Legend of the Golden Cave

Scobellum was a fruitful land; but the inhabitants exceeded the cannibals in cruelty, the Persians in pride, the Egyptians in luxury, the Cretans in lying, the Germans in drunkenness, and all the nations of the earth together in a generality of vices.

In vengeance, the gods turned all the inhabitants into beasts, to be restored to human form again, only when the fire of the Golden Cave should be quenched. The Golden Cave contained a cistern guarded by two giants and two centaurs: the waters of the cistern were good for quenching the fire of the cave; and when this fire was quenched, the inhabitants of Scobellum should return to their original forms.