.

Third Labor: Hercules and the Hind

For the third labor, King Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the Hind of Ceryneia. A hind is a red female deer. You'd think it would have been easy for a hero like Hercules to go shoot a deer and bring it back to King Eurystheus, but a few problems made things complicated. This was a special deer, because it had golden horns and hoofs of bronze. Not only that, the deer was sacred to Diana, the goddess of hunting and the moon. The hind was Diana's special pet. That meant that Hercules could neither kill the deer nor hurt her. He couldn't risk getting Diana angry at him; he was already in enough trouble with Hera.

Hercules set out on this adventure, and he hunted the deer for a whole year. At last, when the deer had become weary with the chase, she looked for a place to rest on a mountain called Artemisius, and then made her way to the river Ladon. Realizing that the deer was about to get away, Hercules shot her just as she was about to cross the stream. He caught the deer, put her on his shoulders and turned back to Mycenae. As Hercules hurried on his way, he was met by Diana and Apollo.