Giants and dwarfs.

  • Wood, Edward J.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Giants and dwarfs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    story of Jack the Giant-killer in western lore is probably that of Thor and the giant Skrimmer in the Edda of Snorro. Both in this work and in Xiphi- line giants in the air and walking on the earth occur. It is probable that most of such domestic narrative fictions are of Teutonic origin. At one time the great giganticide is Thor; at another he robes him- self in the coat which renders him invisible, and which is the ancient German Nebel-kappe, or cloud- cloak, fabled to belong to King Alberich and the other dwarfs of Teutonic romance, who clad therein became invisible; and at another time he wears the shoes of swiftness in which Loke escaped from Valhalla. Jack’s history, according to the common version, tells us that he, having got a little money, travelled into Flintshire, and came to a large house in a lonesome place. By reason of his present necessity, he took courage to knock at the gate, when, to his amazement, there came forth a monstrous giant with two heads, yet he did not seem so fiery as some former giants, for he was a Welsh giant. This monster was rendered less fiery than he would naturally have been in consequence of his break- fasting on a great bowl of hasty-pudding. Jack was received into the giant’s habitation, and in due course retired to bed. But overhearing his entertainer threaten his life, Jack put a billet into the bed in the stead of himself. The deceived giant with a club (an ancient weapon of which giants were very fond,
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