00:31The second labor assigned to Heracles by Eurystheus was to slay the Lernian Hydra.
00:38The Lernian Hydra was the nine-headed serpentine offspring of Echidna and Typhon that lived
00:43in the swamp of Lerna.
00:45It grew two more heads if one was cut off and had one immortal head that could not be
00:50killed.
00:52Its blood was so noxious that it destroyed anything it tainted.
00:55Even the mere scent of it was strong enough to kill.
00:59On getting to the Hydra's swampy home, the place was covered in its poisonous breath that
01:05Heracles was forced to put a cloth over his nose and mouth.
01:09To lure the Hydra out, he shot flaming arrows into its dark lair.
01:14When the monster emerged, Heracles cut off one of its heads only to realize in horror that
01:20it grew two more.
01:21Knowing it would take more to defeat this serpent, he temporarily retreated to get the help of
01:27his nephew, Eolaus, son of his brother, Ithacles.
01:31There, Athena gifted him with a golden sword that would cut off the monster's immortal head.
01:37Going back to the lair fully prepared, Heracles again cut off the Hydra's heads, but this time,
01:43Eolaus burnt the stumps, so no more heads would grow back.
01:47In order to distract them, Hera sent a huge crab, which bit Heracles relentlessly, till
01:53he squashed it under his foot.
01:55The hero severed the Hydra's immortal head with Athena's sword, while his nephew scorched
02:00the last stump.
02:02He made his arrows poisonous thereafter, by dipping the tips, in the Hydra's blood.
02:08And that was it, the Hydra, had been slain.
02:12Hera transformed the dead monster, into a constellation also called Hydra, and transformed the squashed
02:18crab, into the constellation called Cancer.
02:22Meanwhile, Heracles returned to Tyrrhins, once again victorious.
02:27However, Eurystheus refused to acknowledge his success at the task, solely because the
02:32hero had been helped, by his nephew.
02:35Thus, the slaying of the Lernian Hydra, would not be counted, among the supposed ten labors.
02:41And Heracles would have to fulfill an extra task, to make up for the dismissed one.
02:56Trump's in peace.
02:58You are terminal at this point.
03:03So close and where the kingdom could be maintained before, where cannot try and
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