Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The
Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
Get
the apples of the Hesperides was labor eleven
The
Hesperides or even the Daughters of Evening
Were
nymphs assigned by Hera to do the guarding
They
were a special type of apples that’s evident
Which
the goddess received as a wedding present
They
were kept in a grove in the Far Western lands
In
the mountains named after Atlas of the Titans
The
grove was guarded by a many-headed dragon
A
most fearsome babbling creature named Ladon
Each
head had its own tongue making no sense at all
And
finally, the grove was surrounded by a high wall
In
order for his eleventh labor to be of any success
Heracles
was told he would need help from Atlas
Atlas
the Titan was brother to Zeus’s father Cronus
But
in the war against Zeus backed the wrong horse
And
so for all time Atlas must support the heavens
By
means of a pillar on his shoulders as a penance
So,
he asked Atlas to get the apples from the garden
The
Titan agreed, as it relieved him of his burden
He
told Heracles to hold the pillar while he went
Into
the grove to retrieve Hera’s wedding present
Heracles
first needed to deal with the dragon, Ladon
This
he did with an arrow over the wall to the garden
Then
Heracles took the pillar while Atlas was gone
He
returned with the apples and the job was done
But
atlas had forgotten how pleasant life could be
Without
keeping heaven and earth apart for eternity
So,
he told Heracles he would have to fill in for him
For
an indeterminate period of time just on a whim
Heracles
feigned agreement to the Titans suggestion
But
said that he needed for his shoulder a cushion
So,
he asked if Atlas would take back the burden
While
he went to fetch one and come back again
The
Titan graciously obliged him without concern
And
Heracles then strolled away never to return
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