A WONDER-BOOK
my dear mother do, if her beloved son were turned into a stone?’
‘Well, well, let us hope that the affair will not turn out so very badly,’ replied Quicksilver, in an encouraging tone. ‘I am the very person to help you if anybody can. My sister and myself will do our utmost to bring you safe through the adventure, ugly as it now looks.’
‘Your sister?’ repeated Perseus.
‘Yes, my sister,’ said the stranger. ‘She is very wise, I promise you; and as for myself, I generally have all my wits about me, such as they are. If you show yourself bold and cautious, and follow our advice, you need not fear being a stone image yet awhile. But, first of all, you must polish your shield, till you can see your face in it as distinctly as in a mirror.’
This seemed to Perseus rather an odd beginning of the adventure; for he thought it of far more consequence that the shield should be strong enough to defend him from the Gorgon’s brazen claws, than that it should be bright enough to show him the reflection of his face. However, concluding that Quicksilver knew better than himself, he immediately set to work, and scrubbed the shield with so much diligence and good-will, that it very quickly shone like the moon at harvest-time. Quicksilver looked at it with a smile, and nodded his approbation. Then, taking off his own short and crooked sword, he girded it about Perseus, instead of the one which he had before worn.
‘No sword but mine will answer your purpose,’ observed he; ‘the blade has a most excellent temper, and will cut through iron and brass as easily as through the
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