The Nemean Lion



Grandpa began telling Patrick of the first labor Heracles had to complete while they were sitting together in Patrick’s bedroom as he was being tucked in.  Patrick kept on insisting that Grandpa hurry and begin his story; he was becoming more and more inpatient as time went by.


"Heracles stormed on to the land of Cleonae," began Grandpa.  “This is where he knew he had to defeat the Nemean Lion as the king wanted him to.  The Nemean lion was from a small village that was part of Greece called Nemea.  He was known to have fallen from the moon as a creature that was made by Zeus and Selene.  He knew that if he slew the lion and returned back to the king in thirty days, the lion would be sacrificed to Zeus, King of the Gods.  But, if Heracles failed, he would be sacrificed instead," he continued.

"Wow.  So what happened when he first got there?" asked Patrick.

"He arrived and stayed at the home of Molorchus ,” Grandpa began.  “Molorchus was a poor work man for hire who invited Heracles to stay with him.  Throughout Heracle's thirty long days there, he found himself face to face with the lion after he had searched for him," said Grandpa.

"What did he do?" asked Patrick, who was beginning to get nervous.

"He started to shoot arrows at the lion over and over again, but nothing happened.  The arrows would just bounce right off of the lion's coat.  The lion was alive and well with out even a scratch," Grandpa said.

"The arrows didn't hurt him?? Well that's ridiculous!" replied Patrick.

"It may sound ridiculous, but don't worry, Heracles had a better idea," said Grandpa.  "He noticed when the lion returned back to its cave, there were two ways in and out.  So then he made a plan."

"What kind of plan?" Patrick asked.

"He decided that if he closed one side of the cave he could go in the other one and it would keep the lion from trying to escape," said Grandpa.

"But if the arrows didn't kill the lion, what will?" asked Patrick.

"Heracles decided the best way was to knock the lion out with his club, which mythology books say was Heracles most famous weapon, and strangle him until he was dead," Grandpa replied.  "Heracles stunned the cat and immediately wrapped his strong grip around the lion's throat, and just like that he was dead."

"Wow!  Just like that?" Patrick said in amazement.  "You are right, Grandpa.  Heracles is strong!  What happened after that?"

"Because he had to bring the lion's skin back to the king, he used the animal's own claws to remove it," said Grandpa.  "He returned to the king, who was in shock when he saw what Heracles had done.  This entire battle between Heracles and the Nemean Lion took about thirty days, and Heracles was only eighteen years old."

"Eighteen years old?” Patrick said in shock.  “He was so young!  That’s amazing! So since he defeated the lion, what did the king say to him when he returned?" asked Patrick.

"The king told Heracles to wear the lion's pelt as a cloak," began Grandpa, "but this was only the beginning.  King Eurystheus said the tasks Heracles had to perform were only going to get more and more difficult, which is where we take our next story, my dear grandson..."


Author's Note:  The first story I used for the storybook was about Heracles' battle with the Nemean Lion.  This was the first labor Heracles completed, which made this more suitable to be the first story Grandpa told Patrick.  I stuck with the same story line as told in my source.   I adapted the details of the story to the theme I chose for the storybook, which was a grandfather telling the story of the great Heracles through his eyes to his grandson, Patrick.  In my research, I learned that some mythological texts claim that Heracles actually did shoot the lion with several arrows until it was killed, but I thought it would make the story more interesting for Patrick if I used the version of the myth in which Heracles closed one of the openings of the cave off, and then strangling the lion to death.  For a young boy I thought it would more fun and entertaining if that side of the story was used.  When I first read the story in my research it sounded a little slow, so I tried to beef it up a little bit by mentioning the king’s wishes and elaborating on how it took Heracles three months to finish this labor and so on.



The Next Adventure...

Storybook




Image Info: Heracles wrestling the Nemean Lion red figure, photo by Maria Daniels.  Web site: The Nemean Lion.
“The Nemean Lion”. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemean_lion.