In the reign of the famous King Arthur of England, there lived in Cornwall a lad named Jack. He was young, strong and fearless. Jack used to listen eagerly to the brave deeds (doings) of the Knights of King Arthur’s Round Table, his royal court, and Jack wanted to do brave deeds too. He took delight in hearing stories of the magician Merlyn, of terrible giants, and fairies.
INTRODUCTION
First, let me tell you something of Giants. Before the Great Flood in history there were many giants of different sorts living all around the world. In the Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia, for example, there were large gardens or farms with towns at the centre. At the centre of each town was an artificial hill called a Ziggurat and at the top of which was a platform where a giant and his family lived and ruled the land and the people. (The Garden of Eden was just one of such agricultural farms.) The people living in the area surrounding the Ziggurat at that time, before the Great Flood, worked for and served real people – the Giants, but they did not pray to them. Life for them was like living in an army style camp – and partly, farm.
Giants spoke an old form of Hebrew which tells you where they came from! – the Middle East! Many were very intelligent due to their large heads. They had greyish- white skin and huge arms with enormous biceps and could throw a kilogram stone at you very accurately! But unless they bathed frequently they smelled horrible, like a skunk that had gone rotten! Because giants were very large, very strong, had lots of experience due to their living into great old age and, not least, they were very intelligent – they were dangerous! They called us people “lulu amello” – crazy, bad people!
Due to the devastation of the Great Flood, the Jews thought that the Giants (who were also lustful beings) had offended the Great God in the sky, Mars. Mars, the god of war, had sent rocks, lightening and the Great Flood to kill them. After the flood Jews decided to wage war on the remaining giants to appease Mars and all the gods in the heavens. They thought they had the great God Mars in the skies on their side. It was as if killing giants was ordered by the Sky Gods. Jews felt they were in the right – doing what the God Mars wanted – and that justification was recorded in the Old Testament.
The Giants of the Middle-East were being killed in battles and so they fled with their families to Europe. Many did not stop until they reached England or Ireland. The Great Flood had been world-wide except the tropics, but Britain was green again with cattle. Giants would be safe there. But they were refugees, who had nothing, and worse, were not used to working.
In those days there were many giants and their families living in England, especially around Stonehenge, Glastonbury and in Wales. For thousands of years in the past, people used to work as their servants. But now, after the flood, and the arrival of so many giants as refugees, these were not good times for giants in England.
Giants’ relationships with people had become poor if not plainly bad and anger and misunderstanding between the groups increased. Kings did nothing – they did not mediate between the warring sides to calm things down.
Giants, for their part became very worried, even frightened about what lay ahead for them and so, they tended to show their power as a deterrent: they became violent. Some robbed smaller people and were very cruel to them and mobs of people used to gather to fight them when there was an incident.
That was the scene facing King Arthur and the Knights of his Round Table.
JACK AND THE GIANTS
At that time, only few thousand years ago, there lived a huge giant, Cormoran. He and his family lived on Cormoran’s Mount which is a small island of one great rock in the sea located just off the coast of Cornwall. (After the arrival of Christianity just a few years later, it also became known as St. Michael’s Mount).
Cormoran was eighteen feet high and eight feet round his belly; his fierce looks and the savage noises he made were the terror of all those who beheld him. He dwelt in a gloomy cavern, a large cave high up on the rock, and used to wade across the sea to the mainland in search of food. He would throw an ox over his back and fasten sheep and hogs round his waist – animals all belonging to the local people – and then wade back to his rocky abode.
The giant had done this for many years, and local people had great difficulties feeding the giant, his family and themselves too. Jack heard about this and resolved to destroy him.
One winter’s evening, Jack took a horn, a shovel, a pickaxe, his armor, and a dim lantern, and he and some friends went to the Mount. There they dug a pit twenty-two feet deep and twenty broad. They covered the top over so as to make it look like solid ground. Jack then blew his horn so loudly and raucously that the giant awoke and came out of his den roaring: “You saucy villain! You shall pay for this! I’ll boil you for my breakfast!”
He had just finished shouting, when, taking one step further, he tumbled headlong into the pit. As he did so Jack struck him a blow on the head with his pickaxe which killed him. Jack then returned home to cheer the local people with the good news.
Another giant, named Gamodor lived in the midst of a lonely wood not so far away from the Mount, in a huge, rambling, old castle made of loose rocks. Gamodor vowed he would punish Jack for killing his friend if ever he should have him in his power.
Some time after the death of Cormoran, Jack was passing through a wood, and being weary, sat down and went to sleep. Gamodor, happened to pass by and seeing Jack, captured him and carried him off to his castle, where he locked him up in a large basement cellar. Jack could hardy breathe because it was very smelly. He saw that the floor was covered with skulls and bones and corpses of people.
Soon after capturing Jack, Gamodor went to fetch his brother who was also a giant; they could feast off Jack and eat him up! Jack was filled with terror when he saw the two giants returning through the bars of his prison; they were carrying bundles of firewood!
Jack looked round his prison and found in one corner of the room a strong cord/rope. He took courage, and made a loop and slip-knot at each end. He climbed up over the doorway. When they came in he threw the loops over their heads, and tied the rope to the window-bars; he then pulled till he had choked them. When they were both black in the face he slid down the rope and stabbed them both in the heart.
Jack found a great bunch of keys in one of Gamodor’s pockets, and went looking round inside the castle. He made a careful search through all the rooms, and in one of them found three women tied up by the hair of their heads, and almost starved to death. They told him that their husbands had been killed by the giants, who had then condemned them to be starved to death because they would not work as slaves for them as people had done in the old days.
“Dear Ladies,” said Jack, “I have put an end to this unpleasant monster and his brother; and I give you this castle and all the good things it contains, to make some amends for the dreadful pain and suffering you have felt.” He then very chivalrously gave them the keys to the castle. Jack had a plan to proceed on to the stronghold of many more giants – in Wales. Young Jack was fearless in the face of danger and he had the element of surprise – he could strike first!
As Jack had but little money, he journeyed on to Wales as fast as he could. After some time he came to a large attractive house with a huge door and with windows with green shutters. The garden had flowers and trees. Jack knocked at the door, and a giant who spoke Welsh (a dialect of old Hebrew), opened the door and came out. Jack said he was a traveler who had lost his way. On hearing this, the giant made him welcome and let him into a room where there was a good bed to sleep in. Jack quickly took off his shoes and lay down, but though he was weary he could not go to sleep.
Soon he heard the giant walking backward and forward down below. It seems that the giant had already learned about ‘Jack the Giant Killer’ on the giants’ grape-vine and he was 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.”
“So you say!” thought Jack. “Are these your tricks upon travelers? But I hope to prove as cunning as you are”. Then, getting out of bed, he groped about the room, and at last found a large thick block of wood. He laid it in his own place in the bed, and then hid himself in a dark corner of the room.
Well after midnight the giant entered the bedroom, and with a great club bludgeoned what was on the bed, in the very place where Jack had laid the log; and then he went back to his own room, thinking he had broken all Jack’s bones.
Early in the morning Jack put a bold face upon his situation and walked into the giant’s kitchen to thank him for his lodging. The giant was startled and surprised when he saw him.
He exclaimed: “Tut! Futtlebut! Is it you?” and stammered out: “Oh! How was your sleep last night? Did you hear or see anything in the still of the night?”
“Nothing to speak of,” said Jack, in a careless way; “a rat, I believe, gave me three or four slaps with its tail, and disturbed me a little; but I soon went to sleep again. “The giant was puzzled about this; yet he did not utter a word more but went to bring two great bowls of hasty-pudding for their breakfast.
Jack wanted to make the giant believe that he could perform magic tricks. So he wanted to show he could eat as much as the giant could. He contrived to button a leather bag inside his coat, and slipped the hasty-pudding into this bag, while he pretended to put it into his mouth.
When breakfast was over he said to the giant: “Now I will show you a fine trick. I am a magician. I can cure all wounds with a touch; I can cut off my head in one minute, and in the next put it back sound again on my shoulders. You shall see an example.” He then took hold of the knife, ripped open the leather bag, and all the hasty-pudding tumbled to the floor.
“Odds, Bodkins! Dur nails!” spluttered the Welsh giant, who was a simple man and felt ashamed to be outdone by such a little fellow as Jack, “hur can do that hurself” (giants couldn’t speak properly); so he snatched up the knife and plunged it into his own stomach. He staggered around making terrible noises and soon dropped down dead.
Jack had so far succeed in getting the better of all the giants he had met. Now, time was against him. News of Jack and his attacks was spreading around. He resolved not to rest in future until more giants were killed. He learned more about the giants in the area especially the bad ones. He must prepare. He searched around England and bought a fine horse; he bought a sharp sword, some strong shoes for running on rough ground and a black coat which made him invisible at night, all the better to perform the dangerous adventures that lay before him.
He traveled over hills and deep wooded valleys, along muddy and watery tracks used by farmers and their cattle, but after three weeks he came to a large and spacious forest through which his road lay. Scarcely had he entered the forest when he beheld a monstrous giant. He was dragging two people along by the hair of their heads. They looked to be a Knight and his fair mistress.
Jack alighted from his horse, and tying him to an oak tree, put on his invisible coat, under which he carried his sharp sword.
When he came up to the giant he saw he was very big – at least thrice the size of Jack in height. Jack aimed several strokes of his sword at him, but could not reach his body.
He wounded the giant’s thighs in several places; but after a lot of fighting he held his sword with both hands and aiming with all his might, he cut off one of the giant’s legs, then the other. Then Jack, setting his foot upon his neck, plunged his sword into the giant’s body, upon which the giant gave a groan and breathed his last.
The knight and his lady thanked Jack for their deliverance from a bad end and invited him back to their house, to receive a proper reward for his noble deed. “No,” said Jack, “I cannot relax until I find where this monster was living.” So, taking the knight’s directions, he mounted his horse and soon found another giant, who was sitting on a tree stump waiting for his brother’s return.
Jack alighted from his horse, and putting on his invisible coat, approached and aimed a blow at the giant’s head, but he missed his aim, he only cut his nose. At this attack the giant seized his club and laid about him most unmercifully in all directions.
“Nay,” said Jack, “if this be the case of uncontrolled rage, I’d better dispatch you!” so, jumping upon the stump, he stabbed him in the back, upon which the giant dropped down dead.
Jack then proceeded on his journey to the mountains of Wales. He traveled until he arrived at the foot of a high mountain. He knocked at the door of a lonely welsh, stone cottage, where an old man let him in.
When Jack was seated, the hermit (for that was what he was) spoke to him thus: “My son, near the top of this mountain is an enchanted castle, kept by the giant Galligantus together with a Magician. I must relate the sad fate of the Duke’s (King’s brother) daughter, whom they seized as she was walking in her father’s garden, and brought her hither to be transformed into a deer.” Giants used to have good sport chasing, killing and eating deer.
Jack promised that in the morning, at the risk of his own life, he would break the spell; and after a sound sleep he rose early, put on his invisible coat and got ready for the attempt.
When he had climbed to the top of the mountain he saw two fiery Welsh griffons, – dragons, but he passed between them without the least fear of danger, for they could not see him because of his invisible coat. On the castle gate he found hanging a golden trumpet, under which were written these lines:
“Home of Galligantus:
Whosoever does this trumpet blow, will be thrown down to the rocks below.”
As soon as Jack had read this he seized the trumpet and blew a shrill blast, which made the gates fly open and the very castle itself tremble. Galligantus saw Jack and laughed at this boy. But Jack attacked with his sword and Galligantus, who was a weak, old man, was defeated.
Galligantus and the Magician then knew that their wicked ways had come to an end, and they stood biting their thumbs and shaking with fear. Jack, with his sharp sword, soon killed Galligantus, but the Magician swirled up into a powerful whirlwind and disappeared. At that event, all those who had been changed into birds or beasts returned to their original forms as beings. Then, suddenly, a storm arose, lightning struck and the whole castle was shaken and broken and tumbled down.
All the people who were released from the Magician’s spell stayed that night at the old man’s hermitage, and next day they all set off for King Arthur’s Court. After a month of travelling they got there. When Jack first saw the King he was amazed and taken aback to see such a big man – the King was a 10 foot giant, too! Jack told King Arthur about all his adventures and his fierce battles with the giants: as proof the head of the giant Galligantus was given to King Arthur. The King said he was thankful for Jack’s work as he wanted peace in his land and if Jack could end the ceaseless warring, he would be glad of that. The King needed people like Jack.
The King and the whole court were amazed to learn of Jack’s bravery. Jack’s fame had now spread through the whole country, and at the King’s suggestion the King’s brother, the Duke of Cornwall gave Jack permission to marry his daughter. They had a great marriage ceremony in the newly built Tewkesbury cathedral. It was a very great affair. After the ceremony and the celebrations, the King gave him a large estate, on which there were many people living but no giants and on which he, Lord John and his fair lady lived happily for the rest of their days.
R.O.S. 9/2/2016