THE FIRST LABOR--THE NEMEAN LION
It happened that a fearful lion lived in Nemea, a wild district in
upper Argolis, and it devastated all the land and was the terror of
the inhabitants. Eurystheus ordered Herakles to bring him the skin of
this lion. So Herakles took his bow, his quiver, and heavy club and
started out in search of the beast.
When he had reached a little town which is in the neighborhood of
Nemea he was kindly received by a good countryman, who promised to put
him on the track of the lion if he would sacrifice the animal to Zeus.
[Illustration: THE PRIESTESS OF APOLLO AT DELPHI.
(Michael Angelo.)]
Herakles promised, and the countryman went with him to show him the
way. When they reached the place where traces of the lion were
seen, Herakles said to his guide: "Remain here thirty days. If I
return safely from the lion-hunt you must sacrifice a sheep to Zeus,
for he is the god who will have saved me. But if I am slain by the
lion you must sacrifice the sheep to me, for after my death I shall be
honored as a hero." Having said this, Herakles went his way.
He reached the wilderness of Nemea, where he spent several days in
looking for the lion, but without success. Not a trace of him could be
found, nor did he fall in with any human being, for there was no one
bold enough to wander around in that wilderness. Finally he spied the
lion as he was about to crawl into his den.
The lion was indeed worthy of his terrible fame. His size was
prodigious, his eyes shot forth flames of fire, and his tongue licked
his bloody chops. When he roared, the whole desert resounded.
But Herakles stood fearlessly near a grove from whence he might
approach the lion, and suddenly shot at him with his bow and arrow,
hitting him squarely in the breast. The arrow glanced aside, and
slipping around the lion's neck, fell on a rock behind him. When
Herakles saw this he knew that the lion was proof against arrows and
must be killed in some other way, and seizing his club, he gave chase
to him.
The lion made for a cave which had two mouths. Herakles closed up one
of the entrances with heavy rocks and entered the other. He seized the
lion by the throat and then came a terrible struggle, but Herakles
squeezed him in his mighty arms until he gasped for breath, and at
last lay dead.
Then Herakles took up the huge body and, throwing it easily over his
shoulder, returned to the place where he had left the countryman. It
was on the last of the thirty appointed days, and the rustic,
supposing that Herakles had come to his death through the lion, was
about to offer up a sheep as a sacrifice in his honor.
He rejoiced greatly when he saw Herakles alive and victorious, and the
sheep was offered up to Zeus. Herakles left the little town and went
to Mykenæ to the house of his uncle and showed him the dead body of
the terrible lion. Eurystheus was so greatly frightened at the sight
that he hid himself within a tower whose walls were built of solid
brass.
And he ordered Herakles not to enter the city again, but to stay
outside of its gates until he had performed the other labors.
Herakles stripped the skin from the lion with his fingers, although
it was so tough, and knowing it to be arrow-proof, took it for a cloak
and wore it as long as he lived.