Hercules was touched with the little man's
dauntless courage, and could not help acknowl-
edging such a brotherhood with him as one hero
feels for another.

"My good little people," said he, making a
low obeisance to the grand nation, "not for all
the world would I do an intentional injury to
such brave fellows as you! Your hearts seem
to me so exceedingly great, that, upon my honor,
I marvel how your small bodies can contain
them. I sue for peace, and, as a condition of it,
will take five strides, and be out of your king-
dom at the sixth. Good by. I shall pick my
steps carefully, for fear of treading upon some fif-
ty of you, without knowing it. Ha, ha, ha! Ho,
ho, ho! For once, Hercules acknowledges him-
self vanquished."

Some writers say, that Hercules gathered up
the whole race of Pygmies in his lion's skin, and
carried them home to Greece, for the children of
King Eurystheus to play with. But this is a
mistake. He left them, one and all, within their
own territory, where, for aught I can tell, their
descendants are alive to the present day, build-
ing their little houses, cultivating their little

[[106]]

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v?