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The Twelve Labors of Hercules

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The Twelve Labors of Hercules THE TWELVE LABORS OF HERCULES After killing his family in an insane rage nephew Iolaus [i-oh-LAY-uhs]. When they got induced by Hera [HEE-ruh], Hercules [HER-kue- there, the hero tried several weapons: arrows, his leez] went to Eurystheus [yur-EES-thee-uhs], the club, and a sickle. He cut off one head after king of Mycenae, and offered to be his slave. He another, but whenever he had severed one, two was prepared to accept the most difficult tasks as more grew in its place. punishment for his crime. Eurystheus invented A huge crab came to help the Hydra, and twelve tasks, known as the Twelve Labors. They young Iolaus ran up to help his uncle. But the were all nearly impossible to accomplish, even for heroes, though holding their own, were not the strongest man on earth. getting The First Labor was to kill the Nemean anywhere until Lion. In the Nemean Valley near Mycenae, a Hercules terrible lion ranged. Hercules went there, taking suddenly his bow and quiver of arrows and the big club he became inspired. always had with him. He found the lion’s den, He told his but the beast was out hunting, so Hercules waited. nephew to build At the end of the day the lion came back licking a fire and set up its slavering chops, spotted with the blood of its torches. As his prey. Hercules shot an arrow, but it bounced off uncle lopped off the beast’s hide, for a Hydra head, this was a special Iolaus cauterized lion - it could not the neck with be killed with fire to close it so conventional that no new head could grow. After cutting off weapons. Only the last head and searing the neck with fire, they Hercules’ buried the head under a rock. The marsh still incredible strength breeds snakes, but they are just ordinary ones, could conquer the mean but not monsters. The heroes killed the beast. He slammed Hydra’s crab ally, too, and it became a his club over the constellation in the sky, part of the zodiac group lion’s head; the that terrified Phaethon [FAY-eh-thon]. club splintered but The Third Labor was to capture the momentarily stunned the beast. Hercules jumped Arcadian Deer. This deer was female, a doe, but on its back, worked down the hind legs with his it bore antlers of gold and had feet of bronze. feet, grabbed the lion’s neck with his hands, drew Being sacred to Artemis [AR-tem-is], she back the head, and strangled him. He cut off the wandered free all over wooded Arcady, and it tawny hide with the lion’s own claws and took it took Hercules a year of hunting before he caught back with him, but would not give it up to her. On the return trip, with the live deer strapped Eurystheus. He had won it as a trophy of war in a to his back, he ran into Artemis, who angrily fair fight, which none could deny, and he wore it asked what he was doing with her doe. Hercules afterwards with the head on his own head like a answered meekly that he had no choice; it was the helmet. will of Zeus expressed through the oracle that as a The Second Labor concerned the Lernaean penance he obey Lord Eurystheus in all things. Hydra. This was a beast, a big snake, with nine So he made his peace with Artemis, who was not heads. The Hydra lived way off in the swamps easily appeased. and marshes of Argos, near the sea. Hercules In the Fourth Labor, Hercules took on the rode to the place in his chariot, driven by his Erymanthian Boar. This beast was a menace to Page 1 THE TWELVE LABORS OF HERCULES the whole country: people, livestock, and crops. around the bushes in the snow until the brute died Hercules’ task was to capture the boar and take it of pure exhaustion. Hercules threw it across his to King Eurystheus. back like a large rucksack and tramped into the On his way to find the boar, Hercules had to hall where king Eurystheus was waiting, always pass through the land of the Centaurs, those rather ready with more work for him to do. engaging creatures with a man’s head and The Fifth Labor, the chore of cleaning out shoulders and a horse’s body. They the Augean stables, was less dangerous than some had the strength and speed of of the others, but in its way even more arduous. horses and the wisdom of Augeas [oh-JEE-uhs] was king of neighboring men, but most of them Elis. His stable, with thousands of cattle, had not were more beasts than been cleaned for thirty years, so it was incredibly men. There was one, filthy. Hercules was told to clean it all up in a however, Pholus [FOH- single day. Hercules for once was shrewd. He luhs] by name, who said he’d do the job, but Augeas would have to was friendly. When give him one-tenth of the cattle. Augeas agreed. Hercules arrived, Now Hercules proved himself to be a clever Pholus invited him engineer, a master of hydraulics. There were two into his cave for a drink of punch and a good meal. The hero thanked the Centaur for his hospitality and went in. Pholus served him the punch; it was delicious. Hercules had never tasted anything like it before. The aroma spread near and far, and the other Centaurs came galloping up. When they discovered Hercules enjoying their special punch, they rivers nearby, one on each side of the stable. attacked him. Pholus, scared nearly to death, ran Hercules knocked out parts of the stable walls at off, so Hercules had to take on these wild beasts either end and diverted the course of both rivers alone. They went at him with torn up trees, big toward the upper end of the barn. Following the boulders, torches, and axes. Their mother, a big natural line of gravity, the rivers ran downhill, storm cloud, poured down a gray fog like pea converged, and ripped through the stalls, washing soup that blinded Hercules and made the cave away all of the dirt and filth. floor so slippery he could hardly stand up. But he Augeas, however, went back on his promise persisted in the of the cows. Hercules did not argue; he was still fight, wiping out a consumed with working out his penance. But good many of the later he took his revenge by seizing riches from Centaurs and Elis, which he used to found the ancient Olympic driving the rest Games. away. The Sixth Labor was to eliminate the Hercules Stymphalian birds. These were man-eating birds continued his search with claws, beaks, and wings of bronze. They for the wild boar. came out of Lake Stymphalus in Arcadia, When he found the swarmed down on the fields, and destroyed crops boar he chased it all like locusts. For this task, Hercules received help Page 2 THE TWELVE LABORS OF HERCULES from the goddess Athena [uh-THEEN-uh], who have been impressed by this brisk and brusque respected him for his manliness and good heart. young soldier. The other Amazons, however, She gave him a big brass rattle that sounded like a thought their queen was being taken captive, so whole band of cymbals. Assaulted by the they attacked the Greeks. tremendous noise, the bronze birds flew off, and It was quite a battle: Hercules shot them with his poisoned arrows. Europe against Asia, The Seventh Labor was to deliver the Cretan men against women! bull to King Eurystheus [yur-EES-thee-uhs]. The But Hercules’ men Cretan bull belonged to King Minos [MY-nohs] won, and Hercules of Crete. brought the broad belt It was a back. beautiful The Tenth creature, Labor involved the but it had longest journey, to an gone island, Erythia, crazy, located off the and King Spanish Coast, Minos where there lived a was dreadful monster, Geryon [GAIR-ee-on], who had anxious three bodies joined at the waist. Another, lesser, to get rid monster guarded his cattle, along with a two- of it. headed dog. These beasts were laying waste to all Hercules the lands in the area, creating a state of disorder went to without any effective government. Hercules’ job Crete, was to bring back Geryon’s cattle. captured the mad bull, and took it back to On his way to battle the monster, Hercules Mycenae. built two gigantic pillars, one on either side of the The next Labor, the Eighth, was to capture straits that are now called Gibraltar, where the the wild mares of Diomedes [die-oh-MEE-deez], Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. For a barbarian king of Thrace. His horses were man thousands of years these pillars were called the eaters and so wild that Diomedes had to tether Pillars of Hercules. them to their brass mangers with chains of iron. When he arrived on the island, he killed the Hercules organized a troop of young men and led two-headed dog with his club, then killed the them to Thrace, where they made a massive guardian monster and shot the three-bodied assault on Diomedes’ citadel, which soon fell. Geryon with arrows. He drove the cattle back by They captured the cruel and savage king, and the a land route through Europe. He also taught the horses, no longer threatened by this evil man, people of the island the ways of law and stable calmed down and were easily led to Eurystheus.
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