the wisdom of the Egyptians. But when they saw him they all
stopped their work, and gathered round him, and cried -

'Who art thou, fair youth? and what bearest thou beneath thy goat-
skin there? Surely thou art one of the Immortals; for thy skin is
white like ivory, and ours is red like clay. Thy hair is like
threads of gold, and ours is black and curled. Surely thou art one
of the Immortals;' and they would have worshipped him then and
there; but Perseus said -

'I am not one of the Immortals; but I am a hero of the Hellens.
And I have slain the Gorgon in the wilderness, and bear her head
with me. Give me food, therefore, that I may go forward and finish
my work.'

Then they gave him food, and fruit, and wine; but they would not
let him go. And when the news came into the city that the Gorgon
was slain, the priests came out to meet him, and the maidens, with
songs and dances, and timbrels and harps; and they would have
brought him to their temple and to their king; but Perseus put on
the hat of darkness, and vanished away out of their sight.

Therefore the Egyptians looked long for his return, but in vain,
and worshipped him as a hero, and made a statue of him in Chemmis,
which stood for many a hundred years; and they said that he
appeared to them at times, with sandals a cubit long; and that
whenever he appeared the season was fruitful, and the Nile rose
high that year.

Then Perseus went to the eastward, along the Red Sea shore; and