shall protect you;" and he attempted to thrust him out. Perseus, finding the giant too strong for him, said, "Since you

value my friendship so little, deign to accept a present;" and then, turning his face away, he held up the Gorgon's head. Atlas, with all his bulk, was changed into stone. His beard and hair

became forests, his arms and shoulders cliffs, his head a summit, and his bones rocks. Each part increased in bulk till he became a mountain, and (such was the pleasure of the gods) heaven with all its stars rests upon his shoulders.

The name of Atlas, the brother of Prometheus and Epimetheus, signified the "bearer" or "endurer," and as the Greeks extended their knowledge westward they became acquainted withthe lofty mountains of Africa, which were so vast that they were supposed to support the world, and near which, perhaps, Perseus killed Atlas, thus giving his name to the mountains. The gold apples of Atlas were probably gold mines, or perhaps fine fruits unknown to the Greeks.

THE SEA-MONSTER.

Perseus, continuing his flight, arrived at the country of the Aethiopians, of which Cepheus was king. Cassiopea his queen, proud of her beauty, had dared to compare herself to the seanymphs, which roused their indignation to such a degree that they sent a prodigious sea-monster to, ravage the coast. To appease the deities, Cepheus was directed by the oracle to expose his daughter Andromeda to be devoured by the monster. As Perseus looked down from his aerial height he beheld the virgin chained to a rock, and waiting the approach, of the serpent. She. was so pale and motionless, that if it had not been for her flowing tears and her hair that moved in the breeze, he would have taken her for a marble statue. He was so startled at the sight that he almost forgot to wave his wings. As he hovered over her he said, "O virgin, undeserving of those chains, but rather of such as bind fond lovers together, tell me, I beseech you, your name and the name of your country, and why you are thus bound." At first she was silent from modesty, and, if she could, would have hid her face with her hands; but when he repeated his questions, for fear she might be thought guilty of some fault which ́she dared not tell, she disclosed her name and that of her country, and her mother's pride of beauty. Before she had done speaking a sound was heard off upon the water, and the sea-monster appeared, with his head raised above the surface, cleaving the waves with his broad breast. The virgin shrieked, the father

and mother who had now arrived at the scene, wretched both, but the mother more justly so, stood by, not able to afford protection, but only to pour forth lamentations and to embrace the victim. Then spoke Perseus: "There will be time enough for tears; this hour is all we have for rescue. My rank as the son of Jove and my renown as the slayer of the Gorgon might make me acceptable as a suitor; but I will try to win her by services rendered, if the gods will only be propitious. If she be rescued by my valor, I demand that she be my reward." The parents consent (how could they hesitate?) and promise a royal dowry with her.

And now the monster was within the range of a stone thrown by a skilful slinger, when with a sudden bound the youth soared into the air. As an eagle, when from his lofty flight he sees a serpent basking in the sun, pounces upon him and seizes him by the neck to prevent him from turning his head round and using his fangs, so the youth darted down upon the back of the monster and plunged his sword into its shoulder. Irritated by the wound, the monster raised himself into the air, then plunged into the depth; then, like a wild boar surrounded by a pack of barking dogs, turned swiftly from side to side, while the youth eluded its

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