Pygmaei

(Pygmies) Greek A mythological race of very short people, only 13.5 inches tall, found mostly in ancient Greek folklore but also mentioned often in the stories of the great gods. The pygmaei lived by a stream which most sources say was in Egypt, though others say it was in Thrace or India. They wore their hair very long and did not wear clothes. These farmers waged war against the cranes, sometimes called storks, that came each year in the late summer to eat the crops. A beautiful woman was born among the pygmaei. Her name was Gerana or Oenoe. As she grew, Gerana became very vain and believed she was even more beautiful than Hera, queen of the Olympian gods and the wife and sister of Zeus. Hera finally realized that the only way to correct Gerana's vanity was to punish her, and Hera turned the pygmaei woman into a crane. By that time, Gerana had a son and wanted desperately to be reunited with him. As a crane, she flew back to the pygmaeis but they rejected her and beat her off with sticks. In some versions, Gerana was a human woman who married a pygmaei. The pygmaei also tried to capture Heracles after he fell asleep in their lands while on his famous journeys. He awoke and laughed at their efforts, scooped up several pygmaei, and carried them off.