knew all these statues were once men who only yearned to see the youngest princess of the Kingdom of Serpentis.
Inside the throne room, Medusa went to her throne and sat.
“Why are we here, Your Majesty?”
Medusa let out a cruel laugh. “You have been fooled, Prince Stefan. I will never take you to my daughter! It is your fate never to see anyone’s face again but mine. You will remember my face for eternity, which was once beautiful like Elena’s but is now marred by the snakes growing and hissing from my head.”
With that, she lifted her veil to turn the prince to stone.
But Prince Stefan’s eyes were closed, and the Curse of the Gorgon was thus defeated.
“Nooooooooo!” Medusa screamed.
Her two older daughters, upon hearing Medusa’s scream of rage, ran to the throne room, worried at what had befallen the Queen to make her scream so. Their long and dark veils fell to the floor in their haste to reach their mother.
Throwing the huge wooden doors of the throne room open, they rushed inside, crying out, “Mother, Mother, what has happened?” They looked at Medusa and turned into stone.
“Nooooooooo!” Medusa screamed again. Her fury had made her forget not to look at her daughters without her veil. And her daughters, because of their worry, had forgotten not to look at Medusa when she did not have her veil.
But unlike her daughters, Medusa did not turn to stone even though the stares of Euryale and Stheno were as deadly as her gaze. For King Karat in his curse has decreed that she would neither turn to stone nor die. It was her fate to be a Gorgon forever.
Prince Stefan bound the wrists of the Queen so that she would not be able to escape. He covered her face with her veil so that she would no longer be able to slay men with her gaze. He took her out of the castle and whistled for Pegasus.
“Take her to the Underworld, where the souls of men and women roam free. There she will no longer be able to cause trouble because all the eyes that would gaze upon her are already dead.”
Pegasus nodded to show he understood and with the bound Queen on his back he flew to the Underworld to do as the Prince commanded.
Prince Stefan walked back to the castle and searched long and hard for the way to the dungeons. Finally he discovered a secret door. Behind it were steps carved out of limestone that led into the belly of the castle. Carrying a torch to light his way, Prince Stefan soon found what he was looking for.
The prison guards put up a fight, but they were no match for Prince Stefan and soon they lied on the floor, defeated by the prince’s sword.
Elena looked up at the sounds of clashing swords and fear struck her heart when she saw a stranger from afar walking towards her prison. She quickly covered her face when he came near for the Queen had lied to her when she was a child.
Medusa had told the young Elena that her gaze was also deadly and that men would also turn into stone if Elena looked at them. But what Elena did not know was that all Medusa wanted was for no man to see how beautiful Elena had become. Medusa in her vanity only wanted men to praise her beauty and no one else’s.
“Who may you be, stranger?”
“I am Prince Stefan and I have been commanded to save you and the world from the deadly stares of the Gorgon. My father, Lord Poseidon, has heard your prayers, Princess Elena.”
Elena gasped. “Where are my mother and my sisters?”
“Your sisters have been turned to stone and your mother has been taken to the Underworld so that she would no longer be able to harm anyone with her gaze.”
The news saddened Elena, for even though they were also cruel to her the Queen was still her mother and Euryale and Stheno were still her sisters. She prayed that they would one day learn the errors of their ways and repent so that the curse would be lifted.
“Why are you covering your face?”
“It is my curse. I may not look at anyone as my gaze may also turn you to stone.”
Prince Stefan unlocked the doors of Elena’s prison. “That is not true, Princess Elena. Your heart is pure and for that the curse of King Karat did not touch you.”
“But my mother said it is so!” Elena cried out, still covering her face.
“Your mother, Queen Medusa, lied as she always does for she is a greedy and vain woman who wants everyone to worship her and no one else.”
The prince slowly took Elena’s hands away from her face.
Elena’s eyes, which sparkled like stars in the sky, met his.
Prince Stefan fell in love and Elena, too, fell in love with him. For here was the man with courage and honor that she had always prayed for to the Heavens!
Prince Stefan took Elena away from the castle. He whistled for Pegasus, and his loyal steed came flying back. Pegasus flew Stefan and Elena to the Heavens, where the prince and the princess married and lived happily ever after.
As for Queen Medusa, she sat upon a barren cliff in the underworld, weeping endlessly. The souls of the dead stared and laughed at her head full of snakes, and Medusa could not do a thing about it for the curse of the Gorgons did not work on ghosts.
Magical Tales of True Love
The Curse of The Gorgons is the first book of the Magical Tales of True Loves series. This series of bedtime stories features old and beloved characters of Greek mythology together with new princes and princesses to spark your child’s imagination.
From retellings with strange and wondrous twists to completely new legends and adventures, this collection will surely serve as great bedtime entertainment for parents and children alike.
The stories may also serve as a reading and vocabulary enrichment exercise as they have been deliberately made to contain new words that parents may teach their children.
Grab the next book in the series:
THE LIES THAT ARACHNE SPUN
The Curse of The Gorgons Page 2