By: K.C.
The goddess Hera, determined to make trouble for Hercules, made him lose his mind. In a confused and angry state, he killed his own wife and children. When he awakened from his "temporary insanity," Hercules was shocked and upset by what he'd done. He prayed to the god Apollo for guidance, and the god's oracle told him he would have to serve Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns and Mycenae, for twelve years, in punishment for the murders.
Hercules’s labors were so difficult they were almost impossible but he did have a little bit of help from Athena and Hermes. The worst punishment Hercules got had to clean the sickening litter boxes for all the fat cats in the kingdom until he got his family back (Terrible right?). It took him all twenty four hours in a day. And when he was done he had to put in his very dangerous toxic waste bag. In fact, all of the other labors are myths. That’s because Hercules didn’t want to embarrass himself. Also he didn’t have enough time to do all of those because he was on litter box duty.
The person who gave him that labor was Eurytheus was very strong (considering his name means broad strength you’d guess he was strong). How he did it? No one knows for sure but most people have some theories. One of the theories was he took some days off without telling anyone but people had close watch on him so that probably didn’t happen. Another theory was Athena and Hermes did a little bit more than they were supposed to. But what most people think is since this was way worse than other labors he felt a tiny bit bad (at this point he couldn’t help feeling even a tiny bit bad.) Yes, Hercules did have to spend 24 hours a day working but not all of that time did he clean out reeking with stench litter boxes every day. At sundown he had to walk to Eurytheus’s castle and make him three course, cost of $650, dinner. Of course it was Hercules’s money they were spending here (oh yeah, I guess he got a petite bit of sleep). So basically a typical day for Hercules was clean the litter boxes walk to Eurytheus castle make him dinner and possibly get some sleep. No one said he liked it, he just had to do it ‘cause there was no getting out of it. When his labor was definitively over and Hercules finally got to see his family he was as happy as can be( I’m serious, no one’s ever been as happy as Hercules was that day). He actually became close friends with Eurytheus and that’s when Eurytheus “created” the 12 labors of Hercules (dramatic voice).
The story of Hercules (the fake one) became a legend. But sadly Hercules had to leave for the filming of the hit Disney movie “Hercules” And when he came back he found out everyone threw him a surprise party! “Surprise!” everyone shouted when he entered his house. And from this day the party’s still going on. And they don’t even notice.
By: K.C.
Heracles’ 13th labor was one of the hardest yet. For his first task he had to destroy the temple of Tartarus and the monster inside it. He traveled far and wide and when he got there it was already night. In the morning he got up and went into the temple. When he got to the temple he heard an earsplitting, “Raaaaeeeeaaaaeeee!!!!!” Heracles said, “Looks like I’ve found my monster!” Then he took out sword and ran. The monster had giant bronze horns and could shoot spikes from his tail otherwise it was a giant acid spitting purple hydra. He cut off one of its heads. It exploded and then on the neck of the head he just sliced off there were five (now furious) heads.
Its heads hissed, “You are not welcome here.”
Heracles grinned and challenged, "If I am not welcome here why do you try to kill me instead of drive me out?”
Heracles’ plan had worked!! The hydra was confused!! Then Heracles stabbed the hydra in the heart. As it was dying it said, “The temple cannot be destroyed by a sword foolish hero!!!!” Then it breathed its final breath.
Then he went back to where he had left his supplies. Hercules spent three long days and nights thinking. He finally had an idea!! He would push the temple down! The next day Hercules set to work. He started to push the blocks out and away from the temple. Block by block by heavy block he slowly deconstructed the temple. For six long weeks Hercules worked. Every morning Hercules got up at dawn and –only stopping to eat– he set to work and every evening he worked till he could not see a thing. When he finally finished he was starving.
The next day Hercules traveled back to Eurytheus. On the way Hercules went thru a town and they thanked him for destroying it because the monster came down every night and ate one of there yaks now they could know that there yaks would be safe. The moment Eurytheus saw Hercules alive he ran from his palace. Then Hercules took Eurytheus’ throne and became king.
By: D.S.
“Hercules??? That should have killed you!” Said Eurytheus. “Either way, I have another task for you.”
“WHAT?!?!?!?!” Hercules shouted. “YOU SAID TWELVE! I ALREADY DID A THIRTEENTH!” he shouted in anger.
“Calm down. I made a mistake, everyone makes mistakes,” said Eurytheus.
“Your task?” Hercules said, still trembling in a rage.
This was Eurytheus’s bluff, never to end the tasks. “Your (not) final task is to climb the mountain huron-juae.”
“The mountain of blades!” Hercules realized, in shock. Then he realized he was falling through a trapdoor. He landed hard on the ground. He then realized he fell down the mountain, and that meant there was a path. He looked, realizing it was a maze. “Well, I might as well get started.”
It was steeper than Hercules expected, becoming exhausted within minutes. But if he stopped, he would have to start over. He then hit a dead end. “Darn!” Hercules said to himself. He stopped, and then lost his footing, falling back down the mountain. He looked again. The dead end turned into blades, along with everything else he walked on. He would have to wait until the blades went back in the ground. Meanwhile Eurytheus was chuckling to himself. “He will never get up!”
Many attempts later Hercules was still stumped. “I do not have the energy to continue,” he moaned. He was musing how to get up when it hit him, the blades were an illusion. They were not actually there. “Well, that was easy to figure out. The blades cannot go through the mountain, thus the others are illusions too,” Hercules said to himself. Still, he needed more energy.
“Hercules is defeated!!!” Eurytheus said, but was wrong, but it still would take many more days. Still Hercules eventually appeared. Would he have a fifteenth? Yes, but Eurytheus will be pretty helpless if the bluff is uncovered. But would it? Not likely, because Hercules wanted his family to be alive again.
By: M.P.
Hercules was given thirteen labors because the goddess Hera, determined to make trouble for him, made him lose his mind. In his state of insanity he killed his wife and children. When he was himself again Hercules was shocked and upset at what he had done. He prayed to the god Apollo for guidance. Apollo’s oracle said he would have to serve Eurystheus, a king for thirteen years as a punishment. That meant he had to do thirteen labors
At first he only had to do ten labors. But two of them Eurystheus said didn’t count because Hercules had help. Also he had to do a thirteenth because Eurystheus said Hercules didn’t learn his lesson enough. Hercules had to do many hard tasks such as kill the Hydra, drive away an enormous flock of killer birds, and bring back Hippolyte’s belt. He did them all.
His thirteenth labor was to bring back the horn of the Althaean unicorn. This unicorn was a very special unicorn. If anyone trespassed into its land it would kill them. Also it was an excellent fighter and no one had ever beaten it. It fought with its horn and its hooves and could kill a person by merely stabbing or kicking them lightly. The unicorn lived in a forest in the far-off land of Akjafaif which wasn’t found on any map. This seemed an extremely difficult task but Hercules was also an excellent fighter and clever too.
Hercules found the forest of Akjafaif without too much difficulty. The problem was getting inside. It looked as if he could just walk in but he knew that the unicorn would come charging towards him and he wouldn’t stand a chance. Just then the unicorn walked over and saw Hercules standing there. Hercules took in some breath. The unicorn was so unbelievably beautiful. It was pure white with golden hooves and a silver horn tipped with luminous blue. Eurystheus had said that the horn had healing powers and granted immortality to the holder. No surprise. The unicorn watched Hercules with suspicion but decided he wasn’t a huge threat. Hercules had an idea. Eurystheus had said that the unicorn ate doughnuts. Hercules decided that he would go to the nearest bakery and get some doughnuts. Then he would bribe the unicorn out with them.
Hercules put the doughnuts a few feet away from the entrance to the forest and waited. He knew that the unicorn knew it couldn’t just walk off to find food elsewhere. Then Hercules could just stride into the forest. But if the unicorn came and ate the doughnuts then Hercules could fight him or whatever he was going to do. Hercules sat there and waited day after day until the unicorn couldn’t take it anymore. It was too hungry. It ran out but Hercules was ready. He quickly jumped around the unicorn and blocked the entrance of the forest. The unicorn screamed in rage but then looked at the doughnuts. It stood there deciding. Then it chose the doughnuts. The unicorn ate them up then charged at Hercules who stood ready with his sword. He sliced off the horn and used it as an additional weapon until the unicorn grew too tired without the aid of its horn. It collapsed on the ground and lay there defeated. Hercules had won!!!!!!!!
Hercules traveled home tired and weary from his fight with the unicorn. Eurystheus decided he was free to go. Hercules would normally celebrate but instead he went home. He needed to sleep. He would celebrate tomorrow.
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