BEST HUNTED
STORY EVER||THE HISTORY OF JACK THE GIANT-KILLER||
IN the reign of the famous King
Arthur there lived in Cornwall a lad named Jack, who was a boy of a bold temper
nd took delight in hearing or reading of onjurers, giants, and fairies; and
used to listen eagerly to the deeds of the nights of King Arthur's Round Table.
In those days there lived on St. Michael's Mount, off Cornwall, a huge giant,
eighteen feet high and nine feet round; his fierce and savage looks were the
terror of all who beheld him. He dwelt in a gloomy cavern on the top of the
mountain, and used to wade over to the mainland in search of prey when he would
throw half-a-dozen oxen upon his back, and tie three times as many sheep and
hogs round his waist and march back to his own abode The giant had done this
for many yean when Jack resolved to destroy him Jack took a hom, a shovel, a
pickaxe, his armour, and a dark lantern, and one winter's evening he went to
the mount There he dug a pit twenty-two feet deep and twenty broad. He covered
the top over so as to make it look like solid ground. He then blew such a
tantivy thatth the giant awoke and came out of his hi den crying out "You
saucy villain! you his shall pay for this. I'l broil you for my breakfast! vo
He had just finished, when, taking one step further, he tumbled headlong into
the pit, and Jack struck him a blow onthe head with his picaxe who killed him,
Jack then returned home to the cher, his friends with the news, | Another
giant, called Blunderbore, vowed to be revenged on Jack This giant kept an
enchanted castle in the midst of a lonelywood; and some time after the Death of
Comoran Jack is going through a wooden, and being weary down and gone to sleep.
|
The giant, assing boy and string, Jack cared him to this castle, where he
locked him up in a larg room, the floor of 56fuch was covered with the bodies,
Skulls and txnxs of men and women. Soon after the giant went to fetch his
brother who was likewise a giant, to take a meal off his {{sh; and Jack saw
with terror between those bars of the giants approaching, | Jack perceiving in
one corner of the room a strong cord, took courage, and making a sp - the knot
at each end, he threw them over their heads and tied it. When they were black
in the face he slid down the rope and stabbed them to the heart.Jack next took
a great bunch of keys from the pocket of Blunderbore, and went into the castle
again. He made a strict search through all the rooms, and in one of them found
three ladies 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 is starved to death because they would not eat the flesh
of their own dead husbands. "Ladies," said Jack, "I have put an
e end to the monster and his wicked brother, and I give you this castle and all
e the riches it contains, to make some amends for the dreadful pains you have w
felt." He then very politely gave them at Is the keys of the castle, and
went further d on his journey to Wales. As Jack had but little money, he went
on as fast as possible. At length he came to a handsome house. Jack knocked at
the door, when there came forth a Welsh giant. Jack said he was a traveller who
had lost his way, on which the giant made him welcome, and let him into a room
where there was a good bed to ge ro bi in da sleep in Jack took off his clothes
quickly, but though he was weary he could not go to sleep.
Soon after this he
heard the giant walking backward and forward in the th next room, and 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." "Say you
so?" thought Jack. "Are these your tricks upon travellers? 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 billet of wood. He laid it in his own
place in the bed, and then hid himself in a dark corner of the room. The giant,
about midnight, entered the apartment, and with his bludgeon struck a many
blows 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 the matter, and walked into the giant's
room to thank him for his lodging. The giant started when he saw him, and began
to stammer out: "Oh! dear me; is it you? Pray how did you sleep last
night? Did you hear or see anything in the dead of the night?"
"Nothing to speak of," said Jack,carelessly: "a rat, I believe,
gave me three or four slaps with its tail, and disturbedu me a little; but I
soon went to sleepp again. The giant wondered more and more at this: yet he did
not answer a word, but went to bring two great bowls of" hasty-pudding for
their breakfast. Jack U wanted to make the giant believe that he st could eat
as much as himself, so hed contrived to button a leathern bag inside his coat,
and slip the hasty-pudding intoI this bag, while he seemed to put it into his
mouth. When breakfast was over he said to the giant: "Now I will show you
a fine trick. I can cure all wounds with a touch: I could cut off my head in
one minute, and the next put it sound again on my shoulders. You shall see an
example. He then took hold of the knife, rippedup the leathern bag, and all the
hasty- pudding tumbled out upon the floor. Ods splutter hur nails!" cried
the Welsh giant, who was ashamed to be outdone by such a little fellow as Jack,
f "hur can do that hurself;" so he snatched up the knife, plunged it
into his own stomach, and in a moment dropped down dead. Jack, having hitherto
been successful in all his undertakings, resolved not to be idle in future; he
therefore furnished himself with a horse, a cap of knowledge, a sword of
sharpness, shoes of swiftness, and an invisible coat, the better to perform the
wonderful enterprises that lay before him. He travelled over high hills, and on
the third day he came to a large and spacious forest through which his road
lay. Scarcely had he entered the forestwhen he beheld a monstrous giant
dragging along by the hair of their heads a handsome knight and his lady.
Jack
alighted from his horse, and tying him to an oak tree, put on his invisible coat,
under which he carried his sword of sharpness. When he came up to the giant he
made several strokes at him, but could not reach his body, but wounded his
thighs in several places; and at length putting both hands to his sword and
aiming with all his might, he cut off both his legs. Then Jack, setting his
foot upon his neck, plunged his sword into the giant's body, when the monster
gave a groan and expired. The knight and his lady thanked Jack for their
deliverance, and invited him to their house, to receive a proper reward for his
services. "No," said Jack, "Icannot be easy till I find out this
monster's habitation." So taking the knight's nt directions, he mounted
his horse and soon after came in sight of another giant, who was sitting on a
block of timber waiting for his brother's return. Jack alighted from his horse,
and, putting on his invisible coat, approached d and aimed a blow at the
giant's head, but missing his aim he only cut off his nose. On this the giant
seized his club and laid about him most unmercifully. "Nay," said
Jack, "if this be the case I'd better dispatch you!" so jumping upon
the block, he stabbed him in the back when he dropped down dead. Jack then
proceeded on his journey and travelled over hills and dales, till arriving at
the foot of a high mountain he knocked at the door of a lonely house, when an
old man let him in.When Jack was seated the hermit thus encha addressed him:
"My son, on the top of he ro is mountain is an enchanted castle, kept and
by the giant Galligantus and a vile magician. I lament the fate of a duke's the
but h daughter, whom they seized as she was walking in her father's garden, and
least seeh the trum line brought hither transformed into a deer" Se the ma
cas Jack promised that in the moming, at the risk of his life, he would break
the tha anenchantment; and after a sound sleep he rose early, put on his
invisible coat, and got ready for the attempt. thus p of kept vile ke's was and
eer. When he had climbed to the top of the mountain he saw two fiery griffins; 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 a golden
trumpet, under which were written these ines:_ 13 Whoever can this trumpet blow
Shall cause the giant's overthrow. 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 The giant and the conjurer now knew that their wicked
course was at an end and they stood biting their thumbs and at theshaking with
fear. Jack, with his sw of sharpness, soon killed the giant, and the magician
was then carried away by a whirlwind;
and every knight and beautiful lady who
had been changed into birds and beasts returned to their proper shapes. The
castle vanished away like smoke, and the head of the giant Galligantus was then
sent to King Arthur. The knights and ladies rested that night at the old man's
hermitage, and next day they set out for the Court. Jack then went up to the
King, and gave his Majesty an account of all his fierce battles. Jack's fame
had now spread through the whole country, and at the King's desire the duke
gave him his daughter in marriage, to the joy of all his kingdom. After this
the King gave him a large estate, on which he and his lady lived the rest th la
of their days in joy and contentment
