And he apparently had excellent reason to; for it did not seem
possible that a boy could eat two thirds of a Giant's head and survive
it without an antidote. Patroclus came home, and they told him, and he
sat down and lamented with them. All day they sat weeping and watching
AEneas, expecting every moment to see him die. But he did not die; on
the contrary he had never felt so well in his life.
Finally at sunset AEneas looked up and laughed. "I am not going to
die," said he; "I never felt so well; you had better stop crying. And
I am going out to get some more of that Giant's head; I am hungry."
"Don't, don't!" cried his father and mother; but he went; for he
generally took his own way, very like most only sons. He came back
with a whole Giant's head in his arms.
"See here, father and mother," cried he; "we'll all have some of this;
it evidently is not poison, and it is good--a great deal better than
potatoes!"
Patroclus and Daphne hesitated, but they were hungry too. Since
the crop of Giant's heads had sprung up in their field instead of
potatoes, they had been hungry most of the time; so they tasted.
"It is good," said Daphne; "but I think it would be better cooked."
So she put some in a kettle of water over the fire, and let it boil
awhile; then she dished it up, and they all ate it. It was delicious.
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