4 Dirty work

Chapter 4 Dirty work "That task took you a whole year!" laughed King Eurystheus. "For your next task, go and clean out the stables of King Augeas- in a single day." How hard can that be?

King Augeas was delighted to see Hercules. "My stables are the filthiest in the land," he said. "Are you really going to clean them up in a single day?" Hercules was very confident. "I bet you I can do it," he boasted. "If you manage it, I'll give you a hundred of my cows," said Augeas.

Inside the stables, piles of mucky manure towered high, and it smelled disgusting. But Hercules set to work with a shovel, smiling. After a hour, he stopped smiling. There was simply too much muck. Hercules rested on the shovel and looked through a window in the stables. Just outside, he saw a river.

Hercules had an idea. Using the shovel, he knocked a big hole in the wall. Then he opened the doors. He began to dig a long ditch. By noon, it reached from the stables all the way to the river.

Next, he found a massive boulder, and dropped it into the river. The water hit the boulder and ran off into the ditch. Soon, great floods of water swept through the stables, washing out all the muck in an instant. Augeas gasped in amazement.

Once again, Hercules went back to Tiryns triumphant. A whole herd of cows came with him. For a change, Eurystheus was looking happy. "You may have cleaned the stables," he said, "but it's not right to get paid for doing a task, even in cows. That task doesn't count!"