derous roar that would have shaken down the.
walls of their strongest temple, only that it came
from so far aloft.

It was a happy circumstance that Antaeus
was the Pygmy people's friend; for there was
more strength in his little finger than in ten mil-
lion of such bodies as this. If he had been as
ill natured to them as he was to every body else,
he might have beaten down their biggest city at
one kick, and hardly have known that he did it.
"With the tornado of his breath, he could have
stripped the roofs from a hundred dwellings,
and sent thousands of the inhabitants whirling
through the air. He might have set his im-
mense foot upon a multitude; and when he took
it up again, there would have been a pitiful
sight, to be sure. But, being the son of Mother
Earth, as they likewise were, the Giant gave
them his brotherly kindness, and loved them
with as big a love as it was possible to feel for
creatures so very small. And, on their parts,
the Pygmies loved Antaeus with as much affec-
tion as their tiny hearts could hold. He was
always ready to do them any good offices that
lay in his power; as for example, when they

[[75]]

p074 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p075w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p076

v?