The fifth of the ten avatars of Vishnu was the Vamana Avatara, a dwarf. When King Bali had become too powerful, Vamana visited him & asked him for land, which he could cover in 3 paces. King Bali, noting his small size, granted the request. Vamana grew to a giant size, placed the first two steps on the earth & heavens & asked for the third. Bali offered his head & Vamana pushed him into the netherworld.
In Virgil's "Aeneid", Dido, fleeing from tyranny, asked King Iarbas for land which could be encompassed by an oxhide. On being granted the request, she cut the oxhide into thin strips, which laid end to end, encircled a nearby hill. (This is called an isoperimetric problem of enclosing maximum area within fixed boundaries.) She & her followers settled there.
The only female patron saint of the Irish, St. Brigid, (6th Century), asked King of Leinster for land to her convent. On the king's refusal, she prayed to God & smilingly asked the king for land which her cloak could cover. The unsuspecting king agreed & four of her nuns each took a corner of her cloak & began running in four different directions, the cloak magically stretching to cover a large area. The now horrified king begged her to call back her running nuns & promised her adequate land for her convent!
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