From Greek mythology comes the story of Perseus, which illustrates that certain things are bound to happen and it is futile to run away from one’s destiny. In a place called Argos, there was a king known as Acrisius. Once, a prophecy was made that he would be killed by his daughter Danae’s son, Perseus. He put both of them in a box and threw it into a raging flood. The box floated to the island of Seriphus, where it was rescued by a fisherman called Dictys.
When Perseus grew up, he became the most skilled in martial arts. The King of Seriphus, Polydectes, once gave a banquet to the leading men of the island. He announced that he was going to marry, and asked each of them to procure a beautiful horse as the wedding present.
In his youthful enthusiasm, Perseus boasted that he would procure whatever Polydectes wished for, even if it were the head of the Gorgon. The Gorgons were three monstrous sisters—Stheno, Euryale and Medusa. They had snakes for hair and were able to turn anyone who looked at them to stone. Polydectes saw this as an opportunity to get rid of Perseus and marry his mother, Danae. So, he asked Perseus to do this. Perseus sought help and received the cloak of Pluto, the winged shoes of Mercury, and the shield of Minerva from nymphs—female nature deities. He also received a sword from Hermes. The cloak made him invisible, and the winged shoes enabled him to fly. Hermes and Athene advised him to behead Medusa, because among the three Gorgons, she was the only one who was mortal. They asked him to look at her only through her reflection in the shield, or he would turn to stone.
Perseus followed the instructions to successfully strike off Medusa’s head. On the way back, he came to Ethiopia. He saw preparations being made to offer the King’s daughter, Andromeda, to a sea monster who had been troubling the people. After a hard fight, Perseus killed the monster, and the king decided to marry Andromeda to Perseus.
Reaching Seriphus with his wife, Perseus went to see Polydectes. He held Medusa’s head before the king, who turned to stone. When Polydectes had thus been punished, Perseus went back to his homeland, Argos. His grandfather, Acrisius, fled in fear to a neighbouring country. Perseus followed him and implored him to return, promising not to harm him. Acrisius agreed, and in celebration, a contest was held where Perseus took part and threw a disk which hit Acrisius on the foot, causing him illness and death, thus fulfilling the prophecy.