Jack
the Giant-Killer
In the reign of King Arthur there
lived in the County of Cornwall a worthy farmer. He had an only son, named
Jack. Jack was strong and brave and very daring, and never ran or hid when
danger was in the way.
Now, in those days there lived a
huge giant in a gloomy cave on St. Michael’s Mount. This mountain rises out of
the sea near the shores of Cornwall. The giant was cruel to the people of
Cornwall. He used to wade through the sea to the mainland, and carry off half a
dozen or more of their oxen at a time.
At last Jack made up his mind to
destroy this monster. One winter’s evening he took a horn, a shovel, a pickaxe,
and a dark lantern, and swam over the sea to the Mount. Then he set to work,
and before morning had dug a great pit. He covered it carefully over with
sticks and straw. Then he strewed some earth on the top to make it look like
solid ground. When this was done, he blew his horn so loudly that the giant
awoke. He came out roaring like thunder:
“You villain—you shall pay dearly
for waking me. I will broil you for my breakfast!”
But almost as he spoke, he tumbled
headlong into the pit.
“Oh, ho, Mr. Giant!” said Jack. “How
is your appetite now! Will nothing serve you for breakfast but broiling poor
Jack?”
Then he struck the giant such a blow
on the head with a pickaxe that he killed him.
When the Justices of Cornwall heard
of this valiant deed, they sent for Jack. They declared that he should always
be called Jack the Giant Killer. They gave him a sword and a belt. The belt had
golden writing on it, which said:
“This
is the valiant Cornishman
Who
slew the giant Cormoran.”
There was another giant in England
called Blunderbore. He swore to get revenge on Jack for killing Cormoran. One
day when Jack was traveling to Wales, he fell asleep by the side of a fountain.
The giant, coming along, found him there. When he saw the writing on the belt
he knew who Jack was. He lifted him on his shoulder and carried him off to his
castle.
When Jack awoke and found himself in
the clutches of Blunderbore he was badly frightened. The giant carried him into
a room and locked him up. Then he went to fetch another giant who lived close
by to help him eat Jack for dinner. While he was gone, Jack heard dreadful
shrieks and groans from different parts of the castle. Soon after he heard a sad
voice saying:
“Haste,
valiant stranger, haste away,
Lest
you become the giant’s prey.
On
his return he’ll bring another,
Still
more savage than his brother;
A
horrid, cruel monster, who
Before
he kills will torture you!”
Poor Jack looked out of the window,
which was just over the gate of the castle, and saw two giants coming along arm
in arm.
“Now,” he thought, “death or freedom
is at hand.” There happened to be two strong ropes in the room. Jack made a large
loop with a slip-knot in each of them. Just as the giants came through the gate,
he threw the ropes over their heads. He fastened the other ends to a beam in
the ceiling. He pulled the ropes with all his might until he had nearly
strangled the giants. Then he drew his sword and slipped down the ropes and
killed them both.
Next Jack took the keys from Giant
Blunderbore and searched through the castle. In one of the rooms he found three
ladies. They told him that their husbands had been killed by the giant, who had
afterwards left them to starve to death.
Jack gave them the castle and all
the riches in it to make up some for their dreadful pains, and then went on his
way.
After traveling some days, he lost
himself in a lonely valley. When he had wandered about some while, he at length
found a large house. He went up to it and knocked loudly at the gate. To his
great horror, a giant with two heads came forth. He spoke very civilly,
however, and took Jack into the house. He led him to a room where there was a
good bed to pass the night in.
Jack took off his clothes. He was
very tired, but he could not go to sleep. Soon he heard the giant walking about
in the next room, saying to himself:
“Though
here you lodge with me this night;
You
shall not see the morning light;
My
club shall dash your brains out quite.”
When he heard this, Jack got out of
bed. He took a large, thick piece of wood and laid it in his own place in the
bed. Then he hid himself in a dark corner of the room.
In the middle of the night, the
giant came with his great club, and struck several heavy blows upon the bed.
Then he went off, thinking he had broken all Jack’s bones.
Early next morning Jack walked into
the giant’s room and thanked him for letting him stay. The giant was very
startled to see him. He stammered out:
“Oh, dear me! Is it you? Pray, how
did you sleep last night? Did you hear or see anything?”
“Nothing worth speaking of, thank
you,” answered Jack, carelessly. “A rat gave me three or four slaps with his
tail, but that was all.”
The giant said nothing, but went and
fetched two bowls of hasty pudding for their breakfast.
Jack did not wish the giant to think
that he could not eat as much as himself, so he hid a leather bag inside his
coat. He then slipped the pudding into this bag, while pretending to eat it.
When breakfast was done, he said to
the giant:
“Now I will show you a fine trick. I
can heal all wounds with a touch. You shall see an example.” He then took a
knife and ripped up the leather bag. All the hasty pudding tumbled out upon the
floor.
“Ods splutter hur nails!” cried the
giant. He was ashamed to be outdone by such a little fellow. “Hur can do that
hurself!” Snatching up the knife, he plunged it into his stomach and fell down
dead.
After this, Jack went farther on his
journey. In a few days he met King Arthur’s son. The prince was traveling into
Wales to save a beautiful lady from the power of a wicked magician. Jack traveled
on with him.
The prince was very generous, and
soon gave away all the money he possessed.
After giving his last penny to an
old beggar-woman, he was very uneasy as to where they were to pass the night.
“Sir,” said Jack, “two miles farther
on there lives a giant with three heads. He can fight five hundred men at once
and make them fly. I will go on and visit him—you wait here until I come back.”
Jack rode on to the gates of the
castle, and gave a loud knock. The giant, with a voice like thunder, roared
out:
“Who is there?”
“No one but your poor cousin Jack.”
“Well, what news, Cousin Jack?”
“Dear uncle, I have bad news for
you. The king’s son is coming with two thousand men to kill you!”
“Cousin Jack, this is bad news
indeed! But I have a large basement. I shall hide myself there, and you shall
lock, bolt, and bar me in until the king’s son is gone.”
So Jack locked, bolted, and barred
the giant in the basement. Then he went back and fetched the prince. They
feasted and made merry, and spent the night very nicely in the castle.
In the morning Jack gave the prince
some of the giant’s gold and silver. Then the prince set forth on his journey,
while Jack let the giant out of the basement.
The giant thanked Jack very much for
saving him, and asked what he should give him as a reward.
“Why, good uncle,” said Jack, “I only
want the coat and cap and the rusty sword and the slippers which are hanging
beside the bed.”
“Take them,” said the giant. “They
will be very useful to you. The coat will make you invisible. The cap will give
you knowledge. The sword will cut through anything, no matter what it may be. The
shoes will make you run fast.”
Jack took the gifts, thanked the
giant, and then quickly caught up with the prince.
After a few days’ further journey
they reached the home of the beautiful lady whom the prince had come to rescue.
She greeted the prince and made a
feast for him. When it was ended she rose, and, taking her handkerchief, said:
“My lord, tomorrow morning you must tell
me who I have given this handkerchief to—or else lose your head.”
The prince went to bed very sadly, but
Jack put on the cap of knowledge. It told him that the lady was forced by the
power of a spell to meet the wicked magician every night in the forest.
So Jack put on his coat of darkness,
and his shoes of swiftness, and was there before her. When the lady came, she
gave the handkerchief to the magician. Jack with his sword of sharpness cut off
his head with one blow. The spell was ended in a minute.
The next day the lady was married to
the prince. Soon after they went to the court of King Arthur, where Jack was
made one of the Knights of the Round Table for his heroism.
Very soon Jack set off in search of
new adventures. On the third day of his travel he came to a wide forest. He had
hardly entered it when he heard dreadful screams and cries. Soon he saw a
monstrous giant. He was dragging along by the hair of their heads a handsome
knight and a beautiful lady. Their tears and cries melted Jack’s heart. He got
down from his horse and put on his invisible coat. He could not reach up to the
giant’s body, so, taking a mighty blow, he cut off both the monster’s legs at
the knee. The giant fell full length upon the ground. Then Jack set his foot
upon his neck and plunged his sword into the giant’s body.
The knight and the lady, overjoyed,
begged Jack to come to their house. But Jack heard that the giant had a brother
who was even more cruel, and he would not rest until he had also destroyed him.
Soon he came in sight of the cave
where the giants lived. There was the other giant sitting on a huge block of wood,
with a knotted iron club lying by his side. Jack, in his coat of darkness, was
quite invisible. He went up to the giant and struck at his head with his sword
of sharpness, but he missed his aim and only cut off his nose. The giant roared
with pain, and his roars were like claps of thunder. He took up his iron club
and began to swing it through the air, but he could not hit Jack because of his
coat. Jack slipped behind the giant. Jumping upon the block of wood, he stabbed
the giant in the back. After a few howls, the monster dropped down dead.
Then Jack entered the cave to search
for the treasure. One room held a great pot and a dining table, where the
giants feasted. Another part of the cave was barred with iron. It was full of
miserable men and women whom the giants had locked up. Jack set them all free
and divided the treasure among them.
Jack cut off the giant’s head, and
sent it with the head of his brother to the court of King Arthur. Then he went
back to the house of the knight and his lady.
He was met with great joy, and the
knight gave a grand feast in his honor. When they were all gathered together,
the knight gave Jack a ring. On it was the picture of the giant dragging the
knight and the lady by the hair. Around the picture it said—
“Behold,
in dire distress were we,
Under
a giant’s fierce command,
But
gained our lives and liberty
From
valiant Jack’s victorious hand.”
But while they were making merry, a messenger
rushed into the room. He told them that Thundel, a cruel giant with two heads,
had heard of the death of his brothers. Now he was coming to get Jack. The
guests trembled with terror and fright, but Jack only drew his sword and said, “Let
him come!”
The knight’s house was surrounded by
a moat. Over it was a drawbridge. Jack set men to work to cut the bridge on
both sides, nearly to the middle. Then, dressed in his magic coat, he went out
to meet the giant. As the giant came along, he could not see Jack. But he could
tell that someone was near, for he cried out:
“Fa, fe, fi, fo, fum,
I
smell the blood of an Englishman
Be
he alive, or be he dead,
I’ll
grind his bones to make my bread.”
“Say you so, my friend,” cried Jack.
“You are indeed a monstrous miller!”
“Ah!” cried the giant; “you are the
villain that killed my brothers! I will tear you with my teeth, and grind your
bones to powder!”
“You must catch me first!” said
Jack. Then he threw off his coat and put on his shoes of swiftness. He began to
run, with the giant following him like a walking castle. Jack led him round and
round the house. Then he ran over the drawbridge, while the giant rushed after
him with his club. But when he came to the middle of the bridge, where it had
been cut, his great weight broke it. He tumbled into the water.
Jack now got a rope and flung it
over his two heads. Then, with the help of a team of horses, he pulled him to
the edge of the moat, where he cut off the heads.
Once again, Jack set out in search
of new adventures. He went over fields and valleys, but he didn’t find any
until he came to the foot of a high mountain. Here was a lonely little house. When
he knocked at the door it was opened by an old man with a beard as white as
snow. This old man was a good hermit. When Jack had eaten well, he said:
“My son, I know that you are the
famous killer of giants. At the top of this mountain there is a magic castle,
kept by a giant named Galligantes. With the help of a magician, he gets many
knights into his power. Then he changes them into beasts. Above all, I am sorry
for the duke’s daughter, whom they have changed into a deer. Many knights have
tried to destroy the spell, but two griffins guard the castle gate. Since you
have an invisible coat, you may pass them by without being seen. On the gates
of the castle is written the means by which the spell may be broken.”
Jack promised that in the morning he
would risk his life to try to break the spell. After a sound sleep, he arose
early and set out.
He passed by the griffins without
the least fear of danger, for they could not see him in his invisible coat.
On the castle gate he found a golden
trumpet hanging. Under it were written these words—
“Whoever
can this trumpet blow,
Shall
cause the giant’s overthrow.”
Jack seized the golden trumpet and
blew a mighty blast. It made the gates fly open and shook the whole castle. The
giant and the magician, knowing that their end was now near, stood biting their
thumbs and shaking with terror. Jack, with his magic sword, soon killed the
giant, and the magician was carried off by a whirlwind. The castle turned to smoke.
Then the duke’s daughter and all the knights and lovely ladies who had become
beasts turned back to people.
Jack’s fame rang through the whole
country, and the king gave him a large home to reward him for all his brave and
knightly deeds. And Jack married the duke’s daughter, and lived in joy for the
rest of his days.
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