There was a swift and beautiful stag that lived in the hills of Arcadia. It had antlers of solid gold and hoofs of bronze and as it was sacred to Artemis, the goddess of hunting, no one was allowed to hunt it. King Eurystheus wanted to see this wonderful animal and so demanded that Herakles brought it to him alive and unhurt.

This was to be Herakles' third labour and he thought that it would be relatively easy compared with his previous tasks. However he had not realised how fast the stag could run. No matter how quickly Herakles ran, the stag ran quicker. As he was not permitted to harm the stag in any way he could not see how he was going to catch it.