Perseus and Andromeda

 the love story part: Perseus and Andromeda!

We have left our hero while he was crossing Africa (which the ancient Greeks called Libya) with his winged sandals.

When he arrived in Aethiopia, he saw a beautiful girl tied with chains to a rock. He found out that she was the daughter of Cepheus, king of Aethiopia, and of his wife, Cassiopeia. Her parents and their servants were standing nearby and crying.

All this had happened because Cassiopeia had boasted that both her and her daughter were more beautiful than the Nereids. The sea nymphs complained to Poseidon, who sent a sea monster, Cetus (which some say was a whale), to plague the country. The king and queen consulted an oracle, who told them to sacrifice their daughter to the monster, in order to save the kingdom.

That's when Perseus appeared. He instantly fell in love with Andromeda and told her parents that he wanted to save her and make her his wife. Cepheus and Cassiopeia quickly agreed, because they saw the monster approaching.

Some say that Perseus used Medusa's head to turn the monster into stone, and that was the end of it. Others, though, narrate the whole fight between Perseus and the monster. He managed to hurt Cetus with his crooked sword, but the wings on the sandals were wet because the monster was spouting water. Pereus managed to land on a rock and with his last forces he killed the monster. The water was so red because of all that blood and it remained

After that, he went to the shore. He made a bed of algae, put Medusa's head on them and covered it, so as to prevent the others from seeing it and being turned into stone. He noticed that the algae absorbed the poison from the snakes on the head and turned into stone. The sea nymphs saw this and they tried to do it, too, succesfully. That's why when plants from the see come into contact with the air, they transform into coral. (At least that was Ovid's explanation, in his Metamorphoses).

The hero made three altars, dedicated to the gods who had helped him: Athena, Hermes and Zeus. Everybody was happy, so Perseus and Andromeda wed immediately after that. During the banquet, the guests asked him to tell them about his adventures.

All of a sudden, a big noise is heard from the entrance. It was Phineus, Cepheus' brother and Andromeda's first fiance. He protested that it was not fair for Perseus to marry her. Cepheus said that Phineus should have done something when Andromeda was tied to the rock, instead of just disappearing and coming back when everything was solved.

Perseus tried to avoid the fight, but Phineus and his men started to throw javelins at Perseus and the other guests. The hero had no choice but to react. Many of his friends were wounded and killed, and when he saw more of Phineus' men coming, he took Medusa's head and warned his friends to cover their eyes. All his enemies were turned into marble statues - and one of his men, too, because he didn't look away in time.

Phineus was looking at his men and he was trying to encourage them to continue their fight. When he saw that they had all become statues, in strange positions, he was afraid to look at Perseus. He begged the hero to spare his life and leave all this behind them. Perseus promised that his sword would not touch Phineus, on the contrary, Phineus would remain as monument for her betrothed to always see him. And then, of course, showed him Medusa's head and turned him into a statue.

Perseus and Andromeda returned to Seriphos. In the end they had many children together, the Perseides: sons Perses, Alcaeus, Sthenelus, Heleus, Mestor, Electryon, and one daughter, Gorgophone.

I chose this myth because it gives you the heroic nature a man saves girl, man marries girl, and they create a family. Most myths never end happy or they end partly happy. This story gives you the fairy tale of what every reader what’s to see.

I am Pgymalion

I was a master sculptor in the ancient city of Greece. All day I sculpted beautiful statues from huge pieces of rock. In fact, my creations were so wonderful that whoever saw them were mesmerised by their sheer artistic beauty and exact finish. I myself was a fine and handsome young man, and was liked by all men and women. Many women loved me for my great skill and looks.

                I never paid attention to any of these women. I saw so much to blame in women that I came at last to abhor the sex, and resolved to live unmarried. Because of my unhappiness with women, with my wonderful skill, I sculpted a beautiful ivory statue which was so lifelike that it was difficult to believe that it was lifeless at the first glance. The beauty was such that no living woman could compete with it. It was indeed the perfect semblance of a maiden that seemed to be alive, and only prevented from moving by modesty. My art was so perfect that it concealed itself and its product looked like the workmanship of nature.

                By and by my admiration for my own sculpture turned to love. Oftentimes I laid my hand upon it as if to assure himself whether it were living or not, and could not, even then, believe that it was only ivory. I caressed it, and gave it such presents as young girls love - bright shells and polished stones, little birds and flowers of various hues, beads and amber. I adorned my ivory maiden with jewels, and put rainment on her  limbs, and jewels on her fingers, and a necklace about her neck. To the ears I hung earrings and strings of pearls upon the breast. Her dress became her, and she looked not less charming than when unattired. I laid her on a couch spread with cloths of Tyrian dye, and called her my wife, and put her head upon a pillow of the softest feathers, as if she could enjoy their softness. I gave the statue a name: "Galatea", meaning "sleeping love'.

When I had performed my part in the solemnities, I hesitantly prayed for a wife like my ivory virgin statue. I stood before the altar of Aphrodite and timidly said, "Ye gods, who can do all things, give me, I pray you, for my wife" - I dared not utter "my ivory virgin," but said instead - "one like my ivory virgin."

                But Goddess Aphrodite understood what I was trying to say. She was curious. How can a man love a lifeless thing so much? What she saw greatly amazed her for the sculpture had a perfect likeness to her. In fact, it would not have been wrong to say that my sculpture was an image of Aphrodite herself.

Goddess Aphrodite was charmed by my creation she brought the statue to life.

When I returned to my home, i went before Galatea and knelt down before the woman of my dreams. I looked at her lovingly, with a lover's ardour. It seemed to me that Galatea was looking at her lovingly too.

For a moment, it seemed to me that it was just a figment of my imagination. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but there was no mistake this time because Galatea was smiling at me.

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