HYDRA
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
THE ERYMANTIAN BOAR
There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon
And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman
The terrifying result of this unnatural union was a huge boar
A great strong beast whose capture was Heracles fourth labor
The gigantic boar ravished farmland in the west of Arcadia
And Heracles had to capture it alive or he would fail his labor
So he had to force it into a snowdrift on mount Erymanthus
And snared it with a noose and took it to his cousin Eurystheus
SPHINX
There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon
And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman
The Sphinx was the bizarre result of this most Unnatural union
And it had the body of a lion and the upper parts of a woman
She also had the wings of an eagle as well as the tail of a serpent
And guarding the entrance to Thebes was how Her time was spent
Any traveler who wanted to enter Thebes had to first get past her
And to do that She would ask them a riddle that they had to figure
If the travelers were able to figure out the riddle they had to try
They would pass safely by and she would by her own hand die
But if they were unable to figure out the riddle they were given
They would not pass safely by and she would devour them then
Then One day on the road to Thebes the Sphinx met with Oedipus
And the Sphinx duly set him her complex riddle, which went thus
'So what creature walks on four in the morning on two by day
And on three in the evening?' you must answer to pass by this way
Oedipus thought for a while, and then said the answer was known
'It is a man. When he’s a baby, he crawls on four, When full grown
He walks on two, and when he is an old man, he leans on a staff.'
With that said she let out a terrible scream like an hysterical laugh
Then the Sphinx threw herself to her death from atop the Acropolis
And wise Oedipus was then granted entrance to Thebes forthwith
PHRIXUS AND THE GOLDEN RAM
One day in Colchis appeared a man called Phrixus
With his sister Helle he had traveled from Iolcus
This in itself was nothing unusual or worth mention
Apart from his unorthodox mode of transportation
For he arrived on the back of a golden flying ram
Saved from sacrifice and carried off by the lamb
Helle, sister of Phrixus never completed the journey
As she had fallen from the ram's back into the sea
In A narrow passage of water they came to call
The Hellespont in memory of her most tragic fall
But Phrixus arrived in Colchis safely from Greece
And sacrificed the ram to the gods and hung its fleece
LADON
There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon
And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman
The terrifying result of this unnatural union was a huge Drakon
A great multi headed creature with hot fiery breath called Ladon
It was appointed to guard the golden apples of the Hesperides
But with just a single flaming arrow it was slain by Heracles
CERBERUS
There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon
And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman
The result of this unnatural union was a huge hound of hell
Three headed with a serpents tail and snakes as a main as well
The vicious Cerberus with razor teeth and lion claws on its feet
Laid in wait at the gates of the underworld for people to eat
Heracles brought Cerberus up on his twelfth labor for his sins
He choked it into submission and dragged it home to Tiryns
THE NEMEAN LION
There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon
And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman
The terrifying result of this unnatural union was a huge Lion
No ordinary Lion but a supernatural monster called the Nemean
Its skin was impenetrable to the arrows or spear of Heracles
Who had been sent to kill it so he then adopted other strategies
Finally strangling it with his bare hands and then skinning it
Ever after wearing the hide as a cloak and its jaws as a helmet
10, CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – THE CERYNITIAN HIND
The Cerynitian hinds were five golden-horned immortal deer
Sacred to the goddess Artemis whose golden horns shone clear
Larger than bulls four of them pulled Artemis in her chariot
Hera helped the fifth one to escape as part of a devious plot
And it crossed the river Kelodon into the mountains of arcadia
Heracles was tasked as a labor to capture the golden hind later
And without shedding a drop of its blood Heracles did this
Afterwards he set the hind free to placate the goddess Artemis
STYMPHALIAN BIRDS
The Ornithes Stymphalides were birds of a fierce and man-eating breed
Who used as arrows their metallic feathers, which were sharp indeed
The sixth Labor of Heracles was to drive these birds out of Arcadia
But because of their deadly metal arrowed feathers could not get near
But to scare the birds of lake Stymphalus he used a rattle that was brazen
Once in the air he brought them down in a hail of his arrows by the dozen
THE CRETAN BULL
As a punishment for not making a promised sacrifice to the Olympian god
The Cretan Bull a majestic creature was sent up to Crete by Poseidon
It impregnated Pasiphae the wife of King Minos producing the Minotaur
After it was captured by Heracles it was slain by Theseus at Marathon
GERYON
Geryon was a triple-bodied giant who dwelt in the land of Erytheia at the ends of the earth
As one of his labors Heracles who was sent to fetch Geryon's herds of cattle of great worth
His parents were the powerful-minded Khrysaor and Kallirhoe daughter of glorious Okeanos
While he guarded his fabulous cattle herds Geryon was accompanied by the hound Orthrus
With a single blow from his mighty club Heracles dispatched Orthrus the two-headed hound
And then with one poisoned arrow the giant three bodied Geryon fell dead to the ground
ORTHRUS
There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon
And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman
The terrible result of this unnatural union was the dog Orthrus
A two headed dog almost as vicious as his brother Cerberus
The Drakon Chimaera was in love With Orthrus her own brother
And spawned the deadly Sphinx and the Nemean Lion together
Used by the giant Geryon to guard his fabulous herds of cattle
Who at the hands of Heracles was stuck with a club died in battle
CHIMAERA
Prince Bellerophon traveled to distant Lycia
At King Proetus’s request to perform an errand
Arriving on his winged steed Pegasus he found
A pall had been cast over the once-joyful land
Each night, the Chimaera, a three headed monster
A combination of a lion, a goat and a serpent
Swept down and carried off terrified victims
Men, women, children, and livestock all went
The bones of the beasts many victims lay strewn
Along the valley and across the mountainside
The population were living in constant fear
And at night when possible they stayed inside
The errand for King Proetus was a letter delivery
And the letter was for Iobates of Lycia, the King
When he had read the letter the hero had delivered
He found that Proteus wished Bellerophon’s killing
Iobates was the father in law of King Proetus
And he accused Bellerophon of his wife’s seduction
In truth Proetus’ wife was in fact the guilty party
She falsely accused him after suffering rejection
Though he wanted to please his son-in-law,
He knew that he dare not risk an outright execution
As this would lead to war with the Corinthians
So he slyly set a challenge for young Bellerophon
Iobates set him the task of slaying the Chimaera
Almost certain that he would never return alive
Bellerophon had always longed for excitement
Fearless he rose to a challenge he may not survive
Iobates told him the monster was related to Cerberus
Watchdog of Hades and the many-headed Hydra
Even though the King described the beast in detail
He was not at all frightened of facing the Chimaera
So mounted upon his faithful winged Pegasus
Bellerophon set off to find the Chimeras lair
Believing a head on attack was too dangerous
He thought his only chance was from the air
Once they had the location of the hideous beast
Armed with his bow he rained arrows down below
The had the effect of unnerving the creature greatly
Pegasus just kept them out of reach of its fiery glow
Then Armed with a lance he charged the Chimaera
And the beast exhaled a plume of its horrible fire
Pegasus darted backward to evade the burning breath
Then they had to strike before Pegasus began to tire
So they repeated the tactic for just one more time
This time before the Chimaera could breathe again,
Pegasus renewed its charge towards the great beast
And Bellerophon speared Chimaera's heart and brain
The next morning Pegasus and Bellerophon flew
Out of the dawn holding aloft the Chimaera’s head
There was great rejoicing though out the kingdom
And soon the news traveled that the beast was dead
With Chimaera dead Iobates knew he was unable
To fulfill King Proetus’s request to take the boys life
King Iobates embraced the young hero and then
Gave his willing daughter to Bellerophon as a wife
PEGASUS
Born from Medusa's neck when she was beheaded by Perseus
Pegasus the immortal winged horse that was sired by Poseidon
It was a wild shining white horse until one night it was captured
While drinking at the spring of Peirene by the hero Bellerophon
Pegasus was captured with the aid of a magical Golden Bridle
That would tame even the wildest horse and given him by Athena
Then prince Bellerophon rode brave Pegasus in the land of Lycia
And victorious into battle against the three headed Chimaera
Then Bellerophon, so happy with himself for killing the monster
Decided to try and ride Pegasus to the top of Mount Olympus
Zeus was so enraged he struck down and crippled Bellerophon
And as a carrier of thunderbolts Zeus used the immortal Pegasus
MEDUSA
Medusa was one of the daughters of Phorkys and Keto
Sea monsters who spawned many monsters and drakon's
Who were the children of the gods Gaia and Okeanos
And She was one of the three sisters known as the Gorgons
Medusa of the three was by far the most beautiful gorgon
Unlike her sisters Sthenno and Euryale she was mortal
And she loved the god Poseidon and when they met one day
Together they desecrated the goddess Athena’s temple
She was punished by having her hair turned into snakes
And made so ugly that any mortal who looked at Medusa
Would be turned instantly to stone even after her death
Perseus cut off her head as she slept and gave it to Athena
