Perseus made rich sacrifices to his father Zeus, Pallas Athena and Hermes. A cheerful wedding feast began in Kefei's palace. Hymen and Eros lit their fragrant torches. The entire Kefei palace is covered with greenery and flowers. The sounds of citharas and lyres are heard loudly, and wedding choirs thunder. The doors of the palace are wide open. The banquet hall burns with gold. Kepheus and Cassiopeia feast with the newlyweds, and all the people feast. Fun and joy reign all around. At the feast, Perseus talks about his exploits. Suddenly the menacing sound of weapons rang out in the banquet hall. A war cry echoed throughout the palace, like the sound of the sea when it, heaving, beats its waves driven by a stormy wind against a high rocky shore. It was Andromeda's first groom, Phineus, who came with a large army.
Entering the palace and shaking his spear, Phineas loudly exclaimed:
- Woe to you, bride kidnapper! Neither your winged sandals, nor even Zeus the Thunderer himself will save you from me!
Phineus was about to throw a spear at Perseus, but King Kepheus stopped him with the words:
- What are you doing? What makes you so mad? So do you want to reward the feat of Perseus? Will this be your wedding gift? Did Perseus steal your bride from you? No, she was stolen from you when she was led to be chained to a rock, when she was going to her death. Why didn't you come to her aid then? Do you now want to rob the winner of his reward? Why didn’t you come for Andromeda yourself when she was chained to the rock, why didn’t you take her away from the monster?
Phineus did not answer Kepheus; he angrily looked first at Kepheus, then at the beautiful son of Zeus, and suddenly, straining all his strength, he threw a spear at Perseus. A spear flew past and pierced Perseus's bed. The young hero tore it out with his mighty hand, jumped up from his bed and menacingly swung his spear. He would have struck Phineas to death, but he hid behind the altar, and the spear hit the head of the hero Ret, and he fell dead. A terrible battle began. The warrior Athena quickly came from Olympus to help her brother Perseus. She covered him with her aegis and breathed into him invincible courage. Perseus rushed into battle. Like lightning, the deadly sword with which he killed Medusa shines in his hands. One by one he strikes to death the heroes who came with Phineus. A mountain of bodies, covered in blood, piles up in front of Perseus. He grabbed with both hands a huge bronze bowl in which wine was mixed for the feast, and threw it at the head of the hero Eurythos. As if struck by thunder, the hero fell, and his soul flew off into the kingdom of shadows. Heroes fall one after another, but Phineus brought many of them with him. Perseus is a stranger in the kingdom of Kepheus, he has few comrades in battle, almost alone he has to fight many enemies. Many of Perseus's comrades had already fallen in this frantic battle. The singer, who delighted the feasters with sweet-sounding singing while playing the golden-stringed cithara, also died, struck by a spear. As he fell, the singer touched the strings of the cithara, and sadly, like a dying groan, the strings rang, but the sound of swords and the groans of the dying drowned out the ringing of the strings. Arrows fly like hail driven by the wind. Leaning against a column and covering himself with the shiny shield of Athena, Perseus fights with his enemies. And they surrounded the hero on all sides; the battle around him is becoming more and more frantic. Seeing that he was facing imminent death, the mighty son of Danai exclaimed loudly:
“I will find help from the enemy I have defeated!” You yourself forced me to seek his protection! Quickly turn away, everyone who is my friend!
Perseus quickly took the head of the gorgon Medusa out of the wonderful bag and raised it high above his head. One after another, the heroes attacking Perseus turn into stone statues. Some of them turned to stone, raising their swords to pierce the enemy’s chest, others - shaking sharp spears, others - covering themselves with shields. One glance at Medusa's head turned them into marble statues. The entire banquet hall was filled with marble statues. Fear seized Phineas when he saw that all his friends had turned to stone. Falling to his knees and stretching out his hands in prayer to Perseus, Phineus exclaimed:
- You won, Perseus! Oh, quickly hide the terrible head of Medusa, I pray you, hide it. Oh, great son of Zeus, take everything, own everything, just leave me one life!
Perseus answered Phineas with mockery:
- Don't be afraid, you pathetic coward! My sword will not cut you down. I will give you a reward forever! You will forever stand here in the palace of Kepheus, so that my wife can be comforted by looking at the image of her first groom.
The hero held out the head of Medusa to Phineus, and no matter how hard Phineus tried not to look at the terrible gorgon, his gaze fell on her, and instantly he turned into a marble statue. Phineus stands turned to stone, bowing like a slave before Perseus. The expression of fear and slavish supplication remained forever in the eyes of the Phineus statue.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru