Free Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne Page A

many thousand Pygmies were employed in this task,
they soon brought together several bushels of inflammatory matter, and
raised so tall a heap, that, mounting on its summit, they were quite
upon a level with the sleeper's face. The archers, meanwhile, were
stationed within bow shot, with orders to let fly at Hercules the
instant that he stirred. Everything being in readiness, a torch was
applied to the pile, which immediately burst into flames, and soon waxed
hot enough to roast the enemy, had he but chosen to lie still. A Pygmy,
you know, though so very small, might set the world on fire, just as
easily as a Giant could; so that this was certainly the very best way
of dealing with their foe, provided they could have kept him quiet while
the conflagration was going forward.
    But no sooner did Hercules begin to be scorched, than up he started,
with his hair in a red blaze.
    "What's all this?" he cried, bewildered with sleep, and staring about
him as if he expected to see another Giant.
    At that moment the twenty thousand archers twanged their bowstrings, and
the arrows came whizzing, like so many winged mosquitoes, right into
the face of Hercules. But I doubt whether more than half a dozen of them
punctured the skin, which was remarkably tough, as you know the skin of
a hero has good need to be.
    "Villain!" shouted all the Pygmies at once. "You have killed the Giant
Antaeus, our great brother, and the ally of our nation. We declare
bloody war against you, and will slay you on the spot."
    Surprised at the shrill piping of so many little voices, Hercules, after
putting out the conflagration of his hair, gazed all round about, but
could see nothing. At last, however, looking narrowly on the ground,
he espied the innumerable assemblage of Pygmies at his feet. He stooped
down, and taking up the nearest one between his thumb and finger, set
him on the palm of his left hand, and held him at a proper distance for
examination. It chanced to be the very identical Pygmy who had spoken
from the top of the toadstool, and had offered himself as a champion to
meet Hercules in single combat.
    "What in the world, my little fellow," ejaculated Hercules, "may you
be?"
    "I am your enemy," answered the valiant Pygmy, in his mightiest squeak.
"You have slain the enormous Antaeus, our brother by the mother's
side, and for ages the faithful ally of our illustrious nation. We are
determined to put you to death; and for my own part, I challenge you to
instant battle, on equal ground."
    Hercules was so tickled with the Pygmy's big words and warlike gestures,
that he burst into a great explosion of laughter, and almost dropped
the poor little mite of a creature off the palm of his hand, through the
ecstasy and convulsion of his merriment.
    "Upon my word," cried he, "I thought I had seen wonders before
to-day—hydras with nine heads, stags with golden horns, six-legged men,
three-headed dogs, giants with furnaces in their stomachs, and nobody
knows what besides. But here, on the palm of my hand, stands a wonder
that outdoes them all! Your body, my little friend, is about the size of
an ordinary man's finger. Pray, how big may your soul be?"
    "As big as your own!" said the Pygmy.
    Hercules was touched with the little man's dauntless courage, and could
not help acknowledging 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 kingdom at the sixth. Good-bye. I shall pick my steps carefully,
for fear of treading upon some fifty of you, without knowing it. Ha, ha,
ha! Ho, ho, ho! For once, Hercules acknowledges himself vanquished."
    Some writers say, that Hercules gathered up the whole race of