When good King Arthur reigned, there lived near the Land's End of
England, in the county of Cornwall, a farmer who had one only son
called Jack. He was brisk and of ready, lively wit, so that nobody or
nothing could worst him.
In those days the Mount of Cornwall was kept by a huge giant named
Cormoran. He was eighteen feet in height, and about three yards round
the waist, of a fierce and grim countenance, the terror of all the
neighboring towns and villages. He lived in a cave in the midst of
the Mount, and whenever he wanted food he would wade over to the
mainland, where he would furnish himself with whatever came in his
way. Everybody at his approach ran out of their houses, while he
seized on their cattle, making nothing of carrying half-a-dozen oxen
on his back at a time; and as for their sheep and hogs, he would tie
them round his waist like a bunch of tallow-dips. He had done this
for many years, so that all Cornwall was in despair.
One day Jack happened to be at the town hall when the magistrates were
sitting in council about the giant. He asked, "What reward will be
given to the man who kills Cormoran?" "The giant's treasure," they
said, "will be the reward." Quoth Jack, "Then let me undertake it."
So he got a horn, shovel, and pickaxe, and went over to the Mount in
the beginning of a dark winter's evening, when he fell to work, and
before morning had dug a pit twenty-two feet deep, and nearly as
broad, covering it over with long sticks and straw. Then he strewed a
little mold over it, so that it appeared like plain ground. Jack then
placed himself on the opposite side of the pit, farthest from the
giant's lodging, and, just at the break of day, he put the horn to
his mouth, and blew. This noise roused the giant, who rushed from his
cave, crying: "You incorrigible villain, are you come here to disturb
my rest? You shall pay dearly for this. Satisfaction I will have, and
this it shall be, I will take you whole and broil you for breakfast."
He had no sooner uttered this, than he tumbled into the pit, and made
the very foundations of the Mount to shake. "Oh Giant," quoth Jack,
"where are you now? Oh, faith, you are gotten now into a tight place,
where I will surely plague you for your threatening words; what do you
think now of broiling me for your breakfast? Will no other diet serve
you but poor Jack?" Then having tantalized the giant for a while, he
gave him a most weighty knock with his pickaxe on the very crown of
his head, and killed him on the spot.
Jack then filled up the pit with earth, and went to search the cave,
which he found contained much treasure. When the magistrates heard of
this they made a declaration he should henceforth be termed: