and as straight as an arrow, surmounting the giant's foot, passing his
knee and attaining nearly to the level of his hip. Then I felt that the
momentum of my leap was exhausted, and despite my efforts I slowly
turned head downward, glancing in affright at the ground a quarter of a
mile below me, on which I expected to be dashed to pieces. But a
moment's thought convinced me that I should get no hurt, for with so
slight a force of gravity it would be more like floating than falling.
Just then the Menippean caught me with his monstrous hand and lifted me
to the level of his face.

"I should like to know," I said, "how you manage to live up here; you
are so large and your planet is so little."

"Now, you are altogether too inquisitive," replied the giant. "You go!"

He stooped down, placed me on the toe of his boot, and drew back his
foot to kick me off.

It flashed into my mind that my situation had now become very serious. I
knew well what the effects of the small attractive force of these
diminutive planets must be, for I had often amused myself with
calculations about them. In this moment of peril I did not forget my
mathematics. It was clear that if the giant propelled me with sufficient
velocity I should be shot into space, never to return. How great would
that velocity have to be? My mind worked like lightning on this problem.
The diameter of Menippe I knew did not exceed twelve miles. Its mean
density, as near as I could judge, was about the same as that of the
earth. Its attraction must therefore be as its radius, or nearly 660
times less than that of the earth. A well-known formula enables us to
compute the velocity a body would acquire in falling from an infinite