Ancient Greek Myth for Kids: The Augean Stables - The 12 Labors of Hercules Illustration

Hercules & the Augean Stables

An Ancient Greek Myth for Kids
The 6th Labor of Hercules
The Augean Stables

His 6th labor was to clean the Augean Stables in one day.

Augean, the King of Elis, had many sheep and cattle. All his sheep and cattle slept in the royal stables. This might sound nice, but the stables had not been cleaned for several years. It was not nice at all! The most horrible smell greeted Hercules when he stuck his nose in the stable door.

Obviously, it would take a great deal of water to wash away all the filth. Hercules used his mighty strength to push the riverbeds of a couple of nearby rivers and change their course, so that the rivers would rush through the stables and clean them out! It was a clever solution. The job was done in just a few hours.

Hercules put most of the river beds back where they were. But he left one babbling brook for the comfort of the animals.

When all of the animals who lived in the stable came home that night from the fields, they found clean beds of hay, warm buckets of oats, and fresh running water. They could not have been more happy.

The 12 Labors of Hercules:

Hercules (the beginning)

The Nemean Lion

The Lernaean Hydra

The Wild Boar of Erymanthus

The Stag of Artemis

The Stymphalian Birds

The Augean Stables

The Cretan Bull

The Girdle of Hippolyta

The Cattle of Geryon

The Mares of King Diomedes

The Golden Apples of the Hesperides

The Capture of Cerberus