"The King of Thieves" is the first episode of the second season of the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and the 14th overall episode of the series. Written and directed by Doug Lefler, it first aired in the United States on September 4, 1995.

Autolycus steals the Cronus stone, which whisks himself and Hercules five years into the past. While Autolycus and his past self plan to steal the stone over again, Hercules is reunited with Serena, still alive in this time-line.

With help from Autolycus, the king of thieves, Hercules set out to find Lianna, who had been kidnapped by the giant Typhoon and taken to a castle in the clouds. Climbing a huge beanstalk, the two men found Lianna in Typhoon's castle, caring for three golden eggs that belonged to the Harpies. Captured by the giant, Autolycus instructed Typhoon in the ways of romance. When the eggs hatched unexpectedly, Hercules saved them from a hungry snake-eel. He and Autolycus departed without Lianna, who decided her home was in the clouds with Typhoon and the Harpies.

When Salmoneus and Autolycus were mistaken for the murderers of King Pholus, they disguised themselves as performers in the widow Twanky's all girl dance troupe. Autolycus promptly fell for the voluptuous Cupcake, while Salmoneus earned the unwanted affections of their pursuer, the late king's greedy brother Gekkus. Things got worse when the two men were forced to perform the Hootchi-Coochie-Jiggle-Wiggle in the buff, although Twanky was thrilled. The final showdown with Gekkus on stage was perceived by the audience as part of the show, Cupcake helped Autolycus and Salmoneus overcome Gekkus, who was hauled away as the king's killer.

Discord shot Hercules with Artemis' bow, turning him into a pig. Then she sent the hunter Colchis after Hercules, but the pig jumped from Iolaus' arms and ran off. After a butcher caught him and threw him into a meat wagon, hercules was befriended by a female pig, Katherine. Autolycus and Iolaus rescued the two pigs from a slaughterhouse, where hercules communicated with his friends through Fleevio the parrot. Retreating to Alcmene's home, they eventually got the drop on Discord. Iolaus shot the mischievous goddess with Artemis' bow, turning her into a chicken, and Hercules returned to normal.

The pig Katherine, who had fallen in love with Hercules told him of her deisre to become human. Hearing this, Aphrodite turned Katherine into a woman in her own image. The human Katherine happily stripped off all her clothes to roll in the mud. Meanwhile, Ares punished Autolycus and Iolaus for turning Discord into a chicken. Mistaken for the Big-footed Two-headed Forest People of legend, the pair was on display at a circus when Hercules rescued them. In the end, Aphrodite turned katherine back into a pig, and the animal was happy to rejoin her family.

Autolycus convinced his former girlfriend, Cupcake, that he wanted to fix her up with Prince Alexandros at a royal ball. In truth, Autolycus wanted to steal the sapphire of Antioch from the prince. Introduced to Alexandros as Hermia, princess of Carpathia, Cupcake inadvertently delayed a war from breaking out between Carpathia and Antioch. But the traitor, prime minister of Antioch, stabbed Prince Alexandros. Finally King Georgas of Carpathia arrived and established peace, while the wounded Prince proposed marriage to Cupcake -- even though he knew her true identity. Too late Autolycus realized he was still in love with her.

Salmoneus and Autolycus obtained a Sultan's lamp and released Jinni the genie, who gave them three wishes to share. Autolycus asked to be invisible. Instead Jinni made him intangible, so he couldn't grab anything. Salmoneus, meanwhile couldn't decide whether to ask for more sensitivity or more ruthless energy, so Jinni gave him both in the form of two clones -- Cry Baby Sal and Hyper Sal. Forfeiting their third wish, they were returned to normal and imprisoned inside Jinni's lamp. But they escaped, and Autolycus used the third wish to give the lonely genie a roomful of clones.

Hercules missed the original Iolaus. He remembered when a sacred ruby had been stolen from the head of the stone panther, and he and Iolaus went to retrieve it. Autolycus committed the crime, and he swallowed the ruby. At dusk the stone panther sprang to life, and a fierce battle ensued. When Iolaus grabbed Autolycus around the rib cage to pull him out of harm's way, the ruby srrang free. Hearing this story, Iolaus 2 hoped Hercules didn't expect him to be as brave as the other Iolaus. Hercules responded that no one could be.

Autolycus joined Hercules on his way to the First Bank of Greece and promised not to rob it. Once in town, they found Autolycus' ex-wife Luscious starring in a show at Club Nymph-O-Mania. The next day, the bank was robbed and Autolycus' grappling hook was found at the scene of the crime. Luscious was to blame, but Autolycus took the fall and went to jail. To save his friend, Hercules set a trap for Luscious, recovered the loot and freed Autolycus without having to implicate his ex-wife. The events rekindled Autolycus' and Luscious' feelings for each other.