Apollo taught to the humans the art of healing and archery. Phoebe, his grandmother, gave the oracular shrine of Delphi to Apollo as a birthday gift. Themis inspired him to be the oracular voice of Delphi thereon. Later, with his bow and arrows that he had received from Hephaestus, Apollo went in search of the chthonic dragon Python, which lived in Delphi beside the Castalian Spring, and was a terror to the people. Hera had sent this serpent to hunt the pregnant Leto to her death across the world. To avenge the trouble given to his mother, Apollo killed Python in
The Great Snake The Great Snake "The Great Snake" or "The Great Serpent" (, lit. "Of the Great Serpent") is a folk tale (the so-called "skaz") of the Ural region of Siberia collected and reworked by Pavel Bazhov. It was first published in the 11th issue of the "Krasnaya Nov" literary magazine in 1936 and later the same year as a part of the collection "Prerevolutionary Folklore of the Urals". It was later released as a part of "The Malachite Casket" collection. The story was translated from Russian into English by Alan Moray Williams in 1944, and by Eve Manning in the 1950s.