Last time, you read about Hercules and the Nemean Lion. So let’s continue with the 12 labours of Hercules.
This time, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to kill the Lernean Hydra. This was a monstrous nine-headed snake that lived in the swamps of Lerna. It was not an easy matter to kill this snake. For one, it had poisonous breath and one of its nine heads was immortal. So even if one head was cut off, another grew in its place.
Teamwork
This time, Hercules did not go alone. He was accompanied by his nephew Iolaus, who was part of many of his adventures. When they reached Lerna, Hercules and Iolaus found the Hydra near the springs of Amymone. Hercules shot fiery arrows into the creature’s lair so that it was forced to come out. When it emerged, it threw its coils around Hercules and trapped him. While he grappled with the snake’s multiple heads, the hydra’s ally — a huge crab — began to bite his foot. Hercules managed to free one arm and killed the crab with his club. Then he turned his attention to the Hydra but he found that, each time he cut off one head, another would grow in its place.
So Hercules called to Iolaus to make a big fire and kindle a torch. Each time he cut one head off, he told his nephew to hold the torch to that spot. That way the heads did not have time to reappear. Once he had destroyed the eight heads, Hercules buried the ninth — the immortal head — on the road out of Lerna. In order to make himself more powerful, he dipped his arrows in the Hydra’s poisonous blood.
Now that Hercules had gotten rid of the Hydra, Eurystheus began to be really afraid of his cousin. He decided that he had to somehow get rid of Hercules. So he sent him to capture the hind of Ceryneia. You will read about this in the next instalment.
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Published - July 08, 2016 02:59 pm IST
