Jack the Giant Killer

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For the film, see Jack the Giant Killer (film).

The giant Cormoran was the terror of all the country-side.
Illustration by Arthur Rackham from English Fairy Tales (1918) by Flora Annie Steel

"Jack the Giant Killer" is a fairy tale. As a variation on "The Brave Little Tailor", it shares some similarities to what we know today as "Jack and the Beanstalk."

In the story tells of the Cornish youth Jack and his encounters with giants. Jack catches the first giant in a pit trap and kills him, for which he receives a belt engraved with the words "This is the valiant Cornish man, who killed the giant Cormoran." For this, Jack gains popularity within his village and throughout the land. He sets off on a series of challenges, where he encounters a second giant. He strangles this giant and his brother (also a giant) with a cord. The third encounter is with a Welsh giant, who tries to kill Jack while he is resting at his castle. Jack is able to trick this giant, however, and manages to get him to stab himself at breakfast. In the fourth encounter, Jack uses his coat of invisibility, which he received in the castle of the third giant, to attack a giant and his brother with impunity. The final encounter is with the giant Galligantus, whom he first scares with a blast on a magic trumpet, then cuts off his head and sends it to King Arthur. Jack is rewarded by receiving the hand of Arthur's daughter in marriage.

As with most fairy tales, there are many different versions of the same story. For example, six variants appear in Ruth Manning-Sanders's book A Book of Giants. In one of these versions, Jack has an uncle who is a three headed-giant, whom he tricks into giving him a sword of sharpness, boots of speed, a cloak of darkness, and a cap of knowledge.

[edit] Film

Main article: Jack the Giant Killer (film)

In 1962, an American feature film adaptation of the story, also called Jack the Giant Killer, was released. It starred Kerwin Mathews and Torin Thatcher and was directed by Nathan H. Juran. Stop motion animation was used in many of the special effects scenes. Two versions of this film exist, of which the second has been dubbed and adjusted to create a musical^[1]; in the first, the imp in the bottle speaks with an Irish voice, and in the other version the imp speaks in a high pitched sing song voice with a xylophone as back up.^{[citation needed]}

Three prior films also used this title in 1916, 1925, and 1933, respectively.^[2] The name was also applied to films released as Jack and the Beanstalk in 1912 and 1955, respectively.^[2]

[edit] External links

The Arthuriad: Jack and Arthur — Analysis of the origins of the tale of Jack the Giant Killer, including analogues and a transcript (with textual notes) of one of the earliest 18th century chapbook versions of the tale
Flora Annie Steel's telling of Jack the Giant Killer, in her 1918 English Fairy Tales, from Project Gutenberg
The Story of Jack and the Giants, by Edward Dalziel, with many illustrations. Published 1851; from the collection of the University of California Libraries, via the Internet Archive. (an excellent Djvu scan is available)
Jack the Giant Killer at the Internet Movie Database
((http://www.archive.org/details/richard_chase-jack_in_the_giants_new_ground_1977))