Jack
the Giant-Killer
In the reign of King Arthur there
lived in the County of Cornwall a worthy farmer, who had an only son, named
Jack. Jack was strong and brave and very daring, and was never backward when
danger was in the way.
Now, in those days there lived a
huge giant in a gloomy cavern on St. Michael’s Mount, which rises out of the
sea near the shores of Cornwall. The Cornish people had suffered greatly from
his thefts and pillaging; for 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. He took a horn, a shovel, a pickaxe, and a dark lantern,
and one winter’s evening 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, and strewed some earth on the top to make it look like solid
ground. And then he blew his horn so loudly that the giant awoke, and came out
roaring like thunder:
“You impudent villain—you shall pay
dearly for disturbing my rest. 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, and declared that he should always be
called Jack the Giant Killer; and they gave him a sword, and a belt upon which
was written, in letters of gold:
“This
is the valiant Cornishman
Who
slew the giant Cormoran.”
There was another giant in England
called Blunderbore, who vowed to take revenge on Jack for this exploit. One
day, as Jack was passing through a wood on a journey to Wales, he fell asleep
by the side of a fountain. The giant, coming along, found him there; and,
seeing by the writing on the belt 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 terribly frightened. The giant carried him
into a room and locked him up, while 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, and soon after
he heard a mournful 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,” thought he, “death or freedom
is at hand.” There happened to be two strong cords in the room, and Jack made a
large noose with a slip-knot in each of them. Then, just as the giants were
coming through the gate he threw the ropes over their heads, and, fastening 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 who told him that their husbands had been killed by the giant, who had
afterwards condemned them to be starved to death.
Jack gave them the castle and all
the riches it contained to make some amends for the dreadful pains they had
suffered, and then went on his way.
After traveling some days, he lost
himself in a lonely valley; but, when he had wandered about some while, he at
length succeeded in finding a large house. He went up to it and knocked loudly
at the gate, when, to his great horror, a monstrous giant with two heads came
forth. He spoke very civilly, however, and took Jack into the house, leading
him to a room where there was a good bed, in which he could pass the night.
Jack took off his clothes; but,
though he was very tired, he could not go to sleep. Presently he heard the
giant walking about in the bedchamber, which was 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, and, taking a large, thick piece of wood, he laid it in his own place in
the bed, and 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 the night’s lodging. The giant was
terribly startled to see him, and stammered out:
“Oh, dear me! Is it you? Pray, how
did you sleep last night? Did you hear or see anything to disturb you?”
“Nothing worth speaking of, thank
you,” answered Jack, carelessly. “A rat, I believe, 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 contrived to fasten a leathern
bag inside his coat. He then managed to slip 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 cure all wounds with a touch. You shall see an example.” He then took a
knife, ripped up the leathern bag, and all the hasty pudding tumbled out upon
the floor.
“Ods splutter hur nails!” cried the
giant, who was ashamed to be outdone by such a little fellow. “Hur can do that
hurself!” and, 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 only son, who was traveling into
Wales to deliver a beautiful lady from the power of a wicked magician. Jack
attached himself to the prince, and they traveled on together.
The prince was very generous, and
soon gave away all the money he possessed.
After having parted with 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, who can fight five hundred men at once
and make them fly. I will go on and visit him—do you wait here until I return.”
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. Here is the king’s son coming with two thousand men to kill you!”
“Cousin Jack, this is bad news
indeed! But I have a large cellar underground, where I shall hide myself, 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 cellar, and then went back and fetched the prince, and they
feasted and made merry, and spent the night very comfortably in the castle.
In the morning Jack gave the prince
gold and silver from the giant’s treasury. Then the prince set forth on his
journey, while Jack let the giant out of the cellar.
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
desire nothing but the coat and cap, with the rusty sword and the slippers
which are hanging beside the bed.”
“Take them,” said the giant, “and
keep them for my sake. 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, and the shoes are of vast swiftness.”
Jack took the gifts, thanked the
giant, and then quickly caught up with the prince.
After a few days’ further journey
they reached the dwelling of the beautiful lady whom the prince had come to
rescue.
She received the prince very
graciously and made a feast for him. When it was ended she rose, and, taking
her handkerchief, said:
“My lord; to-morrow morning I
command you to tell me on whom I have bestowed this handkerchief—or else lose
your head.”
The prince went to bed very
mournfully; but Jack put on the cap of knowledge, which told him that the lady
was forced by the power of enchantment to meet the wicked magician every night
in the forest.
He, therefore, 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; and the enchantment was ended in a
minute.
The next day the lady was married to
the prince, and soon after went with her husband 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. Hardly
had he entered it when he heard dreadful shrieks and cries, and soon he saw a
monstrous giant dragging along by the hair of their heads a handsome knight and
a beautiful lady. Their tears and cries melted Jack’s heart. He alighted from
his horse, and put on his invisible coat, and immediately attacked the giant.
He could not reach up to the giant’s body; so, taking a mighty blow, he cut off
both the monster’s legs just below the garter, so that he 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 to refresh himself after this fight; but
Jack, hearing that the giant had a brother who was more cruel and wicked even
than himself, would not rest until he had also destroyed him.
Soon he came in sight of the cavern
where the giants lived. There was the other giant sitting on a huge block of
timber, with a knotted iron club lying by his side. Jack, in his coat of
darkness, was quite invisible. He drew close up to the giant and struck a blow
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 lay about him, but not being able to see
Jack, he could not hit him; for Jack slipped nimbly behind, and jumping upon
the block of wood, stabbed the giant in the back; and after a few howls, the
monster dropped down dead.
Having thus killed the two monsters
Jack entered the cave to search for the treasure. One room contained a great
boiling cauldron and a dining table, where the giants feasted. Another part of
the cave was barred with iron and was full of miserable men and women whom the
giants had imprisoned. 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
returned to the house of the knight and his lady.
He was received with the greatest
joy; and the knight gave a grand feast in his honor. When all the company was
gathered together, the knight presented Jack with a ring, on which was engraved
the picture of the giant dragging the knight and the lady by the hair, with
this motto round it—
“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 the merriment was at its
height, a herald rushed into the room and told the company that Thundel, a
savage giant with two heads, had heard of the death of his two kinsmen, and was
come to take his revenge on 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 which there was a drawbridge. Jack set men to work to cut the
bridge on both sides, nearly to the middle, and then, dressed in his magic
coat, went out to meet the giant. As the giant came along, although he could
not see Jack, yet 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 kinsmen! 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, and began
to run, the giant following him like a walking castle. Jack led him round and
round the house, and 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 on both sides, his great weight broke it, and he tumbled into the
water.
Jack now got a cart rope and flung
it over his two heads, and then, by the help of a team of horses, drew him to
the edge of the moat, where he cut off his heads.
Once again, Jack set out in search
of new adventures. He went over fields and dales without meeting with any,
until he came to the foot of a high mountain. Here was a little, lonely house;
and 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, and when Jack had eaten well, he
said:
“My son, I know that you are the
famous conqueror of giants. I know, at the top of this mountain there is an
enchanted castle, kept by a giant named Galligantes, who, by the help of a
magician, gets many knights into his power—whom he changes into beasts. Above
all, I lament the hard fate of a duke’s daughter, whom they have changed into a
deer. Many knights have tried to destroy the enchantment, yet none have been
able to do so, because of two fiery griffins who guard the gates of the castle.
But as you, my son, have an invisible coat, you may pass them by without being seen.
On the gates of the castle you will find engraved the means by which the
enchantment may be broken.”
Jack promised that in the morning he
would risk his life in an endeavor to break the enchantment; and, after a sound
sleep, he arose early and set out on his attempt.
He passed by the fiery griffins
without the least fear of danger; for they could not see him, because of his
invisible coat.
On the castle gate he found a golden
trumpet hanging, under which 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, which made the gates fly open and shook the castle to its
foundations. 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 vanished away like smoke, and the duke’s daughter and all the knights
and lovely ladies who had been turned into birds and beasts returned to their
proper shape.
Jack’s fame rang through the whole
country, and the king gave him a large estate to reward him for all his brave
and knightly deeds. And Jack married the duke’s daughter, and lived in joy and
contentment for the rest of his days.
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