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    THE

    FIVE GIANTS.

    [Illustration]

    New-York:
    LANE & TIPPETT,
    FOR THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION OF THE
    METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH,
    200 Mulberry-street.




[Illustration]




    THE

    FIVE GIANTS.

    [Illustration]

    REVISED BY D. P. KIDDER.

    New-York:

    PUBLISHED BY LANE & TIPPETT,

    FOR THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION OF THE METHODIST
    EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 200 MULBERRY-ST.

    Joseph Longking, Printer.
    1847.




THE FIVE GIANTS.


When I was a boy, few things pleased me better than to hear a tale about
a giant. Silly and untrue as were the stories that I heard, they vastly
delighted me; but were you now to ask what information they gave me, or
what good I gathered from them, sadly should I be at fault for a reply.

But if a tale about giants, that was not true, and that added nothing
to my knowledge, amused me, why should not a story about giants, which
is true, and which gives good information, be equally entertaining to
you? I see no reason why it should not be so, and therefore it is my
determination to tell you the tale of the Five Giants.

Three of the five giants are old, so very old that you would hardly
believe me were I to tell you their ages; and the other two are much
older than many people imagine; but, notwithstanding the great age of
these giants, their strength is not in the least impaired. They can
travel as fast and do quite as much work as they ever did in their
youthful days.

By and by you shall know the real names of these five giants; but it
will answer my purpose better, and give you, perhaps, quite as much
entertainment, if, at first, I name them according to my fancy. The
three old giants, Flare, Roar, and Blow, are known in every part of the
world; but the two younger, Bounce and Rush, have not, as yet, traveled
quite as far as their brothers. For the most part, all five of them are
useful characters; but if once they are in a passion, and this is too
often the case, the sooner you are out of their way the better.

Giant Flare is somewhat yellow in complexion, with red hair, and has
many good and companionable qualities; indeed, in the winter, when
people like to gather round the friendly hearth, he is one of the most
agreeable creatures in the world. No wonder, then, that he should be so
much sought after. He is invited by the prince and the peasant, and
accepts the invitation of both freely, so that on the same day he is to
be seen in the poorest cot and the proudest palace.

But besides his companionable qualities, Giant Flare is a capital cook,
so much so, that he has been employed by all the crowned heads in all
the quarters of the world. He is very useful in mining operations, and
in smelting ore; and then, as a manufacturer, he is quite at home, being
equally skilled in making a copper saucepan, a brass warming-pan, a
silver snuff-box, and a golden sovereign.

You will begin to think well of Giant Flare; but truth is truth, and, as
I told you, all the five giants are sad fellows when in a passion. Giant
Flare has many a time burst out into a perfect frenzy, and done
mischief that could never be repaired. If he is not used well, he thinks
nothing of burning a person's house down. He has been the means of
destroying many fine forests, and, on one occasion, when in London, to
his disgrace be it spoken, with the assistance of one of his brothers,
Giant Blow, he set almost a hundred churches and as many as thirteen
thousand houses all in a blaze.

When Bonaparte set out to conquer Russia, Giant Flare resisted him, and
would not let him go further than Moscow; and when the Spanish Armada
invaded England, he boldly attacked the Spanish ships, and was one of
the principal means of scattering and putting them to flight. But now
let me tell you of Giant Roar.

This giant is about the same age as his brother of whom I have said so
much, and, like him, has done both kind and ill-natured deeds in his
time. He is fond of constructing baths, and fishing ponds, and canals,
and of rendering assistance in cultivating gardens. He is largely
connected with ships and sailors. Many think he has more power by sea
than by land; but some of his mad pranks will surprise you.

A long time after the Thames Tunnel was begun, under the river at
London, and when