For the fifth task, Eurystheus decided to set Herakles a task that was both difficult and disgusting.

The King told Herakles that he had a friend called Augeas who ruled the city of Elis. He also told him that his friend had thousands of oxen and sheep but had NEVER bothered to clean out their stables in thirty years.

Herakles' fifth labour was to muck out King Augeas's stables!