Finally!! I got this thing updated after a v-e-r-y long time. You just wouldn't believe how many stories of Perseus there are! However, the main elements seem to be the Gorgon and the rescue of Andromeda from the rock so they are included in this version, most of which I have to thank Microsoft Encarta '95. Kick your shoes off, put the kettle on... 'ere we go!!
Perseus was the son of Zeus and Danaë, daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos. Warned that he would be killed by his grandson, Acrisius locked mother and child in a chest and cast them into the sea. They soon drifted to the island of Seriphus where they were rescued and where Perseus grew to manhood.
Soon, Polydectes, king of Seriphus, fell in love with Danaë and fearing that Perseus might interfere with his plans, persuaded him to go and procure the head of Medusa, one of the three monstrous daughters of the sea god Phorcys and his wife Ceto. The Gorgons were terrifying, dragon-like creatures, covered with golden scales and had snakes for hair. They also had huge wings and round, ugly faces, their tongues always hanging out and with large, tusk-like teeth on show. They lived on the farthest side of the western ocean, shunned because their glances turned living objects and people to stone. Medusa's sisters Stheno and Euryale were immortal; she alone could be killed. Polydectes was sure that Perseus would die like all the other men who had tried and was glad when Perseus agreed to the task.
Aided by Hermes, Perseus made his way to the Grey Women, three old hags who shared one eye between them.
Perseus took their eye and refused to return it until they gave him directions for reaching the nymphs of the north. They duly told Perseus the way and when he reached his destinaton, he received from the nymphs several magical items: winged sandals, a wallet that would fit whatever was put into it, and a cap to make him invisible. He was then equipped by Hermes with a sword that could never be bent or broken. The goddess Athene gave him a shield, saying that he could avoid death by looking at Medusa indirectly by her reflection in the shield.
In following directions from Hermes , Perseus found the caves inhabited by the Gorgons. He was able to slip past Stheno and Euryale by using his invisible cap and killed Medusa by using her reflection in his shield to lop off her head. From her blood sprang the winged horse Pegasus, her son by the god Poseidon. He put Medusa's head in the wallet flew on his winged sandals toward home.
As he was passing Ethiopia, he saw the princess Andromeda tied to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster in punishment for her mother's vanity.
As he neared her, the sea monster came out of the sea to eat her. Perseus quickly snatched Medusa's head from the wallet and showed the face to the monster who immediately turned to stone. As a reward for his bravery and Andromeda's survival, the king and queen allowed him to take her as his wife.
Perseus finally arrived home in Seriphus and freed his mother from Polydectes by using Medusa's head to turn the king and his followers to stone. He then took Andromeda and his mother back to Greece, where Perseus accidentally killed his grandfather Acrisius with a discus, thus fulfilling the prophecy. According to one legend, Perseus went to Asia, where his son Perses ruled over the Persians, from whom they were said to have gotten their name.