I will make a slave of you , and you shall likewise be the slave of my brethren here , the Pygmies . So throw down your club and your other weapons ; and as for that lion 's skin , I intend to have a pair of gloves made of it . '' `` Come and take it off my shoulders , then , '' answered Hercules , lifting his club . Then the Giant , grinning with rage , strode tower-like towards the stranger -LRB- ten times strengthened at every step -RRB- , and fetched a monstrous blow at him with his pine tree , which Hercules caught upon his club ; and being more skilful than Antaeus , he paid him back such a rap upon the sconce , that down tumbled the great lumbering man-mountain , flat upon the ground . The poor little Pygmies -LRB- who really never dreamed that anybody in the world was half so strong as their brother Antaeus -RRB- were a good deal dismayed at this . But no sooner was the Giant down , than up he bounced again , with tenfold might , and such a furious visage as was horrible to behold . He aimed another blow at Hercules , but struck awry , being blinded with wrath , and only hit his poor innocent Mother Earth , who groaned and trembled at the stroke . His pine tree went so deep into the ground , and stuck there so fast , that , before Antaeus could get it out , Hercules brought down his club across his shoulders with a mighty thwack , which made the Giant roar as if all sorts of intolerable noises had come screeching and rumbling out of his immeasurable lungs in that one cry . Away it went , over mountains and valleys , and , for aught I know , was heard on the other side of the African deserts . As for the Pygmies , their capital city was laid in ruins by the concussion and vibration of the air ; and , though there was uproar enough without their help , they all set up a shriek out of three millions of little throats , fancying , no doubt , that they swelled the Giant 's bellow by at least ten times as much . Meanwhile , Antaeus had scrambled upon his feet again , and pulled his pine tree out of the earth ; and , all aflame with fury , and more outrageously strong than ever , he ran at Hercules , and brought down another blow . `` This time , rascal , '' shouted he , `` you shall not escape me . '' But once more Hercules warded off the stroke with his club , and the Giant 's pine tree was shattered into a thousand splinters , most of which flew among the Pygmies , and did them more mischief than I like to think about . Before Antaeus could get out of the way , Hercules let drive again , and gave him another knock-down blow , which sent him heels over head , but served only to increase his already enormous and insufferable strength . As for his rage , there is no telling what a fiery furnace it had now got to be . His one eye was nothing but a circle of red flame . Having now no weapons but his fists , he doubled them up -LRB- each bigger than a hogshead -RRB- , smote one against the other , and danced up and down with absolute frenzy , flourishing his immense arms about , as if he meant not merely to kill Hercules , but to smash the whole world to pieces . `` Come on ! '' roared this thundering Giant . `` Let me hit you but one box on the ear , and you 'll never have the headache again . ''
Now Hercules -LRB- though strong enough , as you already know , to hold the sky up -RRB- began to be sensible that he should never win the victory , if he kept on knocking XXXXX down ; for , by and by , if he hit him such hard blows , the Giant would inevitably , by the help of his Mother Earth , become stronger than the mighty Hercules himself .
African Antaeus Earth Hercules Pygmies aught escape hogshead man-mountain sconce