was
the daughter of King Laomedon, and the sister of Priam, who was then
called, not Priam but Podarces. He helped to repair the wall, and two
of the Argonauts were there to aid him: one was Peleus and the other
was Telamon. Peleus did not stay for long: Telamon stayed, and to
reward Telamon Heracles withdrew his own claim for the hand of the
Princess Hesione. It was not hard on Heracles to do this, for his
thoughts were ever upon Deianira.

But Telamon rejoiced, for he loved Hesione greatly. On the day they
married Heracles showed the two an eagle in the sky. He said it was
sent as an omen to them--an omen for their marriage. And in memory of
that omen Telamon named his son "Aias"; that is, "Eagle."

Then the walls of Troy were repaired and Heracles turned toward Lydia,
Omphale's home. Not long would he have to serve Omphale now, for his
three years' slavery was nearly over. Soon he would go back to Calydon
and wed Deianira.

As he went along the road to Lydia he thought of all the pleasantries
that had been made in Omphale's house and he laughed at the memory of
them. Lydia was a friendly country, and even though he had been in
slavery Heracles had had his good times there.

He was tired with the journey and made sleepy with the heat of the sun,
and when he came within sight of Omphale's house he lay down by the
side of the road, first taking off his armor, and laying aside his bow,
his quiver, and his shield. He wakened up to see two men looking down
upon him; he knew that these were the Cercopes, robbers who waylaid
travelers upon this road. They were laughing as they looked down on
him, and Heracles saw that they held his arms and his armor in their
hands.

They thought that this man, for all his tallness, would yield to them
when he saw that they had his arms and his armor. But Heracles sprang
up, and he caught one by the waist and the other by the neck, and he
turned them upside down and tied them together by the heels. Now he
held them securely and he would take them to the town and give them
over to those whom they had waylaid and robbed. He hung them by their
heels across his shoulders and marched on.

But the robbers, as they were being bumped along, began to relate
pleasantries and mirthful tales to each other, and Heracles, listening,
had to laugh. And one said to the other, "O my brother, we are in the
position of the frogs when the mice fell upon them with such fury." And
the other said, "Indeed n