Myths That Every Child Should Know | Page 9

he
wanted to know. The Old One was an inhabitant of the sea, you must
recollect, and roamed about everywhere, like other seafaring people. Of
course, he had often heard of the fame of Hercules, and of the
wonderful things that he was constantly performing in various parts of
the earth, and how determined he always was to accomplish whatever
he undertook. He therefore made no more attempts to escape, but told
the hero how to find the garden of the Hesperides, and likewise warned
him of many difficulties which must be overcome before he could
arrive thither.
"You must go on, thus and thus," said the Old Man of the Sea, after
taking the points of the compass, "till you come in sight of a very tall
giant, who holds the sky on his shoulders. And the giant, if he happens
to be in the humour, will tell you exactly where the garden of the
Hesperides lies."
"And if the giant happens not to be in the humour," remarked Hercules,
balancing his club on the tip of his finger, "perhaps I shall find means
to persuade him!"
Thanking the Old Man of the Sea, and begging his pardon for having
squeezed him so roughly, the hero resumed his journey. He met with a
great many strange adventures, which would be well worth your
hearing, if I had leisure to narrate them as minutely as they deserve.

It was in this journey, if I mistake not, that he encountered a prodigious
giant, who was so wonderfully contrived by nature that, every time he
touched the earth, he became ten times as strong as ever he had been
before. His name was Antæus. You may see, plainly enough, that it was
a very difficult business to fight with such a fellow; for, as often as he
got a knock-down blow, up he started again, stronger, fiercer, and abler
to use his weapons than if his enemy had let him alone. Thus, the
harder Hercules pounded the giant with his club, the further he seemed
from winning the victory. I have sometimes argued with such people,
but never fought with one. The only way in which Hercules found it
possible to finish the battle was by lifting Antæus off his feet into the
air, and squeezing, and squeezing, and squeezing him until, finally, the
strength was quite squeezed out of his enormous body.
When this affair was finished, Hercules continued his travels, and went
to the land of Egypt, where he was taken prisoner, and would have been
put to death if he had not slain the king of the country and made his
escape. Passing through the deserts of Africa, and going as fast as he
could, he arrived at last on the shore of the great ocean. And here,
unless he could walk on the crests of the billows, it seemed as if his
journey must needs be at an end.
Nothing was before him, save the foaming, dashing, measureless ocean.
But, suddenly, as he looked toward the horizon, he saw something, a
great way off, which he had not seen the moment before. It gleamed
very brightly, almost as you may have beheld the round, golden disc of
the sun, when it rises or sets over the edge of the world. It evidently
drew nearer; for, at every instant, this wonderful object became larger
and more lustrous. At length, it had come so nigh that Hercules
discovered it to be an immense cup or bowl, made either of gold or
burnished brass. How it had got afloat upon the sea is more than I can
tell you. There it was, at all events, rolling on the tumultuous billows,
which tossed it up and down, and heaved their foamy tops against its
sides, but without ever throwing their spray over the brim.
"I have seen many giants, in my time," thought Hercules, "but never
one that would need to drink his wine out of a cup like this!"

And, true enough, what a cup it must have been! It was as large--as
large--but, in short, I am afraid to say how immeasurably large it was.
To speak within bounds, it was ten times larger than a great mill wheel;
and, all of metal as it was, it floated over the heaving surges more
lightly than an acorn cup adown the brook. The waves tumbled it
onward, until it grazed against the shore, within a short distance of the
spot where Hercules was standing.
As soon as this happened, he knew what was to be done; for he had not
gone through so many remarkable adventures without learning pretty
well how to conduct himself, whenever anything came to pass a little
out of the common rule. It was just as clear as daylight