There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon
And
the black fearful eyed Echidne, half serpent, half woman
The
terrifying end result of this unnatural union was the hydra
A
great many headed Drakon who inhabited the swamps of Lerna
It
was the second labor of Heracles to kill the water Drakon
And
the hero drew the great creature out to fight in the open
Then
with his bronze sword he hacked off heads from the hydra
But
for every head he severed two grew in place of the other
If
that wasn’t bad enough the Hydra's breath was itself lethal
And
even to smell its footprints was enough to kill any mortal
Very
Soon the beast’s heads tangled around him like serpents
Iolaus
his nephew comes to his aid and his death he prevents
As
Heracles cut off its heads and to prevent new ones sprouting
Iolaus
with a flaming torch sealed the wounds by cauterizing
Finally,
Heracles lopped off the last one and Hydra was dead
He
buried deep below a boulder the Hydras one immortal head
