The Labors of Hercules: The Stymphalian Birds
Long long ago, in the age before television, Hercules returned home with his 100 magic horses he received for cleaning the Augean stables. He carefully stabled them, took one to ride, and the returned to report to Eurystheus. Hera advised Eurystheus to send Hercules to kill the Stymphalian birds. Hercules was a little suspicious, they were man eating birds with beaks of bronze and sharp metallic feathers that they could shoot at people like arrows. While they were definitely a danger to those around Lake Stymphalia where they lived as far as he knew they were not as much of a threat as Nemean lion or the Hydra had been. He wasn't certain if Hera and Eurystheus knew something about the birds he didn't or if they were running out of tasks for him to do. Regardless he took his armor and weapons and rode his horse to Lake Stymphalia. He stopped at the village to stable his horse and talk to the locals before continuing. The villagers told him the same things that he knew, the birds would fly in every so often and eat the peoples crops and animals. If anyone tried to protect their livelihood the birds would shoot their metal feathers at the people and then eat them too. He also found where they made their nests. He stabled his horse in the village and then set out towards their nests. As he went the ground became more and more swampy until it was impossible for him to continue any further. Frustrated he returned back to the village. He decided to simply wait a few days for the birds to attack and then fight them off then. A few days later a villager ran into the village reporting that the birds had attacked a farm on the far side of the lake. By the time Hercules arrived they had already left. It was then that he realized why this task would be so difficult. He couldn't get near the birds at their nests because of the swamp, and they attacked so randomly and quickly by the time he heard about it they had already left. He wasn't certain how to complete the task and so went for a walk around the lake while he thought about it. While doing so Athena, the goddess of just warfare, appeared to him. She told him that the birds belonged to her rival Ares, the god of brutal warfare, and wanted to help Hercules eliminate them in order to humiliate Ares. She gave him a magic rattle that could be heard clear across the lake and would scare the birds away from their nest. Hercules went back to the swamp and made his way as close as he could to the birds' nest. He shook the rattle and the birds flew away in fright. They shot their feathers at him but they just bounced off his lion skim armor. Using his arrows that had been dipped in the Hydra's venom he managed to slay most of the birds before they flew away. He then collected the bodies and took them back to Eurystheus.
Continued in The Cretan Bull