The Twelve Labours of Hercules

by Joe Corcoran

fallen tree trunks in a useful place. In particular, he had spent quite a long time by the river, which ran down into Augeias’ kingdom from the mountains to the north. Anyone passing by who was familiar with the channel would notice how it had been narrowed at one point, causing the waters almost to overflow the banks. They would probably think that it was caused by a rockslide from the cliffs above. They would not consider that it could be the work of an immortal hero who was sleeping, hidden, nearby.

  The next morning Hercules was up early and headed down to the main town, where he knew he would find Augeias. Sure enough, as he entered the town, he saw the king straight away. There was no mistaking his fine dress and arrogant bearing, as he instructed his son in how to be successful as a king.

  “You must be up early every day,” he was saying to the boy, as Hercules approached, “if you are not there to watch over them then the peasants will not do their work. They are lazy by nature, and if they were allowed, they’d turn me into a pauper by staying in bed late and avoiding their duties.” He stopped his instruction when he saw Hercules approaching, casting a disapproving eye over this stranger, who looked like a savage in his lion skin cloak.

  “And who might you be?” he asked, “We have no charity for vagabonds in this town, if that’s what you’ve come for. People must work here if they want to be fed.” Of course, this made Hercules feel angry inside, but he had expected exactly this kind of welcome, and so he controlled his temper easily.

  “That’s good,” he replied, “because I’ve come to work. In fact, I’ve come to do the hardest day’s work that anyone in this kingdom has ever seen.” Augeias simply raised an eyebrow at this, so Hercules continued, “I’ve seen that the land around here looks very good for farming, very valuable,” he let the last word hang in the air, knowing about the king’s great greed, “except,” and Hercules paused again for a second, “except that no-one would part with a single copper coin for the whole kingdom, the way it is now. Who’d want fields that are knee deep in cow pats? Who could grow anything in that?” Now Hercules knew that the king was not stupid. Augeias knew that the dung from his herd was poisoning the countryside, but he was too mean to pay anyone to clear it away, so he was all ears as Hercules continued. “I can clear all the dung, from all the fields, and the stables too, and I’ll do it all before the sun sets today.”

  “And what would you want in payment for this impossible task?” asked Augeias, not quite sure if he was talking to a trickster or an idiot.

  “If I succeed, I will take twenty of your cattle as payment,” said Hercules, “if I fail to complete the task before the end of the day then you owe me nothing.” Augeias thought about this. He was sure that what this stranger was promising was impossible, so he didn’t believe he would have to give up a single one of his cattle. On the other hand he looked like a strong, healthy man, so he would certainly be able to clear some of the dung during the day. The greedy king thought he couldn’t lose, he would just get a day’s work done for free.

  “I agree,” said the king, “you may start whenever you are ready.” He was surprised when Hercules didn’t move, he had expected that he would run off immediately. Instead, Hercules turned to the king’s son.

  “You, what is your name?”

  “Phyleus,” replied the young man.

  “Then, Phyleus, you are witness to our bargain. You will see that I complete my part, and then you will make sure your father keeps his promise.” Now Hercules turned to go, but he had not gone very far when he came near a group of cattle, grazing at the edge of the town. Among them was a large white bull who, because of his cloak, mistook Hercules for a lion and charged at him. When any other man would have fled, the hero stood his ground and, catching the bull by the horns, first brought it to a stop and then forced it to the ground. Augeias, seeing this display of strength, began to have doubts about the bargain he had struck. He sent men to follow Hercules and to report back on what he was doing. The first messenger arrived back after about an hour and his news was just confusing. The stranger was wandering about the countryside, doing not much of anything. True, he had moved some huge rocks, displaying almost inhuman strength, and he had dug around in the ground, but he seemed to work with no clear pattern or reason. The next report was more worrying.

  “He is damaging your property,” announced the breathless messenger, “he has broken down the wall around your stables, not just in one place but in two.” Now the king decided that enough was enough. This man was meant to be clearing dung, not breaking down walls.

  “Saddle my horse!” cried Augeias, “Where will I find this vandal now?” The messenger explained that he had last seen the stranger heading towards the river, so the king rode out with some guards, to make sure that no more damage was being done. He arrived to find Hercules waist deep in the water, one end of a huge tree trunk in his hands. The other end of the trunk was wedged under a mighty boulder that was part of the river’s bank.

  “Stop right there!”, called Augeias, “you’ve done enough damage for one day.”

  Hercules did not reply directly he just said, “I wouldn’t stay there if I were you, it’s going to get very wet.” Then he heaved down on the tree trunk and levered the boulder up out of the ground. The force of the water in the river did the rest, rolling the boulder away and overflowing the bank. The king had to move quickly to get clear of the flood, and even Hercules had to jump out of the water before he got swept away in the torrent.

  “What have you done”, shouted the king above the roar of the water. Hercules calmly led the king’s horse to a small hill where they could look out over the surrounding countryside. The water was spreading out fast, sweeping over the fields. Then, carrying the dung with it, it was flowing back into its own channel further downstream.

  When they had drained the moat at Troezen, to make a home for the boar, Hercules had carefully studied how the engineers made their plans and how they calculated the way that the water would move. By making just small changes in the landscape, he had ensured that the river would sweep clean the whole land, even flowing into and out of the stable yard through the holes he had made in the wall. Augeias watched all this without a word, he could think of nothing to say, and so he simply gazed in silence as the water did its work.

  Eventually, Hercules decided that there had been enough time, and he put the boulder back in its place in the bank. The river returned to its natural course, the flood waters drained away and the land emerged, cleaned completely from end to end. It was just a little after midday, and Hercules had won.

  When Hercules went to replace the boulder, Augeias realised that he would have to give up twenty of his prized cattle. He was so desperate to keep his property that, there and then, he came up with an evil plan, and he sent off one of his guards to carry out the terrible deed. Hercules returned and, indicating the newly cleaned fields, asked for the reward that had been promised, but Augeias denied he had ever made such a bargain.

  “Very well,” said Hercules, amazed by the depths of this man’s treachery, “we will go and ask your son, Phyleus.”

  “I have no son named Phyleus,” replied the king, calmly. Hercules was astounded, but sure enough, when Hercules returned to the town, he could not find the young man, and all of the townspeople were too frightened of Augeias to talk to him. In fact the king had banished his son, the guard making sure he was far away by the time Hercules started to look for him. Confronted by such ruthlessness there was nothing that Hercules could do, and so he left empty handed, although the people were secretly grateful to him for his work. Zeus, however, was less forgiving. Displeased by the fact that the king had broken his word, the great god reversed the blessing on Augeias’ cattle. From that day forward they suffered from sickness and disease just like any other animals, and the king’s wealth steadily declined. By contrast, his honest son prospered, building a kingdom of his own and ruling wisely, always remembering the misery that his father’s greed had caused.

  The Sixth Cha
llenge: The Stymphalian Birds

  After seeing the harm done by King Augeias, Hercules took great care to be especially polite and considerate to all the people he met. There was no new challenge to accomplish, and so he spent his time talking with the varied visitors to the palace, exercising with the soldiers of the palace guard or exploring the city - when he wasn’t at the baths, of course. Most of the time he was accompanied by Iolaus, and their favourite topic of conversation was how they might best prepare for the next challenge. Of course, they never reached a decision because neither they nor anyone else had any clue what the next challenge might be.

  Then, one day, a farmer appeared at the gates of the palace, begging to see Pittheus. His face was cut in many places, and his clothes were torn. He carried a bronze feather, and all he said was:

  “The bronze birds attacked our farm, please save my family.”

  The guards were not sure what to do. Was it safe to let this man near their king? But while they were still trying to decide, there was a squawk and down from the skies above dived three bronze birds, attacking the farmer from all sides. The two guards kept the birds off, using their shields and spears, but