shouted Hercules , very wrathfully , `` do you intend to make me bear this burden forever ? '' `` We will see about that , one of these days , '' answered the giant . `` 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 XXXXX him to come back .
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