Ninety-nine people out of a hundred , I suppose , would have been frightened out of their wits by the very first of his ugly shapes , and would have taken to their heels at once . For , one of the hardest things in this world is , to see the difference between real dangers and imaginary ones . But , as Hercules held on so stubbornly , and only squeezed the Old One so much the tighter at every change of shape , and really put him to no small torture , he finally thought it best to reappear in his own figure . So there he was again , a fishy , scaly , webfooted sort of personage , with something like a tuft of sea-weed at his chin . `` Pray , what do you want with me ? '' cried the Old One , as soon as he could take breath ; for it is quite a tiresome affair to go through so many false shapes . `` Why do you squeeze me so hard ? Let me go , this moment , or I shall begin to consider you an extremely uncivil person ! '' `` My name is Hercules ! '' roared the mighty stranger . `` And you will never get out of my clutch , until you tell me the nearest way to the garden of the Hesperides ! '' When the old fellow heard who it was that had caught him , he saw , with half an eye , that it would be necessary to tell him everything that he wanted to know . The Old One was an inhabitant of the sea , you must recollect , and roamed about everywhere , like other sea-faring people . Of course , he had often heard of the fame of Hercules , and of the wonderful things that he was constantly performing , in various parts of the earth , and how determined he always was to accomplish whatever he undertook . He therefore made no more attempts to escape , but told the hero how to find the garden of the Hesperides , and likewise warned him of many difficulties which must be overcome , before he could arrive thither . `` You must go on , thus and thus , '' said the Old Man of the Sea , after taking the points of the compass , `` till you come in sight of a very tall giant , who holds the sky on his shoulders . And the giant , if he happens to be in the humor , will tell you exactly where the garden of the Hesperides lies . '' `` And if the giant happens not to be in the humor , '' remarked Hercules , balancing his club on the tip of his finger , `` perhaps I shall find means to persuade him ! '' Thanking the Old Man of the Sea , and begging his pardon for having squeezed him so roughly , the hero resumed his journey . He met with a great many strange adventures , which would be well worth your hearing , if I had leisure to narrate them as minutely as they deserve .
It was in this journey , if I mistake not , that he encountered a prodigious giant , who was so wonderfully contrived by nature , that , every time he touched the earth , he became ten times XXXXX strong as ever he had been before .
For after as before between if like of on to