Eurystheus was envious of the exit of Heracles and decided to entrust him some dangerous tasks. Heracles went crazy, since he was not used to serve to mortals, and he killed his own children in a crisis. As a repentance for this he started to work with his tasks. The whole story shows clearly the broken personality of Heracles, who even though he fulfilled many good deeds, had an arrogant and irritable character.

1st. The fight with the lions

His first job was to bring the fur of the Nemean lions that lived in the forests of the Peloponnese. There he went, found the lions, killed them and brought the fur to Mycenae.

2nd. Hydra

In his second job he had to kill Hydra, a huge monster that lived in the marshes of Lerna. The beast was hidden in a cave, and Heracles shot burning arrows inside until Hydra went out to get some air. Hydra had many heads and of each one there were going out two more heads. Then he got a good idea and stuck burning arrows in its wounds and so he defeated Hydra. Before leaving, he wet his arrows with the poisonous blood of the beast thinking they could come in handy in the future.

3rd. The hind

The third job was to get the golden antlers of a hind that lived in the hill of Arcadia and had metal hoofs on its paws. However, he had to get them without killing the animal, so he ended up chasing her around Greece during one whole year without success. Finally, he decided to shoot to wound it, and then he caught it and brought it to Mycenae on his shoulders.

4th and 5th. The birds and the boar

The fourth job was to chase the huge birds of prey that lived in the lake of Stymphalia in Arcadia to free the people from there of their torment. The birds were attacking them and their castles and made them live in fear and horror. Heracles took his arrows and shot them one by one until they were all dead or had escaped. But there was still an enormous boar in the area, in the mountain of Erymanthos, that was killing peasants in their lands and destroying their harvests. The hero found the animal and hunted it until it collapsed on the floor exhausted, and then took it alive back to Mycenae.