it was time for King Eurystheus to give Hercules his sixth task this time Eurystheus gave Hercules
the labor of traveling to Augean and cleaning the king of Augean stables in a single day
this doesn't seem like much of a task for an immortal hero although these particular stables housed thousands of cattle
sheep goats and horses and the stable had not been cleaned in 30 years
the Augean King was said to have more cattle than any man in Greece
tasks 6 the Augean stables
Hercules showed up before the king of Augean and offered to clean up his stable in one day
the king walked up to him and spoke to him confidently listen o stranger if you clean
all of my stables in one day I will give over to you the tenth part of all my possessions in cattle
Hercules didn't say anything about how he was sent by Eurystheus or about his
labors of redemption he accepted the offer and set off to work he took the king's son along to watch
first the hero tore a big opening in the wall of the cattle-yard where the stables were
then he made another opening in the wall on the opposite side of the yard
Hercules set to work tearing a big hole in the front of the stable yards
next Hercules made a hole in the back wall of the stable yards
these holes were connected to the two rivers flowing nearby
Hercules then turned the course of the rivers into the yard
the rivers rushed through the stables flushing them out and all of the mess flowed out of
the hole in the wall on the other side of the yard that's how Hercules accomplished
the menial work without stooping to anything unworthy of an immortal he met the king after
completing the task and asked for the promised reward however the king of Augea learned that
Hercules's work had been done in service of Eurystheus he now refused to reward Hercules
saying that if Hercules didn't agree he could seek a settlement at the Aegean courts
so Hercules did just that the judge took his seat Hercules called the son of Aegeus to testify
the boy swore that his father had agreed to give Hercules a reward
the judge ruled that Hercules would have to be paid the king reluctantly paid Hercules and then
promptly banished both his son and Hercules from his kingdom so the boy went to the north
country to live with his aunts and Hercules headed back to Mycenae with all of the animals
who lived in the stable came home that night from the fields they found clean beds of hay
warm buckets of oats and fresh water running they could not have been more happy but Eurystheus
said that this labor didn't count because Hercules was paid for having done the work