et his
shoulders were even broader. And, in truth, what a pair of shoulders
they must have been! As I told you, a long while ago, they once upheld
the sky. The Pygmies, being ten times as vivacious as their great
numskull of a brother, could not abide the Giant's slow movements, and
were determined to have him on his feet. So they kept shouting to him,
and even went so far as to prick him with their swords.

"Get up, get up, get up," they cried. "Up with you, lazy bones! The
strange Giant's club is bigger than your own, his shoulders are the
broadest, and we think him the stronger of the two."

Antaeus could not endure to have it said that any mortal was half so
mighty as himself. This latter remark of the Pygmies pricked him deeper
than their swords; and, sitting up, in rather a sulky humor, he gave
a gape of several yards wide, rubbed his eyes, and finally turned his
stupid head in the direction whither his little friends were eagerly
pointing.

No sooner did he set eyes on the stranger, than, leaping on his feet,
and seizing his walking stick, he strode a mile or two to meet him; all
the while brandishing the sturdy pine tree, so that it whistled through
the air.

"Who are you?" thundered the Giant. "And what do you want in my
dominions?"

There was one strange thing about Antaeus, of which I have not yet
told you, lest, hearing of so many wonders all in a lump, you might
not believe much more than half of them. You are to know, then, that
whenever this redoubtable Giant touched the ground, either with his
hand, his foot, or any other part of his body, he grew stronger than
ever he had been before. The Earth, you remember, was his mother, and
was very fond of him, as being almost the biggest of her children;
and so she took this method of keeping him always in full vigor. Some
persons affirm that he grew ten times stronger at every touch; others
say that it was only twice as strong. But only think of it! Whenever
Antaeus took a walk, supposing it were but ten miles, and that he
stepped a hundred yards at a stride, you may try to cipher out how much
mightier he was, on sitting down again, than when he first started. And
whenever he flung himself on the earth to take a little repose, even if
he got up the very next instant, he would be as strong as exactly ten
just such giants as his former self. It was well for the world that
Antaeus happened to be of a sluggish disposition and liked ease better
than exercise;