It positively appears to me that this was the most marvellous spectacle that had ever been seen by Hercules , in the whole course of his wonderful travels and adventures . It was a greater marvel than the hydra with nine heads , which kept growing twice as fast as they were cut off ; greater than the six-legged man-monster ; greater than Antreus ; greater than anything that was ever beheld by anybody , before or since the days of Hercules , or than anything that remains to be beheld , by travellers in all time to come . It was a giant ! But such an intolerably big giant ! A giant as tall as a mountain ; so vast a giant , that the clouds rested about his midst , like a girdle , and hung like a hoary beard from his chin , and flitted before his huge eyes , so that he could neither see Hercules nor the golden cup in which he was voyaging . And , most wonderful of all , the giant held up his great hands and appeared to support the sky , which , so far as Hercules could discern through the clouds , was resting upon his head ! This does really seem almost too much to believe . Meanwhile , the bright cup continued to float onward , and finally touched the strand . Just then a breeze wafted away the clouds from before the giant 's visage , and Hercules beheld it , with all its enormous features ; eyes each of them as big as yonder lake , a nose a mile Long , and a mouth of the same width . It was a countenance terrible from its enormity of size , but disconsolate and weary , even as you may see the faces of many people , nowadays , who are compelled to sustain burdens above their strength . What the sky was to the giant , such are the cares of earth to those who let themselves be weighed down by them . And whenever men undertake what is beyond the just measure of their abilities , they encounter precisely such a doom as had befallen this poor giant . Poor fellow ! He had evidently stood there a long while . An ancient forest had been growing and decaying around his feet ; and oak-trees , of six or seven centuries old , had sprung from the acorn , and forced themselves between his toes . The giant now looked down from the far height of his great eyes , and , perceiving Hercules , roared out , in a voice that resembled thunder , proceeding out of the cloud that had just flitted away from his face . `` Who are you , down at my feet there ? And whence do you come , in that little cup ? '' `` I am Hercules ! '' thundered back the hero , in a voice pretty nearly or quite as loud as the giant 's own .
`` And I am seeking for the garden XXXXX the Hesperides ! ''
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