After Eurytus drove Hercules out of Oichalia, the great hero came to Calydon, the city of Aetolia. Oineus ruled there. Hercules came to Oeneus to ask for the hand of his daughter Deianira, since he had promised Meleager in the kingdom of shadows to marry her. In Calydon, Hercules met a formidable opponent. Many heroes sought the hand of the beautiful Deianira, and among them was the river god Aheloy. Finally, Oeneus decided that the one who emerges victorious in the fight would receive Deianira’s hand. All the suitors refused to fight the mighty Achelous. Only Hercules remained. He had to fight with the god of the river. Seeing Hercules’ determination to measure his strength against him, Ahelous said to him:
“Are you saying that you were born of Zeus and Alcmene?” You lie that Zeus is your father!
And Ahelous began to mock the great son of Zeus and defame his mother Alcmene. Frowning his eyebrows, Hercules looked sternly at Achelous; His eyes flashed with the fire of anger, and he said:
- Aheloy, my hands serve me better than my tongue! Be a winner in words, but I will be a winner in deeds.
Hercules approached Achelous with a firm step and grabbed him with his powerful arms. Huge Achelous stood firmly; the great Hercules could not bring him down; all his efforts were in vain. So Aheloy stood, as an unshakable rock stands, and the sea waves do not shake it, hitting it with thunderous noise. Hercules and Ahelous fight chest to chest, like two bulls locked with their crooked horns. Hercules attacked Achelous three times, and on the fourth time, breaking away from Achelous’s hands, the hero grabbed him from behind. Like a heavy mountain, he crushed the river god to the very ground. Achelous could hardly, having gathered all his strength, free his hands, covered with sweat; No matter how hard he strained his strength, Hercules pressed him harder and harder to the ground. Aheloy bowed down with a groan, his knees bent, and his head touched the very ground. In order not to be defeated, Aheloy resorted to cunning; he turned into a snake. As soon as Ahelous turned into a snake and slipped out of the hands of Hercules, Hercules exclaimed laughing:
- Even in the cradle I learned to fight snakes! True, you are superior to other snakes, Ahelous, but you are no match for the Lernaean hydra. Although she grew two new ones instead of the cut-off head, I still defeated her.
Hercules grabbed the snake’s neck with his hands and squeezed it as if with iron pincers. Aheloy tried to escape from the hero’s hands, but could not. Then he turned into a bull and again attacked Hercules. Hercules grabbed the bull Achelous by the horns and threw him to the ground. Hercules knocked him down with such terrible force that he broke one of his horns. He was defeated by Ahelous and gave Oineus to Deianira as a wife to Hercules.
After the wedding, Hercules remained in the palace of Oeneus; but he did not stay with him long. Once during a feast, Hercules struck the son of Architelos, Eunom, because the boy poured water prepared for washing his feet on his hands. The blow was so strong that the boy fell dead. Hercules was saddened, and although Architelos forgave him for the involuntary murder of his son, the hero Calydon still left and went with his wife Deianira to Tiryns.
During the journey, Hercules came with his wife to the River Even. The centaur Nessus carried travelers across this stormy river for a fee on his broad back. Nessus offered to carry Deianira to the other side, and Hercules placed her on the back of a centaur. The hero himself threw his club and bow to the other side and swam across the stormy river. Hercules had just come ashore when he suddenly heard the loud cry of Deianira. She called her husband for help. The centaur, captivated by her beauty, wanted to kidnap her. The son of Zeus shouted menacingly to Ness:
-Where are you running? Don't you think that your legs will save you? No, you will not be saved! No matter how fast you run, my arrow will still overtake you!
Hercules pulled his bow, and an arrow flew off the tight bowstring. The deadly arrow overtook Nessus, pierced his back, and its tip came out through the centaur’s chest. The mortally wounded Ness fell to his knees. Blood flows from his wound in a stream, mixed with the poison of the Lernaean hydra. Nessus did not want to die unavenged; he collected his blood and gave it to Deianira, saying:
“Oh, daughter of Oeneus, I was the last to carry you across the stormy waters of Even!” Take my blood and keep it! If Hercules stops loving you, this blood will return his love to you, and no woman will be dearer to him than you, just rub Hercules’ clothes with it.
Dejanira took the blood of Nessus and hid it. Nessus died. Hercules and Deianira arrived in Tiryns and lived there until the involuntary murder of Hercules’ friend Iphitus forced them to leave the glorious city.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru