Tasks Three and Four for our Hero Manager

Task Three: Capture of the Ceryneian Hind

The next project ran for a full year. It involved the tracking, trapping and translocation of an exquisite deer sacred to the hunter goddess Diana. Unlike his previous targets, the sacred deer had to be captured and brought back alive and unharmed. This task was really a test of Hercules’ ability to stick with a project over time where the goal was clear from the start but where the terrain over which the animal had to be pursued was entirely uncharted.

Having captured the hind through months of patient stealth and astute reading of the environment, Hercules is confronted by Diana herself who is determined to preserve the integrity of the animal under her divine protection. The successful hunter is forced to justify his capture and ends up striking a deal with the goddess that he will guarantee the hind’s safe release once he has presented it in the flesh to his insatiable customer.

He delivers on this deal and in so doing provides one of the moments in the parable where the hero’s moral universe requires that a balance be struck between short and long term outcomes. Diana, bless her, demands and gets a sustainable solution.

Task Four: Capture of the Erymanthian Boar

In pursuit of his next task, Hercules faces the test of confronting an old and respected mentor. The target this time is a vicious wild boar that rampages around destructively in the forests of Erymanthus. The physical execution of this task, given his bloodied club and poisoned arrows, is relatively simple. It’s another day at the office for our hardened hunter-manager. The real difficulty lies in an unexpected encounter with an old relationship along the way.

Chiron the centaur is an old and highly influential teacher of Hercules. He owes him much of his undoubted skill in the arts of hunting and single combat that have served him so well in his career. In the path towards his quarry, Hercules stumbles across Chiron and a collection of his more boisterous centaur chums. A heated argument ensues and a fight breaks out in the course of which Hercules fatally wounds his former mentor. It is another defining moment in his leadership journey.

Hercules is hit by conflicting emotions - remorse for his role in felling a role model and yet relief at the release from his shackles. He can hang back and mourn or he can move on and perform. He chooses to continue the pursuit of the boar and is successful.

However, from now on it's increasingly lonely as his successes mount and he becomes more insular and isolated further up the greasy pole.