Chapter 16 The Tale of Hercules - 16

Hercules presents the girdle of Queen Hippolyta at the feet of King Eurystheus.Eurystheus did not let him rest, but immediately sent him to bring back Geryon's cattle.Geryon was a giant who lived on the Isle of Eritia in the Gadilla Bay. He had a herd of reddish-brown cattle, which was looked after by another giant and a two-headed hound.He is as tall as a mountain, with three heads and six arms, three bodies, and six legs.No one in the world dares to fight him.Hercules knew that careful preparation was needed to complete this arduous task, because Geryon's father was a world-renowned rich man. His nickname was "Golden Sword" and he was the king of Belia in all Italy. .Italy was later divided into Spain and Portugal.In addition to Geryon, he had three sons who were tall and brave, and each of them commanded a mighty army.Because of this, King Eurystheus gave Hercules such a task. He hoped that Heracles would be killed there when he conquered this country and never come back.But Hercules was not daunted by the task, and raising an army as he had done before, gathered on Crete those he had rescued from wild beasts, and landed in Libya by ship.Here he fought the giant Antaeus.

Antaeus was the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and Gaia, the mother of the earth.Anyone passing through Libya must wrestle him.However, when fighting, Antaeus can draw strength from the mother earth as long as he does not leave the earth.Hercules knocked him down three times and finally discovered the secret to his regained strength.So he lifted Antaeus up in the air with his mighty arms, and strangled him dead.He also cleared Libya of ferocious animals. After a long journey in the desert area, he finally came to a rich river network area.Here he built a huge city, which he called Hekatompyros, which means a hundred gates.Finally, he came to the Atlantic Ocean again, where he erected two stone pillars, which are the famous pillars of Hercules.The sun is scorching hot here, and the heat is unbearable.Hercules looked up at the sky, raised his bow and arrow menacingly, and wanted to shoot the sun god down.The sun god marveled at his fearlessness, so he lent him a golden bowl.This is the treasure he used for his night travels.Hercules crossed the sea to Italy in a golden bowl.His warship sailed beside him with its canopy spread.There, the three sons of Chrysaor led three armies and stood ready to meet the enemy.Hercules bravely rushed ashore.Instead of fighting the armies, he overthrew their chiefs one by one, killed them, and took their lands.Then he came to the isle of Eritia, where Geryon was with his cattle.The two-headed dog on the island spotted Hercules, barked and jumped on him.Hercules swung his club and killed the dog.The giant guarding the cattle saw the dog being beaten to death, and tried to come up to help, but was also beaten to death with a club.Hercules hastened to drive the cattle away from there.However, Geryon chased after him, and a fierce battle ensued.Hera came to help the giant Geryon.Hercules unceremoniously shot an arrow, which hit her in the chest.Hera was taken aback and ran away in a hurry.Besides, although the giant has three bodies, he got a fatal arrow in the abdomen where the three bodies are connected, and fell to the ground and died.

On his triumphant return, Hercules drove his cattle through Italy and Italy, performing many heroic deeds along the way.When he reached Lecium in southern Italy, a bull escaped and crossed the strait to Sicily.Hercules immediately drove the rest of the bulls into the water.He seized an ox by the horns, swam to Sicily, and after many other feats, passed through Italy, Illyria, and Trace, and finally arrived in Greece. Now, Hercules had completed ten tasks, but Eurystheus did not think that two tasks could be counted, so he had to do two more.