ABSTRACT
In The Golden Apples, The Earthly Paradises shortest classical tale, two strangely assured strangers, Hercules of Thebes and the sea-god Nereus, identify themselves as The Strong Man and The Shepherd of the Shore and request passage on a ship bound for Tyre. The duly sobered sailors then convey Hercules the rest of the way to Tyre, offer sacrifices at Nereuss temple, and try to describe to others the wonders they have seen. It is possible that Morris shortened and simplified this tale to fit space constraints. He had, after all, represented the decline and fall of another heroic voyager in The Life and Death of Jason, and may have considered The Earthly Paradises longer redactions of ardent-love-and-heroic-adventure-legends more than sufficient to the task at hand. In any event, the reader learns nothing about Herculess other labors or his disastrous marriages to Megara and Deianira in The Golden Apples, one of The Earthly Paradises least emotionally complicated tales.
