Hercules and His 12 Labors
Hercules and His 12 Labors
Illustrated By: Emma Leeper
AS A YOUTH, THERE WAS NONE LIKE HERCULES. Twice as large and ten times as strong as any other boy, when Hercules swung his arms, everyone quickly backed up. When Hercules stomped, the earth shook. As a boy, his mother had to send Hercules outside to tend the goats and sheep to keep him out of trouble as he was forever smashing things by mistake.
What young Hercules did not know was that his father was none other than Zeus, the god of thunder and most powerful of all gods. In those days people believed that when one parent was a god and the other parent was a mortal human, the child was a "half-god," or “demi-god.” Yet that did not protect Hercules from a powerful danger – the goddess Hera. As the wife of Zeus, you can be sure Hera was not pleased that her husband had become a father to a child by another woman.
Yet that did not protect Hercules from a powerful danger - the goddess Hera.
When Hercules was a baby, Hera sent two snakes into his crib. But the super-strong baby crushed the snakes with his bare hands.
When Hercules grew to a young man, he drove away enemy invaders of Thebes, the city-state next to his. The King of Thebes reclaimed his throne and the grateful King heaped many honors on the young hero Hercules. Over time, Hercules fell in love with the King's daughter, and she with him. They married and had three sons. But Hera, set on crushing the happiness of Hercules, cast an evil spell over the young father.
Under her dark spell, Hercules was driven mad and in a deranged state he killed his wife and sons. When the spell lifted and Hercules saw the catastrophe that he had caused, he sunk into a grief so deep that he simply could not go on. His friend Theseus, another young hero, pleaded with Hercules to visit the Oracle at Delphi. Only she, the most famous and wise prophet in the land, could advise Hercules on what he might do to amend for what he had done.
The Oracle often spoke in riddles but this time her message was clear. To pay for his sins, Hercules must serve his cousin Eurystheus (pronounced: "your-is-thee-us") for 12 years. During that time, King Eurystheus would give Hercules ten extremely difficult, even impossible, tasks to accomplish. Hercules must accomplish all the tasks in the 12 years.
For the Oracle at Delphi could see into the hearts of men. She knew that King Eurystheus wanted nothing more than to be rid of his stronger, more popular younger cousin. She knew that he would relish the opportunity to come up with deadly tasks.
For the Oracle at Delphi could see into the hearts of men.
When Hercules heard the Oracle's answer, he knew he must do what she said. If serving his cousin King Eurystheus was the path to pay for his sins, then he would do exactly that.
Hercules arrived at the palace of his cousin King Eurystheus and delivered him the message from the Oracle. His older cousin smiled. He thought to himself, "Well, now! Isn't this my lucky day? I'm going to make the most of this opportunity!"
By sending Hercules on one impossible mission after another, Eurystheus could keep his popular younger cousin far away for years. If his younger cousin happened to succeed, then he, King Eurystheus, would take the credit. And if Hercules happened to perish while trying, well then, that was also fine with him.
The first labor King Eurystheus set for Hercules was for him to kill the Nemean Lion. The beast had been striking terror in the countryside and could not be harmed by any weapon, so no one could stop it. Hercules chased the Nemean Lion and trapped it in a cave. He strangled the beast with his bare hands and then skinned it. Hercules hung the skin of the Nemean Lion around his head with the open head of the lion over his own face, and that is how Hercules returned to the palace of King Eurystheus, victorious. Yet it was only the first of his labors.
The King was ready with a second task. Hercules was to slay the giant Hydra dragon snake. The Hydra had many hungry heads, each head blowing hot steam from its fangs. No one could slay the Hydra, because when one snake head was cut off, two more would grow back.
No one could slay the Hydra, because when one snake head was cut off, two more would grow back.
But Hercules had a plan – as soon as he cut off a snake head, his nephew quickly seared the cut with fire so the head could not grow back. However as Hercules had help with this task, King Eurysthesus did not count it toward the ten labors. Hercules would have to complete an extra labor.
Next, Hercules had to bring back to the King a huge deer that was the pet of Athena, goddess of the hunt. Athena took care of all the animals. Her pet deer had golden horns and hoofs of bronze and was faster than any other creature alive. Hercules chased her pet deer for months. Finally, he shot an arrow that wounded the animal.
Carrying the animal on his shoulders, he came upon none other than the goddess Athena herself who, as you can imagine, was shocked to see her pet wounded like that. Hercules explained why he was forced to capture the animal and apologized to the Goddess. Athena forgave him as long as he agreed to set the animal free. Hercules agreed. Then Athena healed the deer’s wound, and let Hercules carry her pet back to King Eurysthesus.
King Eurystheus was stunned to see Hercules walk into his throne room, carrying Athena’s deer!
Still, King Eursthesus was ready with a third task. (You may remember that the slaying of the Hydra dragon snake did not count toward ten labors.) For this task, Hercules would have to capture a huge fearsome wild pig called a boar that had a raging temper and long pointed tusks. Every day, the boar would run crashing down the mountainside, attacking and killing everything in its path. Hercules chased the Boar into a deep pile of snow. He trapped it into a net and carried the net with the beast inside of it, back to King Eurystheus. Now King Eurystheus did not know what to do! Could nothing defeat Hercules?
Now the King came up with a truly impossible task for the next labor. A king in Greece was famous for keeping a herd of over 3000 cattle. Each night, the 3000 cattle stayed at his royal stables. Yet the stables had never once been cleaned. You can imagine what it was like in there!
You can imagine what it was like in there!
King Eurystheus knew it would be impossible to clean out the King’s Stables, even if there was a lifetime to do it. Yet how much more impossible it would be to clean out the Stables in just one day! Yet that was the task.
Hercules went to the King who owned the fine cattle. He said he would clean out the royal stables in one day, on one condition. The condition was that the King would give him 10 percent of his fine cattle. The King could not believe anyone could clean out the Stables. But if this stranger thought he could do such a thing and in just one day, it was worth the price.
The next morning after the cattle went out to graze, Hercules tore a large hole at one end of the stable wall, and another large hole at the other end. Then he dug two wide trenches next to two rivers that flowed nearby. He turned the course of both rivers into one stream and directed the flow of the stream into the hole in the stable wall. The two rivers rushed right through, and all the mess flowed out the other side!
The two rivers rushed right through, and all the mess flowed out the other side!
By the end of the day, the stables were as clean as could be. The King gave Hercules 10% of his herd that he had promised. But King Eurystheus said the task didn’t count because Hercules had been paid. And so he would have to do yet another extra task.
There were other labors, including one where Hercules had to drive away a flock of man-eating birds. Another when he had to wrestle a Minotaur to the ground. Another when he had to ride a chariot of wild horses and tame them. Hercules went to the faraway land of the Amazon women and brought back the queen’s belt. He even traveled to the very end of the world.
Perhaps the daunting task was for Hercules to get the golden apples that belonged to Zeus, King of the gods and his own father. What made this task truly impossible is that the golden apples were a wedding present from Hera, the very goddess who hated him. Yet Hercules also accomplished this task, too. He tricked Atlas, who held up the world, into doing it for him.
What made this task truly impossible is that the golden apples were a wedding present from Hera, the very goddess who hated him.
The final labor of Hercules was the most impossible one of all. He had to go deep under the earth to the Underworld, the land of the dead. No one had ever gone to the Underworld and come back alive. To make it even more impossible, the task was to kidnap the three-headed dog Cerberus that guarded the gate to the Underworld, and to bring the beast back alive. Cerberus was the pet of Hades, god of the Underworld. King Eurystheus knew that Hades would never let anyone harm his pet. "Let Hercules try!" he thought with a smile.
When Hercules got to the Underworld, he went to see Hades.
He asked Hades if he might borrow his pet for awhile and take him to the land of the living. Hercules promised not to harm the beast. Hades was impressed that Hercules had sought his permission, instead of rushing to fight his pet. And so the King of the Underworld agreed.
When Hercules came to King Eurystheus' palace with the three-headed dog, the King was terrified. He ran behind his throne, where he crouched in fear. Calling from behind his hiding place, King Eurysthesus told Hercules that he got credit for the final task, and that he should leave right away and take the beast with him. And so the labors of Hercules ended.
Hercules had finished his labors, 12 in all. Hercules now felt that he could go on with his life. He married again and won many victories, but he also faced hard times, for the goddess Hera remained as hostile as ever. She tried to ruin him time after time for the rest of his days.
When Hercules died, he won a final prize. He became the only demi-god ever allowed to rise up to Mount Olympus, the cloud-covered mysterious place where all the gods lived. In acknowledgement of all the good deeds he had done in his life and for all the hardships he had faced, when Hercules ascended to Mount Olympus, he became an immortal god.
