`` At all events , you ought not to complain , if you have to bear it the next hundred years , or perhaps the next thousand . I bore it a good while longer , in spite of the back-ache . Well , then , after a thousand years , if I happen to feel in the mood , we may possibly shift about again . You are certainly a very strong man , and can never have a better opportunity to prove it . Posterity will talk of you , I warrant it ! '' `` Pish ! a fig for its talk ! '' cried Hercules , with another hitch of his shoulders . `` Just take the sky upon your head one instant , will you ? I want to make a cushion of my lion 's skin , for the weight to rest upon . It really chafes me , and will cause unnecessary inconvenience in so many centuries as I am to stand here . '' `` That 's no more than fair , and I 'll do it ! '' quoth the giant ; for he had no unkind feeling towards Hercules , and was merely acting with a too selfish consideration of his own ease . `` For just five minutes , then , I 'll take back the sky . Only for five minutes , recollect ! I have no idea of spending another thousand years as I spent the last . Variety is the spice of life , say I. '' Ah , the thick-witted old rogue of a giant ! He threw down the golden apples , and received back the sky , from the head and shoulders of Hercules , upon his own , where it rightly belonged . And Hercules picked up the three golden apples , that were as big or bigger than pumpkins , and straightway set out on his journey homeward , without paying the slightest heed to the thundering tones of the giant , who bellowed after him to come back . Another forest sprang up around his feet , and grew ancient there ; and again might be seen oak-trees , of six or seven centuries old , that had waxed thus again betwixt his enormous toes .
And there stands the giant , to this day ; or , at any rate , there stands a mountain as tall as he , and which bears his name ; and when the thunder rumples about its summit , we may imagine it to be the voice of Giant Atlas , bellowing XXXXX Hercules !
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