the fourth labour of Hercules was to bring the wild boar of erymanthus back to the castle alive
this time Eurystheus was sure that Hercules would get killed while trying to capture the boar
task 4 eyramantheon boar this one was called the eyramantheon 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 prompted over his shoulder
to carry back to Mycenae King Eurystheus had not expected Hercules to complete the labor
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 of bringing back the bore alive if he was afraid of it King Eurystheus was ashamed
now everyone had seen him hiding when Hercules brought the ear Amman theand 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
Hephaestus for their gift and started climbing a hill nearby once he reached the top he began
to furiously shake the rattle the 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 he'd slain to bring back to King Eurystheus
to prove that he had successfully completed his labor and once again Eurystheus was not happy