THE SCENE: Marvel at this story of a real-life living giant, witnessed by the Berber scholar and trader Abu Hamid al-Andalusi.
THE TEXT: In Bulghar in the year 1136 I saw a man of the race of Ad, more than seven cubits tall. He was called Danqa. He was so strong that he could carry a horse under his arm as if it were a goat. He could also crush the leg of a horse and cut through its nerves with his hand, as if it were a bundle of herbs. The king of Bulghar orderd a cuirass made for him, which he used to transport in a cart, and a helmet the size of a huge cauldron. He fought with the trunk of an oak, which he brandished in his right hand as if it were a walking stick. He could have killed and elephant with a single blow. Despite all this he was an extremely modest person. When we met – and my head didn’t eve reach up to his belt – he used to greet me, make me welcome and head honours upon me – may God have mercy on him!
There wasn’t a bathhouse in the whole city big enough for him to enter, except one, which had very big doors.
He was the most extraordinary man I have seen in my life. He had a sister as big as he was, whom I saw several times in Bulghar. In that city the qadi Ya’qub ibn Nu’man informed me that this woman, so exceedingly tall, had killed her husband, who was named Adam and was one of the strongest men in the country. Clasping him to her bosom, she broke his ribs, killing him instantly.
– The Travels of Abu Hamid al-Andalusi al-Gharnati, 12th Century AD
