No other being like himself had ever been created . No creature of his own size had ever talked with him , in thunder-like accents , face to face . When he stood with his head among the clouds , he was quite alone , and had been so for hundreds of years , and would be so forever . Even if he had met another Giant , Antaeus would have fancied the world not big enough for two such vast personages , and , instead of being friends with him , would have fought him till one of the two was killed . But with the Pygmies he was the most sportive and humorous , and merry-hearted , and sweet-tempered old Giant that ever washed his face in a wet cloud . His little friends , like all other small people , had a great opinion of their own importance , and used to assume quite a patronizing air towards the Giant . `` Poor creature ! '' they said one to another . `` He has a very dull time of it , all by himself ; and we ought not to grudge wasting a little of our precious time to amuse him . He is not half so bright as we are , to be sure ; and , for that reason , he needs us to look after his comfort and happiness . Let us be kind to the old fellow . Why , if Mother Earth had not been very kind to ourselves , we might all have been Giants too . '' On all their holidays , the Pygmies had excellent sport with Antaeus . He often stretched himself out at full length on the ground , where he looked like the long ridge of a hill ; and it was a good hour 's walk , no doubt , for a short-legged Pygmy to journey from head to foot of the Giant . He would lay down his great hand flat on the grass , and challenge the tallest of them to clamber upon it , and straddle from finger to finger . So fearless were they , that they made nothing of creeping in among the folds of his garments . When his head lay sidewise on the earth , they would march boldly up , and peep into the great cavern of his mouth , and take it all as a joke -LRB- as indeed it was meant -RRB- when Antaeus gave a sudden snap of his jaws , as if he were going to swallow fifty of them at once . You would have laughed to see the children dodging in and out among his hair , or swinging from his beard . It is impossible to tell half of the funny tricks that they played with their huge comrade ; but I do not know that anything was more curious than when a party of boys were seen running races on his forehead , to try which of them could get first round the circle of his one great eye . It was another favorite feat with them to march along the bridge of his nose , and jump down upon his upper lip .
If the truth must be told , they were sometimes as troublesome to the Giant as a swarm of ants or mosquitoes , especially as they had a fondness for mischief , and liked to prick his skin with their little swords and lances , XXXXX see how thick and tough it was .
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