A quick reply her bashfulness refused, To the free converse of a man unused. Her rising blushes had concealment found From her spread hands, but that her hands were bound. She acted to her full extent of power, And bathed her face with a fresh, silent shower. But by degrees in innocence grown bold, Her name, her country, and her birth she told: And how she suffer’d for her mother’s pride, Who with the Nereids once in beauty vied. Part yet untold, the seas began to roar, And mounting billows tumbled to the shore. Above the waves a monster raised his head, His body o’er the deep was widely spread: Onward he flounced; aloud the virgin cries; Each parent to her shrieks in shrieks replies: But she had deepest cause to rend the skies. Weeping, to her they cling; no sign appears Of help, they only lend their helpless tears. “Too long you vent your sorrows,” Perseus said, “Short is the hour, and swift the time of aid; In me the son of thundering Jove behold, Got in a kindly shower of fruitful gold: Medusa’s snaky head is now my prey,