The waves tumbled it onward , until it grazed against the shore , within a short distance of the spot where Hercules was standing . As soon as this happened , he knew what was to be done ; for he had not gone through so many remarkable adventures without learning pretty well how to conduct himself , whenever anything came to pass a little out of the common rule . It was just as clear as daylight that this marvellous cup had been set adrift by some unseen power , and guided hitherward , in order to carry Hercules across the sea , on his way to the garden of the Hesperides . Accordingly , without a moment 's delay , he clambered over the brim , and slid down on the inside , where , spreading out his lion 's skin , he proceeded to take a little repose . He had scarcely rested , until now , since he bade farewell to the damsels on the margin of the river . The waves dashed , with a pleasant and ringing sound , against the circumference of the hollow cup ; it rocked lightly to and fro , and the motion was so soothing that , it speedily rocked Hercules into an agreeable slumber . His nap had probably lasted a good while , when the cup chanced to graze against a rock , and , in consequence , immediately resounded and reverberated through its golden or brazen substance , a hundred times as loudly as ever you heard a church-bell . The noise awoke Hercules , who instantly started up and gazed around him , wondering whereabouts he was . He was not long in discovering that the cup had floated across a great part of the sea , and was approaching the shore of what seemed to be an island . And , on that island , what do you think he saw ? No ; you will never guess it , not if you were to try fifty thousand times ! 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 XXXXX 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 .
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