Fairy Tales - Jack and the Giant-killer | Текст песни

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• Jack and the Giant-killer

The Adventures of Jack the Giant-Killer

In the time of good King Arthur there lived in Cornwall l a farmer who had an only son named Jack. This young man was very strong, brave and clever.

In those days a terrible great giant named Cormoran lived in the mountains of Cornwall. He was very, very tall, strong and cruel, and the people of neighbouring towns and villages were greatly afraid of him. He lived in a cave in the middle of a mountain. When he wanted food, he went out to get it.

When the giant came to a town or a village, people ran away from their homes, and he seized their cattle. He could carry six oxen on his back at a time. And he tied the pigs and sheep to the belt round his waist. This went on for many years and nobody could do anything because the giant was too strong. So all the people in Cornwall became poor and unhappy.

One day Jack was at the town hall when the magistrates were sitting and talking about the giant.

\"What will the man get who kills Cormoran?\" asked Jack.

\"He will get the giant's treasure,\" they answered.

\"Then let me try,\" said Jack.

So he got a horn, a spade, and a pick 2 and went to the mountain where Cormoran lived. All evening and all night, while the giant was asleep, Jack dug a very, very deep and wide pit in front of the cave. Then he covered it over with long branches and straw, and put earth over it, so that it looked like ordinary ground. When all this was done, Jack sat down near the pit, away from the mouth of the cave 3 and waited.

Early in the morning, he put his horn to his mouth and blew hard. The loud noise of the horn woke the giant. He rushed from his cave and shouted:

\"How dare you come here to disturb my rest? 4 You will pay dearly for it. I shall kill you and broil you for my breakfast.\"

But just as he shouted these words, he fell into the pit. He was very big and very heavy, and the mountain shook as he fell.

\"Oh, Giant! Where are you now? Do you still think you will broil me for your breakfast?\" shouted Jack. He laughed at the giant for a while, then he hit him hard on the head with the pick, and killed him. So that was the end of the terrible giant Cormoran.

Jack filled up the pit with earth, and went into the giant's cave. There he found a lot of treasure.

When the magistrates heard of Cormoran's death, they said:

\"From this day everybody must call this young man Jack the Giant-Killer.\" And they gave him presents—a sword and a belt. On the belt there were words in golden letters:

Here is the brave Cornish man, Who killed the giant Cormoran.

The news of Jack's victory soon reached all the corners of the country. Another giant whose name was Blunderbore heard of it too and decided to revenge himself on Jack. 5 This giant lived in a large castle which stood in the middle of a dark wood.

Four months later Jack was walking through this wood on his way from Cornwall to Wales. 6 He was very tired, so he sat down beside a spring and fell fast asleep. While he was sleeping, the giant Blunderbore came to the spring for water and found him there. When the giant read the words on Jack's belt, he picked him up, threw him over his shoulders and carried him to his castle.

Now, as the giant was passing through the thick wood, Jack woke. He was very surprised and frightened to find himself on the shoulders of the giant. His fright became greater when the giant entered the castle, and Jack saw the place where human bones lay, and when the giant said, \"And your bones, my fine man, will soon lie here, too.\" The giant did not want to eat poor Jack alone, so he locked him in a great room and went to fetch another giant, us brother, who lived in the same wood.

Jack looked carefully around the room. In a dark corner he found some good strong ropes. When he went to the window, he saw that the window was over the gate of the castle. Then far away he saw the two giants. They were coming о the castle.

\"Now,\" said Jack to himself, \"I'll die or I'll save myself.\" He took two of the ropes and made a strong loop at the end of each. 7 He stood at the window and watched the giants. Then, just as they were opening the iron gate of the castle, he threw a loop over the head of each of them. Then he pulled with all his strength. He pulled and he pulled and at last the giants fell to the ground, but they were still alive. So Jack climbed down the rope and killed them with his sword. After that he took the giant's keys and opened all the rooms of the castle. In the rooms he found three beautiful ladies who were almost starved to death. 8

\"Dear ladies,\" said Jack, \"I have killed the cruel giant and his brother. You are free now. These are the keys of the castle.\". Then Jack left them and went on his way to Wales.

But after a while Jack lost his way. Night came on before he found a place to spend the night. At last he saw a large house, so he went up to it and knocked at the gate. What was his surprise when a terrible great giant with two heads came out! Now this was a Welsh giant 9 who was very cunning and liked to play cruel tricks on people. Jack explained to the giant that he had no place to sleep that night and the giant invited him in and led him to a bedroom. Late in the night Jack heard a voice in the next room. It was the giant's voice and he was saying these words:

\"Though you lodge with me this night,

You shall not see the morning light:

My club shall dash your brains outright.\" 10

\"That's what you want to do,\" Jack said to himself. \"If that is your trick, I can be more cunning than you. I can play a better trick than that.\" So Jack got up out of his bed, put a long, thick piece of wood 11 in his place and hid in a corner of the room. Soon the giant crept in with his club and hit the bed hard several times with it. He was sure that he has broken every bone in Jack's body.

The next morning Jack, laughing in his sleeve, 12 thanked him for the night's rest.

\"How did you sleep?\" asked the giant. \"Did you not feel anything in the night?\"

\"No,\" said Jack. \"Nothing but a rat, which gave me two or three slaps with her tail.\" 13

The Welsh giant was greatly surprised, but he said nothing and led Jack to the breakfast table. He gave Jack a very, very big bowl full of porridge. Jack did not want to show the giant that it was too much for him. So he put a large leather bag under his loose coat, 14 in such a way that when he ate, he could put most of the porridge into the bag. The giant did not see what Jack was doing because he was very hungry and kept his eyes on his great bowl of porridge.

Then Jack said to the giant, \"Now I'll show you a trick.\" And he took a knife, cut open the bag and out came all the porridge.

\"Oh, I can do that trick myself!\" cried the giant. And he took a knife and cut open his own belly, and at once fell down dead.

Some days after this, when Jack was on the road, he met a noble knight of King Arthur's court. The knight was on his way to save his lady from the enchantments of a wicked magician. 15 Jack offered to go with him. Together they had a lot of adventures. One day Jack won a fight with a three-headed giant and got the most wonderful magic things from him: the cap of knowledge which told you all that you want to know, the shoes of swiftness which made you the fastest man in the world, the coat of invisibility which made you invisible, and the sharp sword which cut anything in two parts. All these wonderful things helped Jack to break the enchantments 16 of the wicked magician and free the lady. The lady was very happy to return to her dear knight.

Then the knight and his lady and Jack went to King Arthur's court, where they were received with great joy. And Jack was made a Knight of the Round Table.

Jack now decided to rid the country of giants. 17 \"There are still many bad giants in the country, \" said Jack to King Arthur, \"and I wish to kill them and save thousands of people.\"

The king listened to this noble wish, gave Jack all the things he needed and sent him on his way.

Jack rode over high hills and wonderful mountains, and after many days came upon a giant who was sitting in front of the cave where he lived. There was an iron club by his side. He was a horrible-looking giant. His eyes were like fire, his hair was like curled snakes. 18 Jack got down from his horse and put on his invisible coat. Then he went up close to the giant and said, \"Oh, there you are! It will not be long before I kill you.\"

The giant could not see Jack, of course. Then Jack came nearer and killed the giant with his magic sword. After that he went into the giant's cave. He passed through many rooms, and came at last to a large room where there was a boiling copper 19 and a large table, at which the giant usually had his dinner. In the next room, behind an iron gate, Jack found a lot of captives. The unhappy

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