys and ruler of the island, was in love with Danaë. However, he did not want anything to do with Perseus. Therefore, Polydectes developed a plan to get rid of Perseus.

Polydectes decided to marry Danaë and set up a formal wedding within the King’s palace. Polydectes invited everyone to his wedding; friends, family, and even Perseus, whom he did not like. However, this was part of the plan to get rid of Perseus.

Everyone arrived at Polydectes’ wedding with wedding gifts in which to give. However, Perseus did not arrive with a gift. Instead, he announced that he would give a gift better than anyone else’s. He would go attack Medusa and bring back her head. That would be his gift to Polydectes. Surprisingly, Polydectes accepted Perseus’ offer.

That evening, Perseus set sail on a cruise ship to the Greek islands to learn where the three Gorgon monsters live. As Perseus wandered around Dodona, he met a strange, beautiful person. Ironically, this person turned out to be Hermes, as evident by his winged hat, winged sandals, and winged wand. He told Perseus that he must be properly equipped and in possession of the nymphs of the North before even considering attacking Medusa. Hermes gave Perseus a special chainsaw with which to attack Medusa that could not be bent by any of the Gorgon’s scales. In addition, Athena told him that she would also be assisting him on the quest.

In order to find the abode of the nymphs of the North, Perseus went to the Gray Women who lived in solitude and in total blackness. Under a dim atmosphere in contrast to the bright cities, these strange women gave him directions to the nymphs in the North.

Afterwards, Athena gave Perseus her bronze mirror for him to look into while attacking Medusa. This would prevent Perseus from directly seeing Medusa’s deadly gaze. Therefore, now in possession of a powerful chainsaw, a bronze mirror, a magical wallet, and an invisible cap, Perseus was ready to fight the Gorgons and kill Medusa at the Terrible Sisters’ island.

With the assistance of Hermes and Athena, Perseus crept up around the three Gorgons. He looked for the mortal Gorgon who happened to be Medusa and then swiftly, while invisible, severed Medusa’s head with his powerful chainsaw, also using the bronze mirror as a shield. Medusa was now dead.

Directly after, Perseus sailed back to Greece with Medusa’s head in his possession. Perseus carried Medusa’s head through the Greek metropolises up to King Acrisius’ palace. Once inside, Perseus revealed his wedding gift to everyone, turning each person, one-by-one, into stone. Polydectes was now dead and Perseus had gotten his revenge by giving him a wedding present he would never forget. One thing is for sure; Perseus’ wedding present to Polydectes was definitely immensely heavy; however, not anymore entertaining than a small, little stone.