urned happily to
Hercules with the three apples which he had plucked.

"But," he said, "I have now found out how it feels to be relieved of
the heavy burden of the heavens. I will not carry them any longer."
Then he threw the apples down at the feet of the hero, and left him
standing with the unaccustomed, awful weight upon his shoulders.

Hercules had to think of a trick in order to get away. "Let me," he
said to the giant, "just make a coil of rope to bind around my head,
so that the frightful weight will not cause my forehead to give way."

Atlas found this new demand reasonable, and consented to take over the
burden again for a few minutes. But the deceiver was at last deceived,
and Hercules picked up the apples from the ground and set out on his
way back. He carried the apples to Eurystheus, who, since his object
of getting rid of the hero had not been accomplished, gave them back
to Hercules as a present. The latter laid them on the altar of
Minerva; but the goddess, knowing that it was contrary to the divine
wishes to carry away this sacred fruit, returned the apples to the
garden of the Hesperides.

THE TWELFTH LABOR

Instead of destroying his hated enemy the labors which Eurystheus had
imposed upon Hercules had only strengthened the hero in the fame for
which fate had selected him. He had become the protector of all the
wronged upon earth, and the boldest adventurer among mortals.

But the last labor he was to undertake in the region in which his
hero strength--so the impious king hoped--would not accompany him.
This was a fight with the dark powers of the underworld. He was to
bring forth from Hades Cerberus, the dog of Hell. This animal had
three heads with frightful jaws, from which incessantly poison flowed.
A dragon's tail hung from his body, and the hair of his head and of
his back formed hissing, coiling serpents.

To prepare himself for this fearful journey Hercules went to the city
of Eleusis, in Attic territory, where, from a wise priest, he received
secret instruction in the things of the upper and lower world, and
where also he received pardon for the murder of the Centaur.

Then, with strength to meet the horrors of the underworld, Hercules
traveled on to Peloponnesus, and to the Laconian city of Taenarus,
which contained the opening to the lower world. Here, accompanied by
Mercury, he descended through a cleft in the earth, and came to the
entrance of the city of King Pluto. The shades