THE SEVENTH LABOR--HERAKLES CATCHES THE MAD BULL OF CRETE
There is an island south of Greece which is so large that it would
take you from early morning until late at night to sail past it. There
are high mountains all along the shore and they look as if they were
covered with snow. There is a cave in one of the mountains where Zeus
was hidden when he was a babe so that his father, Kronos, should not
swallow him. The nymphs fed him on honey and a famous goat gave him
milk.
The name of this island was Crete, and Minos ruled there as king. It
was his duty to sacrifice to Poseidon, the God of the Sea, whatever
came up out of the water.
Minos was rich and greedy. He loved his cattle better than the will of
the gods. It came to pass that a wonderful Bull rose from the sea
while Minos was king. When Minos saw him he admired the beauty of the
animal so much that he resolved to keep him. He drove the Bull into
his barn and sacrificed another to the God of the Sea.
Poseidon grew angry with him and caused the Bull to become mad so that
no one dared to approach him. Eurystheus ordered Herakles to catch him
and bring him to Mykenæ.
So Herakles went to Crete and begged Minos to give him the Bull. The
king told him that he was entirely welcome to the Bull if he could
catch him. Herakles seized him by the horns and bound his feet
together and carried him off to Mykenæ.
There he showed the mad animal to Eurystheus and then set him free.
The Bull wandered off to Sparta and over the hills of Arcadia and
crossing the Isthmus, he reached Marathon, where he left the land and
swam off into the sea.