When the wedding between Zeus and Hera was celebrated all the gods brought presents. Mother Earth brought some apple-trees as her gift. These trees bore precious golden apples, and Zeus and Hera were so pleased with their wonderful wedding-present that they appointed four maidens, called the Daughters of the West, to guard the apples, and also they placed a dragon there with a hundred heads, who never slept.
The fruit was so inviting that even the maidens would have been tempted to eat it if the terrible dragon had not kept close to the tree. A roar like thunder came out of each of his hundred mouths and frightened everything away that dared approach the trees, and lightning darted from his eyes to strike down intruders.
The trees grew more and more beautiful from year to year, and the apples were so heavy that the boughs bent beneath the golden load. They grew in the Garden of the Hesperides, in islands way off to the west, and were watered by springs of nectar which had their rise near the throne of Zeus.
Eurystheus had heard of the apples and he ordered Herakles to bring them to him. For a long time Herakles wandered about in various lands until he came to the river Rhone, where the water-goddesses or nymphs advised him to ask counsel from the ancient lord of the deep sea, who knew all the secrets of the ocean depths and whose wisdom was beyond that of the gods. He is called by many names, but his gentlest name is Nereus, and he does not like to be questioned unless he can take any shape he pleases.
He usually escapes intruders, but to those who are not afraid and who manage to grasp and to hold him, he freely opens the store of his wisdom. This was what Herakles did. Nereus took on the form of a lion, a serpent, a fish, a stream of water, and at last, of an old man, but Herakles held him close and learned from him the road to the Garden of the Hesperides.
Leaving Nereus, Herakles travelled south into Africa, where he met Antæos, a huge giant who lived in the desert. Antæos was a son of Earth and Ocean, and he was as strong as the terrible sand-storms. He was cruel to all travellers who crossed his domains and slew them, but he loved and protected the tiny Pygmies that lived all around him. No one had ever been able to vanquish him in battle, for Mother Earth gave him new strength and vigor every time he lay down or touched the ground.
Herakles wrestled with him and threw him down many times, but Antæos sprang up stronger than ever. At last Herakles caught him up with one hand, and holding him high in the air where he could not receive help from Mother Earth, squeezed him to death.
Herakles was tired out with this tremendous exertion and lay down in the desert to rest. But he did not sleep long, for a whole army of the little people, seeing their beloved giant lying dead, came with their weapons to attack Herakles. He found himself covered with them from head to foot. He sprang up, and quickly gathering up his lion’s skin, crushed a multitude of the Pygmies and killed them.
Then he hurried away toward the east, going through many countries until he came to India, and finding himself travelling in the wrong direction, turned to the north and west and came to the Caucasus Mountains. Here he found Prometheus chained to the rocks of a high mountain-peak. Prometheus had taught mankind the use of fire and how to build houses and had otherwise interfered with the work of the gods, thereby bringing this punishment upon himself. Herakles took pity on him and set him free. In return for this kindly act Prometheus told him the most direct way to the Garden of the Hesperides, which was through Scythia and the region of the Hyperboreans at the back of the North Wind.
On his way Herakles stopped to visit Atlas, who as a punishment for once having rebelled against the gods was obliged to carry the heavens on his shoulders. “Let me relieve thee for awhile, friend Atlas,” said Herakles, after greeting him in a most cordial manner. “Let me take the heavens on my shoulders and I will let thee do me a great service in return. I must have the Golden Apples that grow in the Garden of the Hesperides to take to Eurystheus, and thou canst bring them to me.”