The Labors of Hercules: The Erymanthian Boar
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Long
long ago, in the age before television, Hera and Eurystheus had a
plan to stop Hercules. Since it took him a year to catch the
Ceryneian Hind they decided to have Hercules catch another animal
alive, but this time a dangerous one, the Erymanthian Boar. This was
a giant magical pig living on Mt. Erymanthian that the gods would
send to punish mortals who angered them. Hera and Eurystheus hoped
that Hercules would be forced to kill the boar to protect himself and
fail the task. Hercules felt ready for the task and set out for the
mountain. As he came near the mountain a heavy rainstorm hit soaking
Hercules. Searching for shelter he found a cave. Hercules went into
the cave and found that it happened to be the home of Pholus, a
centaur. Hercules explained his current task and asked Pholus if he
had any advice. Pholus introduced Hercules to another centaur named
Chiron who was well revered as a teacher and healer. Chiron agreed to
tell Hercules how to catch the boar if he would help him free
Prometheus. Long ago Prometheus had stolen fire from the gods and
given it to humans. As punishment, Zeus chained Prometheus to a rock
and every day an eagle would bite a chunk out of him. Prometheus
would heal through the night but the next day the eagle would come
back and take another bite. Chiron felt Prometheus should be honored
for giving fire to man but couldn't free him himself. Hercules and
Chiron traveled together to the rock where Prometheus was chained.
Hercules waited until the eagle came and then shot it with his arrow.
Although the eagle was a magic creature and immune to normal arrows,
Hercules' arrow was still coated in the hydra's poison and killed it.
Hercules then smashed the Prometheus' chains with his club. While
Hercules was breaking Prometheus' chains, Chiron went to pick up
Hercules' arrow. While picking it up he accidentally dropped the
arrow and it scratched his leg. Although Chiron was known as one of
the best healers in the world not even he could heal the scratch
because of the hydra's poison. Despite the pain, Chiron still told
Hercules the secret of capturing the Erymanthian Boar before passing
away. In gratitude for his help in rescuing him, Prometheus placed
Chiron in the sky as a constellation. Hercules left Prometheus and
returned back to Mt. Erymanthian. He soon spotted the boar and gave
chase. As he chased the boar he always made certain the boar could
only go up the mountain, not down. Eventually he got high enough that
snow covered the area. Hercules simply chased the boar into a
snowdrift where it got stuck. This was the secret Chiron told him.
The boar was fast, and if caught in a regular trap would turn around
and attack with it's tusks, however it's legs were short and once
stuck in a snowdrift it couldn't even turn around. Hercules simply
walked up to it and wrapped it up in his lion skin. The boar couldn't
attack Hercules through the skin as he carried it across his
shoulders back to Eurystheus.
Continued in
The Augean Stables