# 01: THE NEMEAN LION
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
And his first task was killing the Nemean Lion
It was no ordinary lion but a supernatural monster
Its skin could not be penetrated by arrow or spear
So He blocked the entrance to the lion's cave
And Then Heracles entered fearless and brave
At close quarters he fought the creature fiercely
And strangled it with his bare hands savagely
Ever after he wore its skin about him as a cape
And as a helmet he wore its head with jaws agape
# 02: THE HYDRA
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by his cousin king Eurystheus
For His second labor he needed his nephew Iolaus
Because his task was to kill the many headed Hydra
Which was known to dwell in the swamps of Lerna
Its not clear exactly how many heads it possessed
Some claim they know but mostly they only guess
What was known by those who looked it in the face
When you cut off a head two more grew in its place
If that wasn't enough the Hydra's breath was lethal
To smell its footprints was enough to kill a mortal
He sought out the fearsome monster in its own lair
He forced it into the open with fire arrows in the air
But then the fight began to go in the Hydra's favor
Twining its heads around him despite his endeavor
Hydra called upon an ally, a huge crab for assistance
The crab bit Him on the heel sapping his resistance
On the verge of failure things looked bad for Heracles
He called Iolaus the son of his twin brother Iphicles
Iolaus who had driven Heracles to Lerna in his chariot
Looked on in anxiety as his uncle was tied in a knot
With Heracles tangled Iolaus rushed in to save the day
Grabbing a burning torch and dashing into the fray
So cutting the hydra's heads off was Heracles aim
And Iolaus would sear the wounded neck with flame
This prevented and further heads from sprouting
So Heracles cut off the heads with Iolaus cauterizing
Finally Heracles lopped off the one immortal head
Burying it deep below a rock to ensure it was dead
# 03: THE CERYNITIAN HIND
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
Capturing a beast was the next labor he was given
He spent the next year hunting the Cerynitian hind
In Arcadia near the Ladon River it was there to find
The Cerynitian hind was a fleet-footed female deer
Who had golden horns and ran faster than a spear
The hind was sacred to goddess of the hunt Artemis
So Heracles dared not wound it and so dare not miss
So between tendons and bones he aimed with his bow
Pinning its legs without drawing blood with his arrow
Artemis was displeased but Heracles appeased her
Simply by blaming king Eurystheus his taskmaster
# 04: THE ERYMANTHIAN BOAR
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
It was in Arcadia for the forth labor he was given
His quest was to hunt the huge Erymanthian boar
And capturing the boar alive was labor number four
He immobilized the boar on Mount Erymanthus
Then carried it back on his shoulder to Eurystheus
# 05: THE AUGEAN STABLES
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
The fifth labor Eurystheus Took great pleasure in
He chose a Labor he hoped would be demeaning
And he was sure would humiliate his heroic cousin
Heracles was to clean the stables of King Augeas
And he must do it in a single day to have success
King Augeas possessed for years vast herds of cattle
their deposits of manure was to be Heracles battle
So much had been deposited by the cattle of Augeas
That a thick aroma hung over the Peloponnesus
But Heracles Instead of using baskets and shovels
He diverted two rivers through the Augean stables
# 06: THE STYMPHALIAN BIRDS
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
The sixth Labor sent him to arcadia once again
Killing the Stymphalian birds he was requested
The shores of Lake Stymphalus the birds infested
He could not approach the man killers directly
To fight them as the ground was far too marshy
And the birds used as arrows metallic feathers
To rain them upon any approaching aggressors
He sought the assistance of the goddess Athena
And she gave him castanets to help with his labor
He used the castanets to make the birds take flight
Then shots them by the dozen both left and right
# 07: THE CRETAN BULL
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
The seventh was a creature sent up by Poseidon
A fire belching bull of huge size he had to beat
The bull was ravaging the countryside of Crete
The hero overpowered it despite its flaming breath
And sent it to Athens were Theseus inflicted death
# 08: THE MARES OF DIOMEDES
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by his cousin king Eurystheus
The eighth labor for our hero and his squire Abderus
Was to captures the man-eating mares of Diomedes
The King of Thrace was fed to his horses by Heracles
He soon herded them down to the sea as he planned
Where he embarked them for Tiryns his homeland
Once he returned they were released by Eurystheus
They were eaten by wild animals on Mount Olympus
# 09: HIPPOLYTE'S BELT
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
The ninth Labor took Him to the land of the Amazon
To retrieve the belt of the amazon queen Hippolyte
A magical girdle for which he must probable fight
A race of fierce warrior women and great archers
Who were the first people to use mounted fighters
To get the belt as a gift for the daughter of Eurystheus
Heracles used other heroes among them Theseus
But as it turned out, the Amazon queen Hippolyte
Willingly gave Hercules her belt perhaps to be polite
But Hera was not about to let the hero off so easily
The goddess stirred up the Amazons very cleverly
With a rumor Heracles had captured their queen
And a great battle then ensued to vent their spleen
But Heracles made off with the belt of Hippolyte
And Theseus an Amazon princess to their delight
# 10: THE CATTLE OF GERYON
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
His tenth labor was stealing the cattle of Geryon
The three headed Geryon owned the herd of cattle
It was he and two headed Orthrus he had to battle
After clubbing the hound with just a single blow
Heracles stole the cattle dispatching Geryon also
# 11: THE APPLES OF THE HESPERIDES
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin
Get the apples of the Hesperides was labor eleven
The Hesperides or even the Daughters of Evening
Were nymphs assigned by Hera to do the guarding
They were a special type of apples that's evident
Which the goddess received as a wedding present
They were kept in a grove in the Far Western lands
In the mountains named after Atlas of the Titans
The grove was guarded by a many-headed dragon
A most fearsome babbling creature named Ladon
Each head had its own tongue making no sense at all
And finally the grove was surrounded by a high wall
In order for his eleventh labor to be of any success
Heracles was told he would need help from Atlas
Atlas the Titan was brother to Zeus's father Cronus
But in the war against Zeus backed the wrong horse
And so for all time Atlas must support the heavens
By means of a pillar on his shoulders as a penance
So he asked Atlas to get the apples from the garden
The Titan agreed, as it relieved him of his burden
He told Heracles to hold the pillar while he went
Into the grove to retrieve Hera's wedding present
Heracles first needed to deal with the dragon, Ladon
This he did with an arrow over the wall to the garden
Then Heracles took the pillar while Atlas was gone
He returned with the apples and the job was done
But atlas had forgotten how pleasant life could be
Without keeping heaven and earth apart for eternity
So he told Heracles he would have to fill in for him
For an indeterminate period of time just on a whim
Heracles feigned agreement to the Titans suggestion
But said that he needed for his shoulder a cushion
So he asked if Atlas would take back the burden
While he went to fetch one and come back again
The Titan graciously obliged him without concern
And Heracles then strolled away never to return
# 12: THE CAPTURE OF CERBERUS
Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera
Murdered his three children and his wife Megara
The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders
By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors
The labors were set by his cousin king Eurystheus
Heracles final labor was the capture of Cerberus
He was instructed to bring the up The hellhound
From Hades the kingdom of the dead underground
You must first cross the river Styx to reach Hades
Which for the first problem for our hero Heracles
In order to cross the river you must first be dead
If not, have a bribe for Charon the boatman instead
Heracles met neither condition aggravating Charon
But He simply glowered fiercely at the ferryman
And Charon meekly conveyed him across the river
The greater challenge was yet to come however
Cerberus had three heads and all had razor teeth
Covered with snakes on its back and underneath
It also had another great venomous snake for a tail
And over this hellhound Heracles had to prevail
The venomous snakes lashed out at Heracles wildly
While Cerberus lunged at the heroes throat directly
Fortunately he was wearing his lion's skin cape
The impenetrable hide and helmet with jaws agape
He eventually choked Cerberus into submission
And dragged it to Tiryns for his due recognition
