of his hand, through the ecstasy and convulsion of his
merriment.

"Upon my word," cried he, "I thought I had seen wonders before
to-day--hydras with nine heads, stags with golden horns,
six-legged men, three-headed dogs, giants with furnaces in
their stomachs, and nobody knows what besides. But here, on the
palm of my hand, stands a wonder that outdoes them all! Your
body, my little friend, is about the size of an ordinary man's
finger. Pray, how big may your soul be?"

"As big as your own!" said the Pygmy.

Hercules was touched with the little man's dauntless courage,
and could not help acknowledging such a brotherhood with him as
one hero feels for another.

"My good little people," said he, making a low obeisance to the
grand nation, "not for all the world would I do an intentional
injury to such brave fellows as you! Your hearts seem to me so
exceedingly great, that, upon my honor, I marvel how your small
bodies can contain them. I sue for peace, and, as a condition
of it, will take five strides, and be out of your kingdom at
the sixth. Good-bye. I shall pick my steps carefully, for fear
of treading upon some fifty of you, without knowing it. Ha, ha,
ha! Ho, ho, ho! For once, Hercules acknowledges himself
vanquished."

Some writers say, that Hercules gathered up the whole race of
Pygmies in his lion's skin, and carried them home to Greece,