above this land, they say one can neither
see nor pass through any further by reason of feathers which are poured
down; for both the earth and the air are full of feathers, and this is
that which shuts off the view.

8. Thus say the Scythians about themselves and about the region
above them; but the Hellenes who dwell about the Pontus say as
follows:--Heracles driving the cattle of Geryones came to this land, then
desert, which the Scythians now inhabit; and Geryones, says the tale,
dwelt away from the region of the Pontus, living in the island called
by the Hellenes Erytheia, near Gadeira which is outside the Pillars of
Heracles by the Ocean.--As to the Ocean, they say indeed that it flows
round the whole earth beginning from the place of the sunrising, but
they do not prove this by facts.--From thence Heracles came to the land
now called Scythia; and as a storm came upon him together with icy cold,
he drew over him his lion's skin and went to sleep. Meanwhile the mares
harnessed in his chariot disappeared by a miraculous chance, as they
were feeding.

9. Then when Heracles woke he sought for them; and having gone over the
whole land, at last he came to the region which is called Hylaia; and
there he found in a cave a kind of twofold creature formed by the union
of a maiden and a serpent, whose upper parts from the buttocks upwards
were those of a woman, but her lower parts were those of a snake. Having
seen her and marvelled at her, he asked her then whether she had seen
any mares straying anywhere; and she said that she had them herself and
would not give them up until he lay with her; and Heracles lay with her
on condition of receiving them. She then tried to put off the giving
back of the mares, desiring to have Heracles with her as long as
possible, while he on the other hand desired to get the mares and
depart; and at last she gave them back and said: "These mares when they
came hither I saved for thee, and thou didst give me reward for saving
them; for I have by thee three sons. Tell me then, what must I do with
these when they shall be grown to manhood, whether I shall settle them
here, for over this land I have power alone, or send them away to thee?"
She thus asked of him, and he, they say, replied: "When thou seest that
the boys are grown to men, do this and thou shalt not fail of doing
right:--whichsoever of them thou seest able to stretch this bow as I do
now, and to be girded 1201 with this girdle, him