Between
them was an ancient cask, which seemed to be full of wine; for the
younger Giant, clapping his huge hand upon it, and throwing up his
mighty leg, burst into an exulting laugh, which reverberated through the
hall like thunder. Joe Toddyhigh instinctively stooped down, and, more
dead than alive, felt his hair stand on end, his knees knock together,
and a cold damp break out upon his forehead. But even at that minute
curiosity prevailed over every other feeling, and somewhat reassured by
the good-humour of the Giants and their apparent unconsciousness of his
presence, he crouched in a corner of the gallery, in as small a space as
he could, and, peeping between the rails, observed them closely. It was
then that the elder Giant, who had a flowing gray beard, raised his
thoughtful eyes to his companion's face, and in a grave and solemn voice
addressed him thus: FIRST NIGHT OF THE GIANT CHRONICLES Turning towards
his companion the elder Giant uttered these words in a grave, majestic
tone: 'Magog, does boisterous mirth beseem the Giant Warder of this
ancient city? Is this becoming demeanour for a watchful spirit over
whose bodiless head so many years have rolled, so many changes swept
like empty air - in whose impalpable nostrils the scent of blood and
crime, pestilence, cruelty, and horror, has been familiar as breath to
mortals - in whose sight Time has gathered in the harvest of centuries,
and garnered so many crops of human pride, affections, hopes, and
sorrows? Bethink you of our compact. The night wanes; feasting, revelry,
and music have encroached upon our usual hours of solitude, and morning
will be here apace. Ere we are stricken mute again, bethink you of our
compact.' Pronouncing these latter words with more of impatience than
quite accorded with his apparent age and gravity, the Giant raised a
long pole (which he still bears in his hand) and tapped his brother
Giant rather smartly on the head; indeed, the blow was so smartly
administered, that the latter quickly withdrew his lips from the cask,
to which they had been applied, and, catching up his shield and halberd,
assumed an attitude of defence.
His irritation was but momentary, for he laid these weapons aside as
hastily as he had assumed them, and said as he did so: 'You know, Gog,
old friend, that when we animate these shapes which the Londoners of old
assigned (and not unworthily) to the guardian genii of their city, we
are susceptible of some of the sensations which belong to human kind.
Thus when I taste wine, I feel blows; when I relish the one, I disrelish
the other. Therefore, Gog, the more especially as your arm is none of
the lightest, keep your good staff by your side, else we may chance to
differ. Peace be between us!' 'Amen!' said the other, leaning his staff
in the window-corner. 'Why did you laugh just now?' 'To think,' replied
the Giant Magog, laying his hand upon the cask, 'of him who owned this
wine, and kept it in a cellar hoarded from the light of day, for thirty
years, - "till it should be fit to drink," quoth he.
He was twoscore and ten years old when he buried it beneath his house,
and yet never thought that he might be scarcely "fit to
drink" when the wine became so. I wonder it never occurred to
him to make himself unfit to be eaten. There is very little of him left by this time.' 'The night is waning,'
said Gog mournfully. 'I know it,' replied his companion, 'and I see you
are impatient. But look. Through the eastern window - placed opposite
to us, that the first beams of the rising sun may every morning gild our
giant faces - the moon-rays fall upon the pavement in a stream of light
that to my fancy sinks through the cold stone and gushes into the old
crypt below. The night is scarcely past its noon, and our great charge
is sleeping heavily.' They ceased to speak, and looked upward at the
moon.
The sight of their large, black, rolling eyes filled Joe Toddyhigh
with such horror that he could scarcely draw his breath. Still they took
no note of him, and appeared to believe themselves quite alone. 'Our
compact,' said Magog after a pause, 'is, if I understand it, that,
instead of watching here in silence through the dreary nights, we
entertain each other with stories of our past experience; with tales of
the past, the present, and the future; with legends of London and her
sturdy citizens from the old simple times. That every night at midnight,
when St. Paul's bell tolls out one, and we may move and speak, we thus
discourse, nor leave such themes till the first gray gleam of day shall
strike us dumb. Is that our bargain, brother?' 'Yes,' said the Giant
Gog, 'that is the league between us who guard this city, by day in
spirit, and by night in body also; and never on ancient holidays have
its conduits run wine more merrily than we will pour forth our legendary
lore. We are old chroniclers from this time hence.
