Initially, Hercules was required to complete ten labors, not twelve. King
Eurystheus decided Hercules' first task would be to bring him the skin of an
invulnerable lion which terrorized the hills around Nemea.
Setting out on such a seemingly impossible labor, Hercules came to a town called Cleonae,
where he stayed at the house of a poor workman-for-hire, Molorchus. When his host offered
to sacrifice an animal to pray for a safe lion hunt, Hercules asked him to wait 30 days.
If the hero returned with the lion's skin, they would sacrifice to Zeus, king of the gods.
If Hercules died trying to kill the lion, Molorchus agreed to sacrifice instead to Hercules,
as a hero.
When Hercules got to Nemea and began tracking the terrible lion, he soon discovered his arrows
were useless against the beast. Hercules picked up his club and went after the lion. Following
it to a cave which had two entrances, Hercules blocked one of the doorways, then approached the
fierce lion through the other. Grasping the lion in his mighty arms, and ignoring its powerful
claws, he held it tightly until he'd choked it to death.
Hercules returned to Cleonae, carrying the dead lion, and found Molorchus on the 30th day after
he'd left for the hunt. Instead of sacrificing to Hercules as a dead man, Molorchus and Hercules
were able to sacrifice together, to Zeus.
When Hercules made it back to Mycenae, Eurystheus was amazed that the hero had managed such an
impossible task. The king became afraid of Hercules, and forbade him from entering through the
gates of the city. Furthermore, Eurystheus had a large bronze jar made and buried partway in the
earth, where he could hide from Hercules if need be. After that, Eurystheus sent his commands to
Hercules through a herald, refusing to see the powerful hero face to face.
further info:
Nemean Lion
A picture made him a hero
Former soldier questioned