And Perseus fell down and worshipped, for he knew that they were more than man.
But Athene stood before him and spoke gently, and bid him have no fear.
Then-- 'Perseus,' she said, 'he who overcomes in one trial merits thereby a sharper trial still.

You have braved Polydectes, and done manfully.
Dare you brave Medusa the Gorgon ?' And Perseus said, 'Try me; for since you spoke to me in Samos a new soul has come into my breast, and I should be ashamed not to dare anything which I can do.

Show me, then, how I can do this!' 'Perseus,' said Athene, 'think well before you attempt; for this deed requires a seven years' journey, in which you cannot repent or turn back nor escape; but if your heart fails you, you must die in the Unshapen Land, where no man will ever find your bones.' 'Better so than live here, useless and despised,' said Perseus.

'Tell me, then, oh tell me, fair and wise Goddess, of your great kindness and condescension, how I can do but this one thing, and then, if need be, die!' Then Athene smiled and said-- 'Be patient, and listen; for if you forget my words, you will indeed die.
You must go northward to the country of the Hyperboreans, who live beyond the pole, at the sources of the cold north wind, till you find the three Gray Sisters, who have but one eye and one tooth between them.

You must ask them the way to the Nymphs, the daughters of the Evening Star, who dance about the golden tree, in the Atlantic island of the west.