Beware Of Greeks by Paul Curtis (english novels for students TXT) 📕

/> Then His second labor was to kill the many-headed hydra
This he did with Iolaus his nephew in the swamps of Lerna
Then his task was to capture the fleet footed Cerynitian hind
It was in Arcadia he caught it after it took him a year to find
He then returned once more to Arcadia for his fourth labor
On mount Erymanthus he captured the huge Erymanthian boar

Next was cleaning the Augean stables a task meant to demean
But Heracles diverted two rivers to leave the stable yards clean
Once more he had to return to the stark wilderness of Arcadia
To find flesh eating Stymphalian birds and kills their number
The seventh labor involved a huge fire-breathing creature
The Cretan bull ravaging the countryside he had to capture
The mares of Diomedes then had to be brought to Eurystheus
This was achieved with the help of his young squire Abderus

He went to the land of the Amazons for the ninth of the labors
To steal the belt from Hippolyte the queen of the women warriors
For labor ten he was sent outside ancient Greece by Eurystheus
He captured the cattle of Geryon and killed Geryon and Orthrus
Stealing the apples of Hesperides was to be labor number eleven
This he did killing Ladon and securing help from Atlas the Titan
The twelfth and final labor for Heracles was to capture Cerberus
He dragged the hellhound from Hades and gave it to Eurystheus

Penance was done upon completion of the twelfth labor
Though could not bring back the victims of the murder
In the years after as well as in between his great Labors
Heracles had a great many other adventures and chores
He was one of the Argonaut sailing with the hero Jason
Wielding a massive club which was his favorite weapon
He wore as a cloak the skin he took from the Nemean lion
It was his usual garb and as a helmet he had its head on

Heracles accomplished some amazing feats for a mortal
He once forced the god Poseidon to give way in battle
In another encounter he wounded Ares the god of war
And he wrestled the great god Zeus himself to a draw
The hero could move mountains that hindered his way
He could and did toss boulders about like pebbles all day
Heracles even relieved the Titan Atlas of his eternal burden
He stood and on his back supported the weight of heaven

So strong he was the deciding factor in battle with the Titans
Defeating the Giants and winning victory for the Olympians
When the Titanic sons of Gaia tried to storm the godly citadel
When a hail of flaming oaks and rocks almost won the battle
The deities of mount Olympus would never have prevailed
Without Heracles and his bowmanship which never failed
His reward in recognition of his assistance in their victory
Was to become the only mortal born hero to become a deity

When Heracles allowed a centaur to ferry across a river
His wife Deianara on the other side the centaur attacked her
Heracles killed him with an arrow but before the Centaur died
He told her for a love potion to keep some blood he supplied
Deianara used some on Heracles' tunic to keep him faithful
But it contained Hydra poison from the arrow and was fatal
He used Hydra venom on the arrow, which Deianara didn’t see
And was poisoned when He donned the tunic dying in agony

On his funeral pyre lightning consumed his mortal remains
And he was apotheosized by Zeus and joined the Olympians
So he was given a home on Mount Olympus for eternity
And Heracles also married the lovely goddess of youth Hebe
But there was part of him had not come from Zeus his father
And that part had come from Alcmene his mortal mother
The mortal part of his soul went to the Underworld directly
And In Company of heroes roams the Elysian Fields eternally


THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 01: THE NEMEAN LION

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
And his first task was killing the Nemean Lion
It was no ordinary lion but a supernatural monster
Its skin could not be penetrated by arrow or spear
So He blocked the entrance to the lion's cave
And Then Heracles entered fearless and brave
At close quarters he fought the creature fiercely
And strangled it with his bare hands savagely
Ever after he wore its skin about him as a cape
And as a helmet he wore its head with jaws agape


THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 02: THE HYDRA

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by his cousin king Eurystheus
For His second labor he needed his nephew Iolaus
Because his task was to kill the many headed Hydra
Which was known to dwell in the swamps of Lerna
Its not clear exactly how many heads it possessed
Some claim they know but mostly they only guess
What was known by those who looked it in the face
When you cut off a head two more grew in its place
If that wasn’t enough the Hydra's breath was lethal
To smell its footprints was enough to kill a mortal
He sought out the fearsome monster in its own lair
He forced it into the open with fire arrows in the air
But then the fight began to go in the Hydra's favor
Twining its heads around him despite his endeavor
Hydra called upon an ally, a huge crab for assistance
The crab bit Him on the heel sapping his resistance
On the verge of failure things looked bad for Heracles
He called Iolaus the son of his twin brother Iphicles
Iolaus who had driven Heracles to Lerna in his chariot
Looked on in anxiety as his uncle was tied in a knot
With Heracles tangled Iolaus rushed in to save the day
Grabbing a burning torch and dashing into the fray
So cutting the hydra’s heads off was Heracles aim
And Iolaus would sear the wounded neck with flame
This prevented and further heads from sprouting
So Heracles cut off the heads with Iolaus cauterizing
Finally Heracles lopped off the one immortal head
Burying it deep below a rock to ensure it was dead


THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 03: THE CERYNITIAN HIND

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
Capturing a beast was the next labor he was given
He spent the next year hunting the Cerynitian hind
In Arcadia near the Ladon River it was there to find
The Cerynitian hind was a fleet-footed female deer
Who had golden horns and ran faster than a spear
The hind was sacred to goddess of the hunt Artemis
So Heracles dared not wound it and so dare not miss
So between tendons and bones he aimed with his bow
Pinning its legs without drawing blood with his arrow
Artemis was displeased but Heracles appeased her
Simply by blaming king Eurystheus his taskmaster


THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 04: THE ERYMANTHIAN BOAR

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
It was in Arcadia for the forth labor he was given
His quest was to hunt the huge Erymanthian boar
And capturing the boar alive was labor number four
He immobilized the boar on Mount Erymanthus
Then carried it back on his shoulder to Eurystheus


THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 05: THE AUGEAN STABLES

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
The fifth labor Eurystheus Took great pleasure in
He chose a Labor he hoped would be demeaning
And he was sure would humiliate his heroic cousin
Heracles was to clean the stables of King Augeas
And he must do it in a single day to have success
King Augeas possessed for years vast herds of cattle
their deposits of manure was to be Heracles battle
So much had been deposited by the cattle of Augeas
That a thick aroma hung over the Peloponnesus
But Heracles Instead of using baskets and shovels
He diverted two rivers through the Augean stables


THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 06: THE STYMPHALIAN BIRDS

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
The sixth Labor sent him to arcadia once again
Killing the Stymphalian birds he was requested
The shores of Lake Stymphalus the birds infested
He could not approach the man killers directly
To fight them as the ground was far too marshy
And the birds used as arrows metallic feathers
To rain them upon any approaching aggressors
He sought the assistance of the goddess Athena
And she gave him castanets to help with his labor
He used the castanets to make the birds take flight
Then shots them by the dozen both left and right


THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 07: THE CRETAN BULL

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
The seventh was a creature sent up by Poseidon
A fire belching bull of huge size he had to beat
The bull was ravaging the countryside of Crete
The hero overpowered it despite its flaming breath
And sent it to Athens were Theseus inflicted death


THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 08: THE MARES OF DIOMEDES

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by his cousin king Eurystheus
The eighth labor for our hero and his squire Abderus
Was to captures the man-eating mares of Diomedes
The King of Thrace was fed to his horses by Heracles
He soon herded them down to the sea as he planned
Where he embarked them for Tiryns his homeland
Once he returned they were released by Eurystheus
They were eaten by wild animals on Mount Olympus


THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 09: HIPPOLYTE'S BELT

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara