The Giants of the Coast

Across the sea, they came.  Their boats were light, like canoes, but large, like the Spanish ships.  The men aboard the ships - white men without beards - were so large that an average man only reached their knees.  The wealthy among them dressed in animal skins, while the rest wore nothing at all. 

They were skilled architects and built sturdy, strong houses.  They also dug great wells out of the rock of the land, drawing sweet water from deep underground.  The wells were lined with handmade bricks, so as to last many, many years.  To dig these wells required great strength, and we were much amazed to see it accomplished.

They had no women with them, and in congregating with our own, the women were killed.  For this we were angry, and rose up against them.  They did violence to us men, as well, and though our warriors were valiant, because of their strength and size, we were unable to overcome them.  So they remained for many years, and the two peoples did not get on well.

Because of their inability to take wives from among us, the men practiced detestable acts with each other.  They showed no humility towards us or towards the gods, and they were duly punished for their crimes.  One day, a bright fire came out of the heavens, and the giants were all consumed, their bodies burnt up.  Only a few bones remained, and this we know to be true, because we can see the burnt up bones for ourselves, just as we can see where their houses and wells once stood.

-From an Incan legend, as told to Pedro de Cieza de Leόn