Hercules And The Hydra

This is the story of the greek soldier Hercules. In the first bit of this 12-part story, Hercules went mad, and to pay everyone back, he became a slave to King Eurestyus. Last time, he fought this huge lion thing and made its skin into an invincibility cloak.

“Now, Hercules.” began King Eurestyus one sunny morning. “I now want you to kill the dreaded Hydra in the Argos Marshes. He has been  terrorising my people for too long now.” He pointed at a man in a toga running away from a sign reading ‘Argos Marshes’. “OK, sir.” replied Hercules. “But is it a snake or a dog? People have sent letters to me that say both. I’ve got mixed messages.” the King lowered one eye as if to say ‘really?!’. “What do you think, dumbo!?!?” said Eurestyus, starting to get a bit annoyed. Hercules shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, just go!” exclaimed the king. With that, Hercules ran off.

The soldier was getting tired when he reached a sign that read ‘Argos Marshes - One Mile’. “Nearly - There.” panted Hercules. Soon, the road got rougher. “Is it just me, or does the road seem a tad sticky?” he said. He looked down to look at the track, only to find himself stuck in quicksand!

“HELP! ANYONE! HELP!” shouted Hercules, a tone of panic ringing in his voice. Suddenly, he heard a rustling sound. He turned round, only to see his uncle, Iolaus, emerge from a nearby bush. “You know my house is on the other side of this road?” he said, smiling. “UNCLE!” exclaimed Hercules. Struggling, the two managed to pull him free from the quicksand.

Without warning, a huge shadow loomed over the pair. “RAA AR!” shouted somerthing unknown. The two stopped laughing and turned round. “HYDRA!” screamed the two in     unison.

Iolaus ran round back to the bush where he had emerged from. Hercules unsheathed his sword and ran at the beast, holding his breath to stop himself from breathing in the beast’s poisonous breath. Leaping up, the soldier managed to gather up enough energy to chop one of Hydra’s nine heads off, only to find two grow back in its place. He stared at its head for a second. “I know! IOLAUS!” he exclaimed. Shaking, the old man emerged from the bush once more. “Uncle! Find some sticks and set them aligh-AAAGH!” he screamed  as the monster played with him as if he were a toy. In a rush, his unlcle picked up loose splinters of wood and rubbed them against a tree. WHOOSH! It had worked! Orange flames where coming of the planks. “Yes!” said Hercules and let go of Hydra. Hercules had tricked the beast into thinking she was winning, when actually the soldier was just gripping onto her scaly skin. He unsheathed his sword aand chopped off a head. Iolaus threw one of the flaming planks and Hercules rubbed it againt the bleeding stub. Nothing grew back.

“Hooray!” they both cheered and repeated their technique. Once Hydra was dead, the pair pushed her into the deep end of the marsh. With a smile on their faces, the two walked back to the palace.