one day King Minos the ruler of Crete prayed to the sea god Poseidon
for a special bull to sacrifice to Zeus the highest Olympian God
Poseidon granted his wish and a magnificent bull emerged from the ocean
King Minos was dazzled by the beauty of this amazing creature
King Minos decided not to sacrifice this bull and sacrificed another one instead
when Poseidon came to know about this
he punished Minos for his disobedience by making pacify
the King's wife fall in love with this animal
as a result Pacific gave birth to the Minotaur
a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man
Poseidon was still mad at the king
so he turned the bull mad so mad that fire was coming out of its nostrils
to the Minos bulls were sacred it was against their religion to kill a bull
they tried to recapture it without harming it
but they did not succeed the bull hid during the day
at night it ripped destruction from one end of the island to the other
to capture this animal master it
and bring it before Eurystheus was the seventh labour of Hercules
Task seven the Cretan Bull
Hercules arrived in Crete as instructed by Eurystheus
the Beast was hiding in a forest at the far end of the island
the bull saw Hercules it was scared
he did not fight Hercules and bout its head down
Hercules quickly grabbed its horn and climbed on top
so thoroughly did Hercules mastered the animal
that he drove it back to King Eurystheus
Eurystheus saw that Hercules had succeeded in bringing back the Cretan bull
he planned to sacrifice the Beast to his benefactor
the Greek goddess Hera
Hera hated Hercules
she did not wish to receive a sacrifice
because of the work of her husband's illegitimate son and refused the offering
Eurystheus had no other option than to set the bull free
when it was no longer under the management of Hercules
the bull became wild again and wandered in the city destroying everything in its sight
it wandered around Greece terrorising
the people and ended up in Marathon a city near Athens
at marathon the bull stopped its wandering
and instead caused damage to property and people
just as it had done in Crete and later acquired the name Marathon Bull
later Theseus son of the king of Athens Egeus set forth to capture the bull
he went to marathon and indeed successfully caught it
he then returned to Athens where he sacrificed it to Athena or Apollo
Theseus would of course later travelled to Crete
where he killed the offspring of the Cretan bull
the Minotaur killing it inside the Labyrinth near the Palace of King Minos
the fourth labour of Hercules was to bring the wild boar of Erymanthian's back to the castle alive
this time Eurystheus was sure that Hercules would get killed while trying to capture the boar
Task four Erymanthian Boar
this one was called the Erymanthian boar
because it lived on a mountain called Erymanthus
this pig was huge wild and with a bad temper and tusks growing out of its mouth
every day the boar would come crashing down
from his lair on the mountain attacking men and children
it wasn't too hard for Hercules to find the boar
he could hear the beasts snorting and stomping
as it rooted around for something to eat
Hercules chased the boar round and round the mountain
shouting as loud as he could
the boar frightened and out of breath hid in a thicket
Hercules poked his spear into the thicket
and drove the exhausted animal into a deep patch of snow
he chased the boar through the snow field
where it collapsed from exhaustion
he trapped it with a net then bound its feet
and propped it over his shoulder to carry back to Mycenae
King Eurystheus had not expected Hercules to complete the labour
and was completely terrified
when he saw the live boar snorting and squealing wildly
he quickly fled and hid in a half-buried bronze python
which was akin to a giant storage jar
he demanded that Hercules get rid of the boar before he dared to step out
disgruntled Hercules left the palace and took the boar with him
he couldn't understand why the king would set the task of bringing back the boar alive
if he was afraid of it
King Eurystheus was ashamed now
everyone had seen him hiding
when Hercules brought the Erymanthian bore into the palace
he somehow had to get rid of Hercules now
he finally came up with the next task for Hercules
and it was to kill the Stymphalian birds
the Stymphalian birds were just plain nasty
the people in the area spent their days and nights hiding from these scary birds
the Stymphalian birds had pointed beaks and ripping claws
and their feathers were made of razor-sharp bronze
they were the stuff of nightmares
Task five Stymphalian Birds
arriving at the lake which was deep in the woods
Hercules had no idea how to drive the huge gathering of birds away
Goddess Athena appeared before him and gave him a pair of bronze Crotona
this was noise-making clappers similar to castanets
these were no ordinary castanets
this was created by Hephaestus the god of blacksmiths
the castanets created tremendous sounds
that would scare every living thing in the vicinity
Hercules thanked Athena and have faced us for their gift
and started climbing a hill nearby
once he reached the top he began to furiously shake the rattle
though loud noise startled the birds and they flew out of the marsh into the open air
Hercules began to shoot as many as he could with his poisonous arrows
when the last bird fell
the people hiding inside their huts and homes rushed outside and cheered
Hercules retrieved the birds inside to bring back to King Eurystheus
to prove that he had successfully completed his labor
and once again Eurystheus was not happy