Till then , they must comfort themselves with the thought , that the longer their ears are , the thicker their hides ; and so a good beating do n't hurt them . Then came Tom to the great land of Hearsay , in which are no less than thirty and odd kings , beside half a dozen Republics , and perhaps more by next mail . And there he fell in with a deep , dark , deadly , and destructive war , waged by the princes and potentates of those parts , both spiritual and temporal , against what do you think ? One thing I am sure of . That unless I told you , you would never know ; nor how they waged that war either ; for all their strategy and art military consisted in the safe and easy process of stopping their ears and screaming , `` Oh , do n't tell us ! '' and then running away . So when Tom came into that land , he found them all , high and low , man , woman , and child , running for their lives day and night continually , and entreating not to be told they did n't know what : only the land being an island , and they having a dislike to the water -LRB- being a musty lot for the most part -RRB- , they ran round and round the shore for ever , which -LRB- as the island was exactly of the same circumference as the planet on which we have the honour of living -RRB- was hard work , especially to those who had business to look after . But before them , as bandmaster and fugleman , ran a gentleman shearing a pig ; the melodious strains of which animal led them for ever , if not to conquest , still to flight ; and kept up their spirits mightily with the thought that they would at least have the pig 's wool for their pains . And running after them , day and night , came such a poor , lean , seedy , hard-worked old giant , as ought to have been cockered up , and had a good dinner given him , and a good wife found him , and been set to play with little children ; and then he would have been a very presentable old fellow after all ; for he had a heart , though it was considerably overgrown with brains . He was made up principally of fish bones and parchment , put together with wire and Canada balsam ; and smelt strongly of spirits , though he never drank anything but water : but spirits he used somehow , there was no denying . He had a great pair of spectacles on his nose , and a butterfly-net in one hand , and a geological hammer in the other ; and was hung all over with pockets , full of collecting boxes , bottles , microscopes , telescopes , barometers , ordnance maps , scalpels , forceps , photographic apparatus , and all other tackle for finding out everything about everything , and a little more too . And , most strange of all , he was running not forwards but backwards , as fast as he could . Away all the good folks ran from him , except Tom , who stood his ground and dodged between his legs ; and the giant , when he had passed him , looked down , and cried , as if he was quite pleased and comforted , - `` What ? who are you ? And you actually do n't run away , like all the rest ? '' But he had to take his spectacles off , Tom remarked , in order to see him plainly . Tom told him who he was ; and the giant pulled out a bottle and a cork instantly , to collect him with . But Tom was too sharp for that , and dodged between his legs and in front of him ; and then the giant could not see him at all . `` No , no , no ! '' said Tom , `` I 've not been round the world , and through the world , and up to Mother Carey 's haven , beside being caught in a net and called a Holothurian and a Cephalopod , to be bottled up by any old giant like you . ''
And when the giant understood what a great traveller Tom had been , he made a truce with him XXXXX once , and would have kept him there to this day to pick his brains , so delighted was he at finding any one to tell him what he did not know before .
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