Soon after returning from a campaign in the land of the Amazons, Hercules set off on a new feat. Eurystheus instructed him to drive the cows of the great Geryon, the son of Chrysaor and the oceanid Callirhoe, to Mycenae. The path to Geryon was long. Hercules needed to reach the westernmost edge of the earth, those places where the radiant sun god Helios descends from the sky at sunset. Hercules set out on a long journey alone. He passed through Africa, through the barren deserts of Libya, through the countries of savage barbarians and finally reached the ends of the earth. Here he erected two giant stone pillars on both sides of a narrow sea strait as an eternal monument to his feat.
After this, Hercules had to wander a lot more until he reached the shores of the gray Ocean. The hero sat down in thought on the shore near the ever-noisy waters of the Ocean. How could he reach the island of Erythea, where Geryon grazed his flocks? The day was already approaching evening. Here the chariot of Helios appeared, descending to the waters of the Ocean. The bright rays of Helios blinded Hercules, and he was engulfed in unbearable, scorching heat. Hercules jumped up in anger and grabbed his formidable bow, but the bright Helios did not get angry, he smiled welcomingly at the hero, he liked the extraordinary courage of the great son of Zeus. Helios himself invited Hercules to cross to Erythea in a golden canoe, in which the sun god sailed every evening with his horses and chariot from the western to the eastern edge of the earth to his golden palace. The delighted hero boldly jumped into the golden boat and quickly reached the shores of Erythea.
As soon as he landed on the island, the formidable two-headed dog Orfo sensed it and barked at the hero. Hercules killed him with one blow of his heavy club. Ortho was not the only one who guarded Geryon's herds. Hercules also had to fight with the shepherd of Geryon, the giant Eurytion. The son of Zeus quickly dealt with the giant and drove the cows of Geryon to the seashore, where the golden boat of Helios stood. Geryon heard the lowing of his cows and went to the herd. Seeing that his dog Ortho and the giant Eurytion had been killed, he chased the herd thief and overtook him on the seashore. Geryon was a monstrous giant: he had three torsos, three heads, six arms and six legs. He covered himself with three shields during the battle, and he threw three huge spears at once at the enemy. Hercules had to fight such and such a giant, but the great warrior Pallas Athena helped him. As soon as Hercules saw him, he immediately fired his deadly arrow at the giant. An arrow pierced the eye of one of Geryon's heads. After the first arrow, a second one flew, followed by a third. Hercules waved his all-crushing club menacingly, like lightning, struck the hero Geryon with it, and the three-body giant fell to the ground as a lifeless corpse. Hercules transported Geryon's cows from Erythea in the golden shuttle of Helios across the stormy Ocean and returned the shuttle to Helios. Half of the feat was over.
Much work still lay ahead. It was necessary to drive the bulls to Mycenae. Hercules drove cows across all of Spain, through the Pyrenees Mountains, through Gaul and the Alps, through Italy. In the south of Italy, near the city of Regium, one of the cows escaped from the herd and swam across the strait to Sicily. There King Eryx, son of Poseidon, saw her and took the cow into his herd. Hercules looked for a cow for a long time. Finally, he asked the god Hephaestus to guard the herd, and he himself crossed to Sicily and there he found his cow in the herd of King Eryx. The king did not want to return her to Hercules; Relying on his strength, he challenged Hercules to single combat. The winner was to be rewarded with a cow. Eryx was unable to cope with such an opponent as Hercules. The son of Zeus squeezed the king in his mighty embrace and strangled him. Hercules returned with the cow to his herd and drove it further. On the shores of the Ionian Sea, the goddess Hera sent rabies through the entire herd. Mad cows ran in all directions. Only with great difficulty did Hercules catch most of the cows already in Thrace and finally drive them to Eurystheus in Mycenae. Eurystheus sacrificed them to the great goddess Hera.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru