slaughtering his wife and children, he was assigned by the superior gods several very difficult tasks as punishment. Among these feats were killing the Nemean lion, taming the Cretan bull, capturing the Cemeian stag, slaughtering the Lemaean hydra (a serpent with nine heads), and securing the magic girdle of Hyppolyte. All were humanly impossible tasks. By far the most interesting, novel, and difficult task assigned him was that of cleaning the ox stables of King Augeas. This king had three thousand