y again they would let him
lie. Saying this they went away, and Heracles, laughing as he thought
upon the great exploits of the frogs and mice, went on to Omphale's
house.

Omphale, the widow, received him mirthfully, and then set him to do
tasks in the kitchen while she sat and talked to him about Troy and the
affairs of King Laomedon. And afterward she put on his lion's skin, and
went about in the courtyard dragging the heavy club after her.
Mirthfully and pleasantly she made the rest of his time in Lydia pass
for Heracles, and the last day of his slavery soon came, and he bade
good-by to Omphale, that pleasant widow, and to Lydia, and he started
off for Calydon to claim his bride Deianira.

Beautiful indeed Deianira looked now that she had ceased to mourn for
her brother, for the laughter that had been under her grief always now
flashed out even while she looked priestess-like and of good counsel;
her dark eyes shone like stars, and her being had the spirit of one who
wanders from camp to camp, always greeting friends and leaving friends
behind her. Heracles and Deianira wed, and they set out for Tiryns,
where a king had left a kingdom to Heracles.

They came to the River Evenus. Heracles could have crossed the river by
himself, but he could not cross it at the part he came to, carrying
Deianira. He and she went along the river, seeking a ferry that might
take them across. They wandered along the side of the river, happy with
each other, and they came to a place where they had sight of a centaur.

Heracles knew this centaur. He was Nessus, one of the centaurs whom he
had chased up the mountain the time when he went to hunt the
Erymanthean boar. The centaurs knew him, and Nessus spoke to Heracles
as if he had friendship for him. He would, he said, carry Heracles's
bride across the river.

Then Heracles crossed the river, and he waited on the other side for
Nessus and Deianira. Nessus went to another part of the river to make
his crossing. Then Heracles, upon the other bank, heard screams--the
screams of his wife, Deianira. He saw that the centaur was savagely
attacking her.

Then Heracles leveled his bow and he shot at Nessus. Arrow after arrow
he shot into the centaur's body. Nessus loosed his hold on Deianira,
and he lay down on the bank of the river, his lifeblood streaming from
him.

Then Nessus, dying, but with his rage against Heracles unabated,
thought of a way by which the hero might be made to suffer