He was not long in discovering that the cup had floated across a great
part of the sea, and was approaching the shore of what seemed to be an
island. And, on that island, what do you think he saw?
No; you will never guess it, not if you were to try fifty thousand
times! It positively appears to me that this was the most marvellous
spectacle that had ever been seen by Hercules in the whole course of his
wonderful travels and adventures. It was a greater marvel than the hydra
with nine heads, which kept growing twice as fast as they were cut off;
greater than the six-legged man monster; greater than Antaeus; greater
than anything that was ever beheld by anybody, before or since the days
of Hercules, or than anything that remains to be beheld by travellers in
all time to come. It was a giant!
But such an intolerably big giant! A giant as tall as a mountain; so
vast a giant that the clouds rested about his midst, like a girdle, and
hung like a hoary beard from his chin, and flitted before his huge eyes,
so that he could neither see Hercules nor the golden cup in which he was
voyaging. And, most wonderful of all, the giant held up his great hands
and appeared to support the sky, which, so far as Hercules could discern
through the clouds, was resting upon his head! This does really seem
almost too much to believe.
Meanwhile, the bright cup continued to float onward, and finally touched
the strand.
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