Favorite Greek Myths Page 2

“A god!” she said with outrage. “He? The son of a ridiculous woman! If you insist on his becoming a god, he must do a god’s work!”

  And so began a nearly impossible series of ten chores, the Labors of Hercules.

  “If, and only if, you complete the labors King Eurystheus gives you,” said Hera, “then you may live among us on Mount Olympos.”

  Eurystheus of Tiryns did not like this strong young man, and for the first task gave Hercules one he thought would be fatal. “Kill the Nemean lion,” he ordered.

  This lion was much more terrible than the previous beast Hercules had killed. Hercules shot arrow after arrow at it, which only made the Nemean lion yawn, for the arrows could not pierce its skin. Hercules then went after it with his bare hands. The savage Nemean lion roared, and it slashed at Hercules with its claws. Hercules wrestled it, threw it on the ground and then choked it by its shaggy neck until it died.

  When Hercules returned to Tiryns, the king was so frightened by Hercules’ success that he did not allow the man to come into his palace. Eurystheus called to him from a high window and assigned him his second labor, another task he was sure would kill mighty Hercules: “Go and destroy the Hydra in Lerna.”

  This Hydra was a snaky creature that had nine heads, the one in the middle being immortal. It lived in a cave, from which it would come out in order to feast on cattle. When Hercules came to Lerna, it was asleep in its cave. Hercules listened. All he heard was a snaky whistling: “Whewsh! Whewsh!” Hercules shot fire-tipped arrows into the cave until the Hydra, angered by this nuisance, sprang out at him. Hercules leaped upon the fierce Hydra’s neck, swinging his sword and chopping off its heads. But for every head he cut off, two more grew back. Within minutes there were hundreds of Hydra heads hissing at him and longing to devour him. Hercules called to his friend lolaus, who had made the journey with him, to bring a torch. This time as Hercules cut off the newly sprung heads, he and his friend burned and sealed the necks before the heads could grow back. This worked well; and, even though a crab, friendly to the Hydra, tried to annoy him, pinching his toes and ankles, Hercules finally chopped off the unkillable last head. He buried it under a tremendous rock, where it still lives, hissing but unable to move. The Hydra’s snaky body Hercules cut up, squeezing out its poison to use on his arrows.

  When he returned to the king and told him of his success, the king, a cheating sort of man, said, “No, you get no credit for that labor. You had help from your friend. What I want now is the sacred Ceryntian deer!”

  This deer had golden antlers, and it belonged to the goddess of hunting, Artemis. Hercules dared not kill a goddess’s deer, and so for one entire year he tracked it, finally wearing it out with the chase. He now captured it alive. Artemis forgave Hercules, as he had not hurt her beautiful deer, and she allowed him to bring it to the king.

  “Very clever,” remarked Eurystheus, stroking the golden antlers. “But you’ll have to have an even better plan now. Your next labor is to bring me the Ery-manthian boar alive.”

  As Hercules cut off the newly sprung heads, he and his friend burned and sealed the necks.

  A wild, fierce boar is not easy to kill, but it is easier to kill one than to catch it alive. This, however, was what Hercules succeeded in doing. He chased it into the deepest fields of newly fallen snow. Its head could barely rise above the snow banks. Each new turn it took sank it in powdery fluff. It became so tired, it only snorted with relief when Hercules picked it up and threw it over his mighty shoulders.

  After he brought the boar to Eurystheus, Hercules set out for a short while with Jason and the Argonauts, who were leaving on their great sailing adventure in quest of the Golden Fleece. The Argonauts honored him as a hero, but when he was late for their departure from an island, they left him behind. He had been searching for his missing friend Hylas. Hercules eventually made his way back to Tiryns and asked Eurystheus for his next labor.

  This labor was the dirtiest ever performed. “Your fifth labor,” said Eurystheus, “is to clean out the Augean stables in one single day.” Augeas was a neighboring king, and he had herds and herds of cattle. The stables were filled with cow dung, as Augeas, a king with too much pride, would never bother to clean them out.

  Hercules proceeded to the land of Augeas, where, holding his nose, he offered the king his services.

  “I’d like to clean out your stables today,” said Hercules.

  “Help yourself,” said Augeas. “I don’t want to do it. I’ll pay you a good sum of gold should you succeed.”

  Before the day was out, the mighty son of Zeus had diverted the paths of two rivers through the stables, and so washed all the filth away.

  “I am not going to count that labor,” said King Eurystheus, “for I have learned that you were paid for it. For your next task, go chase away the nasty Stymphalian birds.”

  Hercules went off to Lake Stymphalos, and was amazed by the number of birds. There were too many for him to kill, and he wondered if he would fail in this labor. But good, wise Athena came to him from Mount Olympos and gave him a pair of brass castanets. Hercules stood upon a mountain overlooking the lake and knocked these castanets together. The birds screeched and cawed, flying away from the horrible din Hercules was creating.

  Once they were all gone, Hercules returned to Tiryns.

  “What cannot you do?” said Eurystheus.

  “I do not know,” replied Hercules.

  “Then kindly bring me the savage Cretan bull, that father of the Minotaur—but do not kill it.”

  “As you wish,” said Hercules. He went across the sea to Crete and, as usual, captured the requested animal. When he returned with it to Tiryns, the king was amazed.

  Hercules then released the bull. The bull bucked and stormed, and ran crazily through the countryside.

  “The next labor, Hercules,” said the king, “is to bring me the man-eating horses of Diomedes.” These four beasts were so fierce they ate men as hungrily as other horses eat apples.

  But before he came to these horses in Thrace, he stopped in Pherae and performed one of his greatest feats—he wrestled Death itself for the life of Alcestis. She was the wife of Hercules’ friend Admetus, and she had offered herself to Death in the place of her husband. When Hercules arrived at Admetus’ palace, he found everyone in gloom, grieving for Alcestis. As a gift to his friend, Hercules went to the tomb of Alcestis. He found Death drinking the funeral offerings her family had left there. Hercules grabbed Death from behind, pinning his arms.

  “Give me back Alcestis, and I shall free you,” declared Hercules.

  Death struggled, groaning, but could not free himself from the muscular arms of the son of Zeus. “Very well,” cried Death, “you have won. Take her back to Admetus. But some day I shall return for her—and for you!”

  “Indeed,” answered Hercules, “but not for many years—when Alcestis is old and gray. As for me, I will gain immortality and avoid your cold grip.”

  Admetus was overjoyed by Hercules’ rescue of his wife and asked Hercules to stay on as his guest. But Hercules had more labors to accomplish.

  From Pherae, Hercules went off to Thrace to find Diomedes’ fierce horses. He tamed them and rounded them up, bringing them down to the sea, and soon after delivered them to Eurystheus.

  The ninth labor seemed more difficult.

  “I want the Amazon Hippolyte’s belt,” said Eurystheus. Queen Hippolyte had received this belt from the war god Ares, because she was the greatest warrior in that battle-loving nation of women. Hercules came to her in a humble fashion, simply telling her who he was and what he needed. Hippolyte was so pleased to meet the famous Hercules that she agreed to give him her belt. As she unfastened it, her women warriors, jealous of their queen’s kind looks on Hercules, attacked the hero. In the battle, all was confusion, and unhappy Hercules accidentally killed poor Hippolyte. He sorrowfully took the belt and returned with it to Tiryns.

  “Bring me the cattle of Geryon,” said King Eurystheus.


  Hercules set out and on the island of Erythia met the monstrous cowherd Geryon, a three-bodied man, joined together at the waist. His watchdog was the two-headed Orthos. The double-barking canine attacked Hercules, but the son of Zeus clubbed its brains from its heads. Then Geryon, all three of him, rushed at Hercules. Mighty Hercules did not know which part of Geryon to kill first. He stepped back and shot an arrow at Geryon’s middle, killing him altogether. Hercules then captured Geryon’s cattle.

  Hercules had performed ten labors, but Eurystheus was not willing to count Hercules’ destruction of the Hydra, since he had had help, or the cleaning of the Augean stables, for which he had been paid. Eurystheus insisted on two more labors, and Hercules agreed to do them. The eleventh labor was to go and get the splendid golden apples of the Hesperides, near where mighty Atlas held up the sky.

  Before Hercules reached Atlas, he rescued Atlas’ brother, Prometheus, whom Zeus had bound to a cliff to be pecked at every day by a bloodthirsty eagle. Hercules slew the eagle and cut off Zeus’s bands. Prometheus, in thanks, told Hercules not to try to get the golden apples himself, but to ask Atlas to do it for him.

  The great Titan Atlas, standing at the edge of the world, had been straining under the weight of the sky, keeping it from crushing the earth, ever since Zeus assigned him this task. This was Atlas’ punishment for having fought against Zeus in the fateful war with Kronos.

  Mighty Hercules came and asked Atlas if he knew where the golden apples were.

  Atlas said, “Yes, I do. They’re just over there in my garden. Help yourself.” But there was a huge and hungry snake the size of a dragon guarding the apple tree.

  Hercules replied, “Perhaps you would like a rest from your duty? I could hold up the sky for you while you went in and picked me a few apples.”

  Atlas thought about this for a moment, and then agreed.

  When he returned with the apples—the snake had not dared to bother him—and saw Hercules stooping and straining beneath the sky’s weight, he realized how glad he was to have been relieved of that tedious task.

  He saw this as a chance to pass off his duty onto Hercules. “My friend,” he said, “you are doing such a good job in my stead, I will let you go on doing it.”

  Hercules understood Atlas’ trick. “Very well, mighty Titan. It’s no trouble to me. But wait a moment. Before you go, would you mind holding the sky while I put a soft pad across my head and shoulders?”

  Atlas, though the brother of clever Prometheus, wasn’t so smart. He set down the apples he had fetched for Hercules and laughed, saying, “I myself have never needed a cushion. But, all right, let me lend you a hand.”

  As Hercules stepped out from underneath the sky, Atlas shouldered the burden. He watched Hercules pick up the apples.

  “But you’re staying here!” cried Atlas. “You won’t need those!”

  “Farewell, Atlas!” said Hercules, going on his way.

  Atlas stamped his foot, but he couldn’t do anything about Hercules’ deceitful trick.

  The final labor that Eurystheus gave Hercules was to fetch the terrible watchdog of Hades, three-headed Cerberus. Hercules journeyed into the underworld and asked Hades himself for permission to borrow his dog. Hades answered, “Go right ahead, nephew, by all means. But use no weapon to make him follow you. ”

  Hercules pulled his lion skin tight over his body and crept up on the keen-eyed dog. Just as the dog’s heads began to bark, Hercules sprang and wrestled the beast until it gave up the fight and rolled over and, showing its belly, licked Hercules’ hands. It followed him away from the gloomy underworld to King Eurystheus. The king shuddered at the sight of the dog he would see all too soon.

  “Take him away!” cried Eurystheus. “And leave me alone. You have performed your labors. Now go!”

  Hercules laughed at the cowardly king and led the bewildered dog back home.

  The mighty son of Zeus had succeeded in his labors, earning the right to live forever among the Olympian gods.

  Chapter III

  Heroes and Monsters

  Perseus and Medusa

  FOUL MEDUSA! Instead of hair, she had hissing poisonous snakes. Her face was somewhat green, somewhat blue, and her eyes an awful shade of red. To look at her would turn any mortal man or woman to stone. And so Medusa had no friends to speak to or to love, just her immortal sisters, the dreadful Gorgons.

  A king named Polydectes longed to marry Perseus’ mother, Danae, but to win her he needed to get Perseus out of the way. He asked Perseus to do such a dangerous deed that he would be killed in attempting it. “Fetch me the head of Medusa,” said Polydectes.

  Perseus could not do such a thing alone, and prayed for help from the gods, especially the wise Athena.

  Athena appeared to him and said, “You need several things if you mean to get close to the Gorgons. Use this bright shield, my shining aegis, as a mirror when you approach the Gorgons. Do not look directly at them. And use this sickle of Hermes to cut off Medusa’s head. You need to be able to fly, so that after you cut off Medusa’s head her winged sisters cannot chase you down; in addition, you had better be invisible, or they might not give up the chase. To gain the gifts of flight and invisibility you must find the nymphs who live in the River Styx, the dark waters of Hades. I may not reveal to you the way to the Styx, and the only beings that may are the Graiai. At the ends of the earth, in a cave, live the three sisters, so old they have but a single eye left among them, which they share by passing it back and forth, and one tooth, which they also share. You must convince them to tell you where to go.”

  Perseus thanked Athena and set out over the seas and across the desert until he reached the Graiai.

  “What do you want?” said one Graia.

  “Directions to the Styx,” said Perseus.

  “Ah, yes, wouldn’t you like to know,” said another Graia.

  “Ah, yes, wouldn’t he like to know,” said the third.

  They laughed at this traveler who dared ask them for help, and they passed their eye back and forth to take a mocking look at him.

  As the last Graia was returning it to the first, Perseus, angry at their laughter, quickly stepped forward and snatched the eyeball.

  “What’s he doing now?” asked the Graiai among themselves.

  “I can’t see!” said the first Graia. “Give me the eye.”

  “I don’t have it,” said the other two.

  “I have it,” said Perseus, “and I will not return it until you tell me how to get to the River Styx.”

  The Graiai grumbled, but what was there to do? They valued the little bit of sight they had left, and so they told him. The hero went off and after many days reached the nymphs in the Styx.

  “How did you ever find us, handsome one?” asked a nymph.

  “It was not easy,” he replied. “But now that I am here, will you help me?”

  “We’d be happy to do so,” said the nymphs. They strapped onto his feet the sandals of Hades that enabled him to fly. They handed him a large bag into which he could put Medusa’s ugly head. Then they kissed him and set a cap on his head that made him invisible. They wished him luck, and Perseus thanked them and flew off.

  Once he got into the neighborhood of the Gorgons he saw dozens of statues sculpted in horrified poses. They were men who had turned to stone after glancing at Medusa or her sisters. Perseus, however, was invisible and so the Gorgons did not notice him as he approached. They liked jumping out at foolish men and yapping, “Look at me!”

  As he got closer Perseus turned about and lifted up his shield to use as a mirror. That way he could watch them and see where he was going. When he caught a glimpse of their distorted reflection, he found it so hideous that he decided to wait until it was dark to attack.

  Finally night covered the land with darkness, and Perseus crept closer and closer to the sisters. He saw that even their snaky hair had fallen peacefully asleep upon the smooth stones they used for pillows.

  Perseus now flew forwar
d, and in a large sweeping motion sliced off Medusa’s slimy head. He jumped back then, as out of her neck sprang a horse, Pegasus, who neighed loudly and flapped its beautiful wings. Immortal Pegasus flew off to Mount Olympos, where he became a favorite of the gods.

  Perseus now flew home. In the palace he found that King Polydectes had married Perseus’ mother, Danae, against her will.

  Polydectes was unhappy to see Perseus again. “I don’t suppose you have really fetched me what I asked for,” the king said. “Therefore, you must leave our country and never come back.”

  “But I have done what you asked,” said Perseus. “Just take a look and see for yourself.”

  He tossed the king the bag, and then went to his mother and covered her eyes and his own with Athena’s shield. The king, on the other hand, and all his men gazed with wonder at the bag and then the king opened it and brought forth Medusa’s ghastly head. All of them who looked gaped in amazement, and all were turned to stone.

  Perseus shielded his eyes and went and replaced Medusa’s head in the bag. He called on the goddess Athena, and when she appeared he thanked her, returned to her her shield and presented her with the bag as a gift. The gods can tolerate amazing ugliness, and so she gladly accepted Medusa’s head. In fact, the image of Medusa’s face was forever after etched onto Athena’s wondrous aegis.

  Bellerophon and Pegasus

  When brave young Bellerophon came to Lycia, the king Iobates found him charming. The king had never met a visitor he liked so well. Only after several days did Iobates ask Bellerophon what had brought him to this country.

  “The king of Ephyra sent me to deliver this note,” replied Bellerophon.

  The king of Ephyra was the husband of Iobates’ daughter. Iobates read the message: “This man has offended me and your daughter. I request you to give him a task that will bring on his death.”

  Iobates was surprised by this request but did not think of disregarding it. He did not know that Bellerophon had been wrongly accused; he therefore asked him to destroy the Chimera, a creature part lion, part goat and part snake who breathed fire and was then destroying the countryside in Lycia.