‘Are all mortals like this?’ one whispered to another. They persuaded the birds to start flying around Perseus in all directions, so he couldn’t tell if he was being serenaded or assaulted. He eventually stumbled across their lake and gave up the search, gratefully drinking and refilling his water-skin while he had the chance. Staring at his rippling reflection, he decided he could take a few moments to bathe, since he couldn’t seem to find the nymphs anyway. The salt was scratching every inch of his skin. He took off his sandals and untied his cloak, leaving them both on the bank. He stepped into the lake expecting it to be cool, like the water he had drunk. But somehow it now felt warm against his skin and he submerged his whole body, even plunging his weary head beneath the surface. He watched dappled fish dart away in every direction and felt unreasonably sure that they were mocking him, just like the birds. But the water was so calming, and the feeling of clean skin and soft clothes was so pleasing, that he could not maintain his annoyance. He swam a few strokes. It felt so good that he swam a little further and faster, enjoying the way the water tugged at his tunic. Let it have the thing if it wanted it so much. He straightened his arms and the tunic floated away. He could not remember ever feeling more free. He pulled himself beneath the surface once again, then pushed himself up hard, closing his eyes as the water rushed past his face. He burst up, shouting with delight and relief. And only when he opened his eyes did he see the Hesperides sitting on rocks all along the bank, as though they had been there the whole time.
Perseus blushed bright red and dropped back into the water to try and hide himself. But the water was so clear that he felt no less naked. He looked around for his tunic, which must surely be within reach. But somehow it was not. Perseus felt a rush of panic, which only deepened when he saw a fluttering white shape on the rocks in front of him, and realized that two nymphs were sitting on what looked a great deal like his tunic.
Moments ago, he had felt like the dolphins he used to see leaping gleefully alongside Dictys’s boat. Now, as he tried to walk through the water towards the Hesperides, he felt like a man wearing rocks for shoes.
‘It’s easier to swim through water than walk through it,’ one of the nymphs called out.
‘He’s scared we’ll see more of his naked body if he swims,’ said another.
‘I don’t think we could see more than we’ve already seen,’ said a third. ‘Although I am very happy to see it again.’
They all giggled and stared and Perseus did not know what to say or do. If he backed away from them, they might disappear again and he might lose his only chance to ask them for their help. The Graiai and the gods had seemed equally certain that he could not pursue his quest without their assistance. But they were mocking him, and one of them had taken his tunic. He blinked water droplets from his eyes. Another had, it seemed, stolen his sandals. On Seriphos men went naked whenever they wished, of course, but women weren’t standing around watching them. Or lounging on their tunics. Or wearing their shoes and impersonating the inelegant way he moved. The nymphs were certainly much more beautiful than the Graiai, but Perseus was not sure he felt any safer in their company.
‘I wonder if you’d mind passing me my tunic?’ he said to the nymph who was sitting on it. All the others started laughing at the sound of his voice. He found himself unable to ascertain precisely how many they were, because every time he tried to count them, one seemed to disappear and reappear elsewhere, without him ever being able to catch the moment when she moved. They were each very beautiful in their own different ways. And yet he could not quite calculate how many perfect golden faces, long golden arms, or flowing golden hairstyles he could see. As soon as he tried to memorize one deathless beauty, he looked at another and she was so exquisite that he forgot who he had been staring at only a moment before. He wanted to line them up and look at each in turn and compare her with her sisters. But more than that, he really wanted not to be naked in front of them all.
‘Would I mind?’ said the golden nymph. ‘No, I don’t think I’d mind. But you see, it was all wet from the water, just like you. So we fished it out and stretched it over the rock here, to dry it for you. We thought you’d be happy.’
She turned her face downwards a little and gazed at him through long lashes. Perseus found himself terrified that he had upset her and she was about to cry.
‘I am,’ he said. ‘I’m very happy. Happy and grateful. It’s just that I don’t have anything else to wear, so . . .’
‘You aren’t cold?’ asked another nymph. At least, he thought it was another. She was certainly sitting on a different rock. But she too had huge limpid eyes that looked ready to fill with tears. ‘Our garden has been admired by the immortal gods and goddesses for almost as long as time itself. And you find it cold?’
‘No, no, not at all.’ Perseus stumbled on a rock as he tried to move closer while covering some of his nakedness by hiding under large leaves that hung over the water from trees growing on the bank. ‘I’m certainly not cold, your garden is perfect in every way.’
‘What do you like about it most?’ asked another nymph.
Perseus really wanted to be less exposed before he answered this. Not least because he seemed to upset them so easily. ‘I like . . .’ He paused to think of the honest answer. ‘I like the birds, I’ve never seen so many kinds or heard so many different songs.’
‘He doesn’t like the flowers.’ One nymph put her arm around her sister’s shoulders. ‘I don’t know what more you could have done.’
‘No, I do like them!’ Perseus said.
‘The fruit trees don’t interest him at all,’ said another. ‘Though Hera herself keeps her apple tree here.’
‘No, they do!’ Perseus didn’t know how he was getting everything so wrong. ‘I admired them the moment I saw them. I wasn’t sure what fruits they were, because I have never seen a golden apple tree before, but I was very interested in them in spite of that.’ Seeing another nymph’s face fall, he corrected himself. ‘Not in spite of it. Because of it, really.’
‘I suppose it’s too much to hope that you noticed the beautiful soft grasses you lay on?’ said another, and Perseus could no longer tell if she had addressed him before or if he was affronting a different nymph each time.
‘I liked those too,’ he said. ‘Beautiful and comfortable.’
‘But you aren’t enjoying the lake?’ said the one who was now sitting on his tunic.
‘I am,’ he said. ‘I would just feel like I was addressing you more respectfully if I was on the shore alongside you and, you know, wearing clothes.’
‘Oh, I see,’ said another and he turned to try and keep track of her this time. ‘You’d be happier if we were all in the same position, as it were.’
‘Yes,’ he said, just before realizing that he would actually feel a great deal less comfortable if they were suddenly naked and in the water beside him. He wondered if it was possible to die of embarrassment. The sound of an unspecified number of inhumanly beautiful women giggling at him was almost as upsetting as the sound of the Graiai quarrelling with one another. He tried to reach up to the rock and grab his tunic but now it was suddenly in the hands of a nymph who was using it to dry herself. Perseus wondered if they would keep laughing at him if he burst into tears and concluded that they certainly would.