Heracles returned, slew Augeas, and gave his kingdom to Phyleus. The success of this labour was ultimately discounted as the rushing waters had done the work of cleaning the stables, and because Heracles was paid for doing the labour; Eurystheus determined that Heracles still had seven labours to perform. Sixth: Stymphalian birds The sixth labour was to defeat the Stymphalian birds, man-eating birds with beaks made of bronze and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims. They were sacred to Ares, the god of war. Furthermore, their dung was highly toxic. They had migrated to Lake Stymphalia in Arcadia, where they bred quickly and took over the countryside, destroying local crops, fruit trees, and townspeople. Heracles could not go too far into the swamp, for it would not support his weight. Athena, noticing the hero's plight, gave Heracles a rattle which Hephaestus had made especially for the occasion. Heracles shook the rattle and frightened the birds into the air. Heracles then shot many of them with his arrows. The rest flew far away, never to return. In some versions of this story instead of the Augean stables being discounted it was the Stymphalian Birds labour for getting the help of Athena. The Argonauts would later encounter them. Seventh: Cretan Bull The seventh labour, also categorised as the first of the Non-Peloponneisan labours, was to capture the Cretan Bull, father of the Minotaur. Heracles sailed to Crete, where King Minos gave Heracles permission to take the bull away and even offered him assistance (which Heracles declined, plausibly because he did not want the labour to be discounted as before). The bull had been wreaking havoc on Crete by uprooting crops and leveling orchard walls. Heracles snuck up behind the bull and then used his hands to throttle it (stopping before it was killed), and then shipped it back to Tiryns. Eurystheus, who hid in his pithos at first sight of the creature, wanted to sacrifice the bull to Hera, who hated Heracles. She refused the sacrifice because it reflected glory on Heracles. The bull was released and wandered into Marathon, becoming known as the Marathonian Bull. Theseus would later sacrifice the bull to Athena and/or Apollo. Eighth: Mares of Diomedes As the eighth of his labours Heracles was sent by King Eurystheus to steal the Mares from Diomedes. The mares’ madness was attributed to their unnatural diet which consisted