slain, Eurystheus bade
him go and kill a far more terrible lion, of giant brood, and with a
skin that could not be pierced, which dwelt in the valley of Nemea. The
fight was a terrible one; the lion could not be wounded, and Hercules
was forced to grapple with it and strangle it in his arms. He lost a
finger in the struggle, but at last the beast died in his grasp, and he
carried it on his back to Argos, where Eurystheus was so much frightened
at the grim sight that he fled away to hide himself, and commanded
Hercules not to bring his monsters within the gates of the city.

There was a second labor ready for Hercules--namely, the destroying a
serpent with nine heads, called Hydra, whose lair was the marsh of
Lerna. Hercules went to the battle, and managed to crush one head with
his club, but that moment two sprang up in its place; moreover, a huge
crab came out of the swamp and began to pinch his heels. Still he did
not lose heart, but, calling his friend Iolaus, he bade him take a
firebrand and burn the necks as fast as he cut off the heads; and thus
at last they killed the creature, and Hercules dipped his arrows in its
poisonous blood, so that their least wound became fatal. Eurystheus said
that it had not been a fair victory, since Hercules had been helped, and
Juno put the crab into the skies as the constellation Cancer; while a
labor to patience was next devised for Hercules--namely, the chasing of
the Arcadian stag, which was sacred to Diana, and had golden horns and
brazen hoofs. Hercules hunted it up hill and down dale for a whole year,
and when at last he caught it, he got into trouble with Apollo and Diana
about it, and had hard work to appease them; but he did so at last; and
for his fourth labor was sent to catch alive a horrid wild boar on Mount
Erymanthus. He followed the beast through a deep swamp, caught it in a
net, and brought it to Mycenae.

The fifth task was a curious one. Augeas, King of Elis, had immense
herds, and kept his stables and cowhouses in a frightful state of filth,
and Eurystheus, hoping either to disgust Hercules or kill him by the
unwholesomeness of the work, sent him to clean them. Hercules, without
telling Augeas it was his appointed task, offered to do it if he were
repaid the tenth of the herds, and received the promise on oath. Then he
dug a canal, and turned the water of two rivers into the stables, so as
effectually to cleanse them; but when Augeas heard it was his task, he