The Golden Apples

In the gardens of Hesperis, there lay a serpent with a hundred heads. He coiled around the golden apple tree owned by Hera. The gardens were tended to by the nymphs of Hesperis, the Hesperides. They took great care in ensuring a flourishing and beautiful garden. They all lived in the west as their father, Atlas a Titan and remnant of a world before the Olympic gods, had been condemned by them to carry the weight of the celestial skies on his shoulders because of him fighting against them. The serpent wrapped around the tree was also Atlas's child. He had been placed there by Hera to defend against anyone who would try to take them away. This serpent's name was Ladon.

Ladon took his responsibilities extremely seriously. He would let no one near the sacred tree. He knew how much it meant to Hera to have these apples. The goddess Gaia herself had given them to her as a wedding gift. Ladon knew he would face the wrath of Hera if he let the apples get stolen. He knew what she was capable of, like when she sent the Drakon Python to harass the pregnant Leto for having an affair with Zues.

Occasionally, the Hesperides would attempt to snatch a few apples for themselves. They felt that since they tended the gardens for so long, they had a right to eat some of the apples. This annoyed Ladon. Even though they were siblings through their father, Ladon never felt much love for them. They played around and did not take their jobs seriously. How could they act so foolish when Hera could arrive at any time and see them grasping at the apples?

Ladon was eventually fed up with their behavior. He devised a plan to keep them away and anyone else that could come along. Ladon was a master of manipulation. His hundred heads granted him the ability to hypnotize his foes and soothe away their anger and convince them to do as he pleased. He would use this on the nymphs and finally have them take their jobs seriously.

He coiled onto the tree and waited for when the nymphs would again attempt to take the apples. As he surveyed the land, he saw something unusual. There appeared to be other people in the gardens! He had never seen this before. Hesperis was extremely far to the West. It should have been nearly impossible for any mortal to make their way here. As he looked more closely, he could see that the nymphs were running from these attackers. The men rushed forward toward Ladon, screaming and waving their swords in an attempt to frighten him. Ladon hissed and bared his two hundred fangs. The sound caused the men to take a few steps back. They were obviously not used to anything fighting back. Ladon knew that fighting was not his strong suit. He began to spin his many heads in a mesmerizing manner. The men looked upon him and their eyes glazed over.

Mesmerized by the movements, they were immobilized. Ladon then told them that they had seen a frightening beast that towered over them. They had tried to fight, but were barely able to escape with their lives. Satisfied that he had put enough terror into them, Ladon released his grip on their minds and they ran from the gardens screaming. They hurried to their boats and would no doubt be thinking of ways to spin tales about the beast that lived in the West when they got back home.

Ladon lay back down, content that he had done his duty. The nymphs also came back out and approached him, this time not to distract and steal from him, but to thank him for defending the gardens, and promising to take their work more seriously.

Author's Note: For this story, I decided to take on a more laid-back tone. I think after reading the previous story, which was so serious and melancholy, this change of pace is probably refreshing. The original stories about Ladon are a bit fuzzy as there are different storylines that could explain Ladon's relations to the Olympic gods and Titans. I chose the one where he is a child of Atlas because I thought that would make the most sense as the nymphs in the gardens are also his offspring. Also, in the original mythos, Ladon only has the ability to speak in different tones, so I chose to interpret this as some sort of hypnotizing ability where Ladon is able to implant ideas into people's minds. This story is also supposed to depict a time before Heracles comes to the gardens and slays Ladon, so this story should help build up his legend as a terrifying monster, even though his only power is to hypnotize. Heracles, in his myth, is sent to do 12 great tasks. One of these tasks is to slay Ladon and get the golden apples. In his myth, he slays Ladon, so this means Ladon must have been a force to reckon with. This means that he must have some feats to back that up. This is what I'm trying to hone in on. I wanted this to be like a man behind the curtain feeling where Ladon is actually much weaker than what the legends will be spread say, but he is strong in other ways. This also contrasts with the previous story as Apep was a larger more existential threat for all of humanity, while Ladon is only in this one area. I think that this contrast shows how serpents are pretty diverse subject matter and while you can find some similarities, like both Ladon and Apep being 'evil', they aren't all the same.

Bibliography: "Drakon Hesperios" by Theoi.com, Web Source: Theoi

"Hesperides" by Wikipedia, Web Source: Wikipedia

"Hera Wrath" by Theoi.com, Web Source: Theoi

Image Information: "Golden Apple" by Minecraft.Fandom Web Source: Minecraft.Fandom