This is a story, not only about the golden apples that Heracles brought to his cousin, the king, but of other apples made of the same fairy metal. First of all, however, you shall hear about Heracles and the hidden far-off garden where the apples grew.

When the king told him he must find this garden, and gather some of the glittering fruit from the tree, poor Heracles was in despair, for he knew very well that the appletree had been lost a long, long time ago, and had never been found again. It had been given to Queen Hera as a wedding present, covered, with its crop of gold; and she had put it in the care of some beautiful maidens whose father, Hesperus, carried the evening star to the sky every night in a lantern set with gems. These maidens were called the Hesperides; and, in order that the apples might never be stolen, they had taken the tree far away into Africa, had planted it in a secret garden, and had set a wary dragon to live under the branches and to guard the treasured fruit both day and night.

👉 And that's it for now! Subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already: Classicsness.com. And if you want to know more about classics and even learn Latin online, check out LatinFromScratch.com.

📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).