Shortly after leaving the island, they are lifted up by a whirlwind and after seven days deposited on the Moon. There they find themselves embroiled in a full-scale war between the king of the Moon and the king of the Sun over colonization of the Morning Star, involving armies including such exotica as stalk-and-mushroom men, acorn-dogs ("dog-faced men fighting on winged acorns"), and cloud-centaurs. Unusually, the Sun, Moon, stars and planets are portrayed as locales, each with its unique geographic details and inhabitants. The war is finally won by the Sun's armies clouding the Moon over. Details of the Moon follow; there are no women, and children grow inside the calf of men.
After returning to Earth, the adventurers become trapped in a giant whale; inside the 200-mile-long animal, there live many groups of people whom they rout in war. They also reach a sea of milk, an island of cheese and the isle of the blessed.
That's a summary of part of True Stories, a tale written by Lucian, in the second century.
Lucian is the dog’s bollocks, the bee’s knees, the cat’s pyjamas. A lot of his shorter stuff is also hilarious. In a better world, he would be given to twelve-year-olds on school who would be told that this was what the Classical world was really like – enjoy, next year we’ll give you Rabelais.