Heroes: Volume II of Mythos

3. T HE C ERYNEIAN H IND Eurystheus now turned cunning. A water serpent was one thing, but not even Heracles could match an Olympian. ‘Bring me the golden hind of Ceryneiafn5,’ he said. He felt confident that this Third Labour must surely be Heracles’ last, for success would mean certain death, or at the very least eternal torment. The golden-horned, brass-footed Ceryneian Hind could do no harm to anyone. A deer fleeter than any hound or arrow, she presented a challenge to huntsmen, but not a danger. But the hind was sacred to Artemis, and this was where the threat lay. The savagery with which the goddess protected her own and punished any sacrilege against her or those who followed her was well known. She would never allow harm to befall her beloved hind.fn6 Heracles would either fail in his task or be struck down by Artemis for presumption. Either way, Eurystheus was confident that his pestilential cousin would not return. For almost a year Heracles pursued his quarry over hill and – one supposes – dale. Finally he succeeded in netting and subduing the animal. He had no wish to harm so shy and beautiful a creature. He slung the hind gently over his shoulders and whispered to her as he walked back to Mycenae. As he passed through a wood, Artemis emerged from the shadows. ‘You dare?’ she hissed, raising her silver bow. ‘Goddess, goddess, I throw myself on your mercy.’ Heracles, went down on one knee. ‘Mercy? I do not know the word. Prepare to die.’ As Artemis took aim her twin Apollo stepped out of the wood and pushed the bow down. ‘Now, sister,’ he said. ‘Don’t you know this is Heracles?’ ‘If it was our father, the Storm Bringer himself, I would shoot him for daring to take my hind.’ ‘I understand,’ said Heracles in his meekest voice. ‘It is a terrible sacrilege, but I am bound to King Eurystheus and it was he who commanded me to take the animal. It is Hera’s will that I obey him.’ ‘Hera’s will?’ Apollo and Artemis conferred. The Queen of Heaven had at best a stiff and formal relationship with Zeus’s children by other womenfn7 and had never made the twins’ lives easy. It amused them to assist her enemy. Artemis turned to Heracles. ‘You may continue on your way,’ she said. ‘But when you have shown my hind to the court in Mycenae you must return her to the wild.’ ‘You are as wise as you are beautiful,’ said Heracles. ‘Dear me,’ said Apollo. ‘That sort of flattery is not the way to my sister’s heart. On your way.’ Eurystheus was astonished to see Heracles return with the glorious creature, which he announced he would make the prize exhibit in his private menagerie. Mindful of his promise to Artemis, however, Heracles replied: ‘Certainly, my king. Come forward, she is yours to claim.’ Just as Eurystheus approached, Heracles, under the cover of his lion-skin cloak, gave the hind a sharp pinch on the rump. Eurystheus leapt to catch her as she reared up, but she galloped away with a bark, her bronze hooves setting up sparks from the palace flagstones. ‘You failed in your task!’ snarled Eurystheus. ‘Majesty, I brought you the hind as agreed,’ said Heracles. ‘It’s a pity you weren’t quick enough to hold her and keep her, but I cannot be held responsible for that.’ He turned to the court. ‘Surely I did everything that was asked of me?’ A murmur of sympathetic agreement from his courtiers held Eurystheus back from venting his true feelings. Sometimes, Heracles could display something approaching real cunning.