“the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders.”
In “The Tempest” (iii. 3), Gonzalo relates how—
“When we were boys,
Who would believe that there were mountaineers
Dew-lapp’d like bulls, whose throats had hanging at ’em
Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men,
Whose heads stood in their breasts?”
And after the appearance of Prospero’s magic repast, Sebastian says:
“Now I will believe
That there are unicorns; that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phœnix’ throne; one phœnix
At this hour reigning there.”
Among the numerous references to giants by Shakespeare, we may quote the following. In “2 Henry VI.” (ii. 3), Horner says: “Peter, have at thee with a downright blow [as Bevis of Southampton fell upon Ascapart].”[952]
Ascapart, according to the legend, was “ful thyrty fote longe,” and was conquered by Sir Bevis of Southampton.
In “Cymbeline” (iii 3), Belarius says:
“the gates of monarchs
Are arch’d so high, that giants may jet through
And keep their impious turbans on, without
Good morrow to the sun.”
In the “Merry Wives of Windsor” (ii. 1), Mrs. Page says: “I had rather be a giantess, and lie under Mount Pelion.”[953]