After hunting the copper-legged hind, which lasted a whole year, Hercules did not rest for long. Eurystheus again gave him an assignment: Hercules had to kill the Erymanthian boar. This boar, possessing monstrous strength, lived on Mount Erymanthes and devastated the surroundings of the city of Psofis. He gave no mercy to people and killed them with his huge fangs. Hercules went to Mount Erymanthus. On the way he visited the wise centaur Fol. He accepted the great son of Zeus with honor and arranged a feast for him. During the feast, the centaur opened a large vessel of wine to treat the hero better. The fragrance of wonderful wine spread far away. Other centaurs also heard this fragrance. They were terribly angry with Pholus because he opened the vessel. Wine belonged not only to Fol, but was the property of all centaurs. The centaurs rushed to the dwelling of Pholus and surprised him and Hercules while they were happily feasting together, adorning their heads with ivy wreaths. Hercules was not afraid of the centaurs. He quickly jumped up from his bed and began throwing huge smoking brands at the attackers. The centaurs fled, and Hercules wounded them with his poisonous arrows. The hero pursued them all the way to Malea. There the centaurs took refuge with Hercules' friend, Chiron, the wisest of the centaurs. Following them, Hercules burst into the cave. In anger, he pulled his bow, an arrow flashed in the air and pierced the knee of one of the centaurs. Hercules did not defeat the enemy, but his friend Chiron. Great sorrow gripped the hero when he saw who he had wounded. Hercules hurries to wash and bandage his friend’s wound, but nothing can help. Hercules knew that a wound from an arrow poisoned with hydra bile was incurable. Chiron also knew that he was facing a painful death. In order not to suffer from the wound, he subsequently voluntarily descended into the dark kingdom of Hades.
In deep sadness, Hercules left Chiron and soon reached Mount Erymantha. There, in a dense forest, he found a formidable boar and drove it out of the thicket with a cry. Hercules chased the boar for a long time, and finally drove it into deep snow on the top of a mountain. The boar got stuck in the snow, and Hercules, rushing at him, tied him up and carried him alive to Mycenae. When Eurystheus saw the monstrous boar, he hid in a large bronze vessel out of fear.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru