"I," said he to him, "am Hermes, the immortal messenger of the gods; Pallas Athena, your protectress in heaven, has sent me

"I," said he to him, "am Hermes, the immortal messenger of the gods; Pallas Athena, your protectress in heaven, has sent me. The king wishes to destroy you, but you shall not perish if you remember my words." And he told him what it was useful for him to know, and, on leaving him, left him three gifts: winged sandals, a sickle-shaped knife and a brazen shield. Perseus rejoiced: now, thinks he, I have no need of a ship. He put on the sandals, and felt himself as light as a feather; he swung his arms, and glided through the air as one glides through water. Hermes had already shown him the direction; he flew, taking care to keep the noonday sun on his left hand and the midnight Bear on his right; he flew not one day or two, but in the end he did reach the mainland.

Faddey Frantsevich Zelinsky, "Fairy-tale Antiquity" (Skazochnaya drevnost).

Illustration: Hermes. Engraver: Paul Jonnard, after a drawing by Sir William Blake Richmond, 1866.