When he was but a stripling , he had killed a huge lion , almost as big as the one whose vast and shaggy hide he now wore upon his shoulders . The next thing that he had done was to fight a battle with an ugly sort of monster , called a hydra , which had no less than nine heads , and exceedingly sharp teeth in every one of them . `` But the dragon of the Hesperides , you know , '' observed one of the damsels , `` has a hundred heads ! '' `` Nevertheless , '' replied the stranger , `` I would rather fight two such dragons than a single hydra . For , as fast as I cut off a head , two others grew in its place ; and , besides , there was one of the heads that could not possibly be killed , but kept biting as fiercely as ever , long after it was cut off . So I was forced to bury it under a stone , where it is doubtless alive , to this vary day . But the hydra 's body , and its eight other heads , will never do any further mischief . '' The damsels , judging that the story was likely to last a good while , had been preparing a repast of bread and grapes , that the stranger might refresh himself in the intervals of his talk . They took pleasure in helping him to this simple food ; and , now and then , one of them would put a sweet grape between her rosy lips , lest it should make him bashful to eat alone . The traveller proceeded to tell how he had chased a very swift stag , for a twelve-month together , without ever stopping to take breath , and had at last caught it by the antlers , and carried it home alive . And he had fought with a very odd race of people , half horses and half men , and had put them all to death , from a sense of duty , in order that their ugly figures might never be seen any more . Besides all this , he took to himself great credit for having cleaned out a stable . `` Do you call that a wonderful exploit ? '' asked one of the young maidens , with a smile . `` Any clown in the country has done as much ! '' `` Had it been an ordinary stable , '' replied the stranger , `` I should not have mentioned it . But this was so gigantic a task that it would have taken me all my life to perform it , if I had not luckily thought of turning the channel of a river through the stable-door . That did the business in a very short time ! '' Seeing how earnestly his fair auditors listened , he next told them how he had shot some monstrous birds , and had caught a wild bull alive , and let him go again , and had tamed a number of very wild horses , and had conquered Hippolyta , the warlike queen of the Amazons . He mentioned , likewise , that he had taken off Hippolyta 's enchanted girdle , and had given it to the daughter of his cousin , the king .
`` Was it the girdle of Venus , '' inquired the prettiest XXXXX the damsels , `` which makes women beautiful ? ''
For besides between by of than that upon with without