THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 09: HIPPOLYTE'S BELT

 

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

The ninth Labor took Him to the land of the Amazon

To retrieve the belt of the amazon queen Hippolyte

A magical girdle for which he must probably fight

A race of fierce warrior women and great archers

Who were the first people to use mounted fighters

To get the belt as a gift for the daughter of Eurystheus

Heracles used other heroes among them Theseus

But as it turned out, the Amazon queen Hippolyte

Willingly gave Hercules her belt perhaps to be polite

But Hera was not about to let the hero off so easily

The goddess stirred up the Amazons very cleverly

With a rumor Heracles had captured their queen

And a great battle then ensued to vent their spleen 

But Heracles made off with the belt of Hippolyte

And Theseus an Amazon princess to their delight

THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 08: THE MARES OF DIOMEDES

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 his cousin king Eurystheus

The eighth labor for our hero and his squire Abderus

Was to captures the man-eating mares of Diomedes

The King of Thrace was fed to his horses by Heracles

He soon herded them down to the sea as he planned

Where he embarked them for Tiryns his homeland

Once he returned, they were released by Eurystheus

They were eaten by wild animals on Mount Olympus

THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 07: THE CRETAN BULL

 

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

The seventh was a creature sent up by Poseidon

A fire belching bull of huge size he had to beat 

The bull was ravaging the countryside of Crete

The hero overpowered it despite its flaming breath

And sent it to Athens were Theseus inflicted death

THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 06: THE STYMPHALIAN BIRDS

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

The sixth Labor sent him to arcadia once again

Killing the Stymphalian birds he was requested

The shores of Lake Stymphalus the birds infested

He could not approach the man killers directly

To fight them as the ground was far too marshy

And the birds used as arrows metallic feathers

To rain them upon any approaching aggressors

He sought the assistance of the goddess Athena

And she gave him castanets to help with his labor

He used the castanets to make the birds take flight

Then shots them by the dozen both left and right

THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 05: THE AUGEAN STABLES

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

The fifth labor Eurystheus Took great pleasure in

He chose a Labor he hoped would be demeaning 

And he was sure would humiliate his heroic cousin

Heracles was to clean the stables of King Augeas

And he must do it in a single day to have success

King Augeas possessed for years vast herds of cattle

Their deposits of manure was to be Heracles battle

So much had been deposited by the cattle of Augeas

That a thick aroma hung over the Peloponnesus

But Heracles Instead of using baskets and shovels

He diverted two rivers through the Augean stables

THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 04: THE ERYMANTHIAN BOAR

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

It was in Arcadia for the fourth labor he was given

His quest was to hunt the huge Erymanthian boar

And capturing the boar alive was labor number four

He immobilized the boar on Mount Erymanthus

Then carried it back on his shoulder to Eurystheus

THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 03: THE CERYNITIAN HIND

 

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

Capturing a beast was the next labor he was given

He spent the next year hunting the Cerynitian hind

In Arcadia near the Ladon River it was there to find

The Cerynitian hind was a fleet-footed female deer

Who had golden horns and ran faster than a spear

The hind was sacred to goddess of the hunt Artemis

So Heracles dared not wound it and so dare not miss

So between tendons and bones he aimed with his bow

Pinning its legs without drawing blood with his arrow

Artemis was displeased but Heracles appeased her

Simply by blaming king Eurystheus his taskmaster

THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 02: THE HYDRA

 

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 his cousin king Eurystheus

For His second labor he needed his nephew Iolaus

Because his task was to kill the many headed Hydra

Which was known to dwell in the swamps of Lerna

It’s not clear exactly how many heads it possessed

Some claim they know but mostly they only guess

What was known by those who looked it in the face

When you cut off a head two more grew in its place

If that wasn’t enough the Hydra's breath was lethal

To smell its footprints was enough to kill a mortal

He sought out the fearsome monster in its own lair

He forced it into the open with fire arrows in the air

But then the fight began to go in the Hydra's favor

Twining its heads around him despite his endeavor

Hydra called upon an ally, a huge crab for assistance

The crab bit Him on the heel sapping his resistance

On the verge of failure things looked bad for Heracles

He called Iolaus the son of his twin brother Iphicles

Iolaus who had driven Heracles to Lerna in his chariot

Looked on in anxiety as his uncle was tied in a knot

With Heracles tangled Iolaus rushed in to save the day

Grabbing a burning torch and dashing into the fray

So, cutting the hydra’s heads off was Heracles aim

And Iolaus would sear the wounded neck with flame

This prevented and further heads from sprouting

So, Heracles cut off the heads with Iolaus cauterizing

Finally, Heracles lopped off the one immortal head

Burying it deep below a rock to ensure it was dead