`` I described the giant as he appeared to me , '' replied the student , rather piqued . `` And , sir , if you would only bring your mind into such a relation with these fables as is necessary in order to remodel them , you would see at once that an old Greek had no more exclusive right to them than a modern Yankee has . They are the common property of the world , and of all time . The ancient poets remodelled them at pleasure , and held them plastic in their hands ; and why should they not be plastic in my hands , as well ? '' Mr. Pringle could not forbear a smile . `` And besides , '' continued Eustace , `` the moment you put any warmth of heart , any passion or affection , any human or divine morality , into a classic mould , you make it quite another thing from what it was before . My own opinion is , that the Greeks , by taking possession of these legends -LRB- which were the immemorial birthright of mankind -RRB- , and putting them into shapes of indestructible beauty , indeed , but cold and heartless , have done all subsequent ages an incalculable injury . '' `` Which you , doubtless , were born to remedy , '' said Mr. Pringle , laughing outright . `` Well , well , go on ; but take my advice , and never put any of your travesties on paper . And , as your next effort , what if you should try your hand on some one of the legends of Apollo ? '' `` Ah , sir , you propose it as an impossibility , '' observed the student , after a moment 's meditation ; `` and , to be sure , at first thought , the idea of a Gothic Apollo strikes one rather ludicrously . But I will turn over your suggestion in my mind , and do not quite despair of success . '' During the above discussion , the children -LRB- who understood not a word of it -RRB- had grown very sleepy , and were now sent off to bed . Their drowsy babble was heard , ascending the staircase , while a northwest-wind roared loudly among the tree-tops of Tanglewood , and played an anthem around the house . I have sometimes produced a singular and not unpleasing effect , so far as my own mind was concerned , by imagining a train of incidents , in which the spirit and mechanism of the fairy legend should be combined with the characters and manners of familiar life . In the little tale which follows , a subdued tinge of the wild and wonderful is thrown over a sketch of New England personages and scenery , yet , it is hoped , without entirely obliterating the sober hues of nature . Rather than a story of events claiming to be real , it may be considered as an allegory , such as the writers of the last century would have expressed in the shape of an Eastern tale , but to which I have endeavored to give a more life-like warmth than could be infused into those fanciful productions . In the twilight of a summer eve , a tall , dark figure , over which long and remote travel had thrown an outlandish aspect , was entering a village , not in `` Fairy Londe , '' but within our own familiar boundaries . The staff , on which this traveller leaned , had been his companion from the spot where it grew , in the jungles of Hindostan ; the hat , that overshadowed his sombre brow , had shielded him from the suns of Spain ; but his cheek had been blackened by the red-hot wind of an Arabian desert , and had felt the frozen breath of an Arctic region . Long sojourning amid wild and dangerous men , he still wore beneath his vest the ataghan which he had once struck into the throat of a Turkish robber .
In every foreign clime he had lost something XXXXX his New England characteristics ; and , perhaps , from every people he had unconsciously borrowed a new peculiarity ; so that when the world-wanderer again trod the street of his native village , it is no wonder that he passed unrecognized , though exciting the gaze and curiosity of all .
During after amid among from in of than to within