Page:Tanglewood tales (Dulac).djvu/262

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TANGLEWOOD TALES

inhabitants of a neighbouring mountain, who made war upon them, and killed many people, and ravaged the country. And while they were talking about it, Cyzicus pointed to the mountain, and asked Jason and his companions what they saw there.

'I see some very tall objects,' answered Jason; 'but they are at such a distance that I cannot distinctly make out what they are. To tell your Majesty the truth, they look so very strangely that I am inclined to think them clouds, which have chanced to take something like human shapes.'

'I see them very plainly,' remarked Lynceus, whose eyes, you know, were as far-sighted as a telescope. 'They are a band of enormous giants, all of whom have six arms apiece, and a club, a sword, or some other weapon in each of their hands.'

'You have excellent eyes,' said King Cyzicus. 'Yes; they are six-armed giants, as you say, and these are the enemies whom I and my subjects have to contend with.'

The next day, when the Argonauts were about setting sail, down came these terrible giants, stepping a hundred yards at a stride, brandishing their six arms apiece, and looking very formidable, so far aloft in the air. Each of these monsters was able to carry on a whole war by himself; for with one of his arms he could fling immense stones, and wield a club with another, and a sword with a third, while a fourth was poking a long spear at the enemy, and the fifth

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