The Three Golden Apples by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story about Hercules who searched for the golden apples that grew in the garden of the Hesperides.

For, all of a sudden, the Old One seemed to disappear out of his grasp, and he found himself holding a stag by the fore and hind leg!But still he kept fast hold.Then the stag disappeared, and in its stead there was a sea-bird, fluttering and screaming, while Hercules clutched it by the wing and claw!But the bird could not get away.Immediately afterwards, there was an ugly three-headed dog, which growled and barked at Hercules, and snapped fiercely at the hands by which he held him!But Hercules would not let him go.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's reputation as a writer is a very pleasing fact, because his writing is not good for anything, and this is a tribute to the man.—Ralph Waldo Emerson

The fine thing in Hawthorne is that he cared for the deeper psychology, and that, in his way, he tried to become familiar with it.—Henry James

The style of Hawthorne is purity itself. His tone is singularly effective—wild, plaintive, thoughtful, and in full accordance with his themes... We look upon him as one of the few men of indisputable genius to whom our country has as yet given birth.—Edgar Allan Poe