He traveled south to Gibraltar and then east over Libya and Egypt. On the coast of Philistia he saw a beautiful, naked young woman chained to a rock. This was the princess Andromeda, who was awaiting execution at the hands of a sea-monster because her stupid, vain mother had claimed she was more lovely than the Nereids, or nymphs of the sea. Perseus fell in love with her and hastily arranged with her parents that if he could rescue her she would be his wife. When the monster appeared Perseus lopped its head off and freed Andromeda. Her parents, however, went back on their word, claiming that a previous suitor had a better right to their daughter. In addition, they summoned warriors to kill the hero. Since he found himself faced with too many enemies, Perseus drew the gory head from his wallet and transformed his antagonists to stone. Among them were Andromeda's parents, Cepheus and Cassiopia, who were turned into constellations for their treachery. But Perseus had acquired a wife.
He returned with her to the island where he had been raised and found that his mother, Danaë, and his guardian, Dictys, had fled to a temple for refuge from the courtship and vindictiveness of King Polydectes. Perseus went to the king's banquet hall to find Polydectes and his companions feasting. Greeted with insults, he pulled out the Medusa head as his gift for the king and changed Polydectes and the others into boulders.
To reward Athena for her aid Perseus gave her the head to wear on her breastplate, the aegis. And he returned the sandals, wallet, and helmet to the Stygian nymphs by means of Hermes. After making Dictys the new king of the island, Perseus set sail for his grandfather's kingdom of Argos, taking his mother and wife. He had hoped to be reconciled to King Acrisius, but the king no longer ruled there, having fled on learning that the grandson who was to kill him was a hero. Before long Perseus heard that the king of Larissa was going to hold an athletic competition, and he decided to enter. During the discus-throwing contest Perseus' discus was caught by the wind, which diverted it into the throng of spectators, where it killed an old man. The victim, of course, was King Acrisius, who had sealed Danaë and Perseus in a chest years before and cast them off to sea. Thus the oracle was fulfilled.
