THE FOURTH LABOUR—­CAPTURING THE BOAR OF ERYMANTHUS

In the northwestern part of the famed Arcadia where the golden-horned hind roamed was a range of mountains called Erymanthus.  Over the high tops of this range wandered also a wild beast, but unlike the lovely hind he was fierce and terrible of aspect and deadly in encounter.  He was known as the boar of Erymanthus.  This tusked and terrible being the King of Mycenae, Eurystheus, commanded the mighty Hercules, his bondman, to bring alive to him.

Again Hercules set out, and again he fared over hill and across bright waters, and as he went the birds sang spring songs to him from vine and tree shade, and yellow crocuses carpeted the earth.  In his journey he came one day to the home of Pholus, a centaur, who dwelt with other centaurs upon the side of a mountain.  Now the centaurs were, of all the dwellers of that distant land, most unlike us modern folks.  For report has it that they were half that noble creature man, and half that noble creature horse:  that is to say, they were men as far as the waist, and then came the body of the horse with its swift four feet.  There are those, indeed, who claim that the centaurs were men and rode their mountain ponies so deftly that man and horse seemed one whole creature.  Be that as it may, upon this mountain side the centaur Pholus dwelt with others of his kind, and there to visit with him came Hercules.

The centaur with his hospitable heart and own hands prepared a dinner of roast meat for the hungry traveller, and as they sat at the board in genial converse they had much enjoyment.  But Hercules was also thirsty, and the sparkling water from the mountain spring seemed not to satisfy him.  He asked the centaur for wine.  “Ah, wine, my guest-friend Hercules,” answered Pholus, “I have none of my own.  Yonder is a jar of old vintage, but it belongs to all the centaurs of our mountain and I cannot open it.”  “But friend Pholus,” said Hercules pressingly, “I would I had a little for my stomach’s sake.”

Now the centaur had a kind heart as we have said, and he rejoiced that Hercules had come, and to give the hero his desires he opened the jar.  The wine was made from grapes that grew under the fair skies of Arcadia and its fragrance was like a scent of lilies or of roses, and when the soft winds entered the door, near which Hercules sat drinking, it seized the perfume and bore it over the mountain side.  Now hear of all the mischief a little wine may make.

The fragrance in the air told the centaurs, wherever each happened to be, that their wine jar had been opened, and they rushed to its resting place perhaps to defend it from any wayfaring thief, perhaps to help drink it, we do not know.  But each came angrily to the mouth of the cave of Pholus and all were armed with stones and staves which they had seized as they hastened onward.  When they first entered with