The Story of Jack and the Giants | Page 6

Lady thank Jack for their delivery]
"I hope," said Jack, "you will not tarry here long but pray tell me, what
is the meaning of your captivity?"
[Illustration: Jack releaseth the captive Ladies]
"Alas!" said one, "we have been taken by the Giants that hold this cave,
and are kept till they have a feast; then the fattest of us is killed and

cooked. It is not long since they took three for this purpose."
"Say you so?" said Jack; "I have given them such a dinner that it will
be long enough before they want more." The captives were amazed at
his words. "You may believe me," said Jack; "for I have slain both the
monsters, and sent their heads in a wagon to King Arthur, as trophies of
my victory."
To shew them that what he said was true, he unlocked the gate, and set
them all free. Then he led them to the great room, where they feasted
plentifully. Supper being over, they searched the Giant's coffers, and
Jack shared the store among the captives. Jack started at sunrise to the
house of the Knight, whom he had left not long before.
[Illustration: Initial]
Presently Jack reached the Knight's castle, where he was received with
the greatest joy. In honour of the hero's exploits, a grand feast was
given, which lasted many days. The Knight also presented Jack with a
beautiful ring, on which was engraved the Giant dragging the knight
and the lady by the hair, with this motto:
"We were in sad distress, you see, Under the Giant's fierce command,
But gained our lives and liberty By valiant Jack's victorious hand."
Among the guests present at the feast were fire aged gentlemen, who
were fathers to some of those captives who had been freed by Jack
from the dungeon. These old men pressed round him with tears of joy,
and returned him thanks. One day the bowl went round merrily, and
every one drank to the health and long life of the gallant hero. The hall
resounded with peals of laughter and joyful cries.
[Illustration: A pale Herald interrupteth the Feast]
But, lo! to the midst, a herald, pale and breathless with haste and terror,
rushed in, and told the company, that Thundel, a Giant with an
immense head, having heard of the death of his two kinsmen, was come
to take revenge on Jack, and that he was now near the house, and the

country-people all flying before him.
At this dismal news, the very boldest of the guests trembled; but Jack
drew his sword, and said, "Let him come; I have a tool to pick his teeth
with. Pray, ladies and gentlemen, walk into the garden, and you shall
joyfully behold the Giant's defeat and death."
The knight's castle was surrounded by a moat, thirty feet deep and
twenty wide, over which lay a drawbridge. Jack set men to work, to cut
the bridge on both sides, near the middle; and then dressing himself in
his invisible coat, went against the Giant with his sword of sharpness.
As he came close to him, though the Giant could not see him, yet he
cried out,--
"Fie! foh! fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman; Be he alive or be
he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread."
"Say you so, my friend?" said Jack; "you are a clever miller indeed!"
"Art thou," cried the Giant, "the villain who killed my kinsmen? Then I
will tear thee with my teeth, and grind thy bones to powder."
"You must catch me first," said Jack; and throwing off his invisible
coat, he put on his shoes of swiftness, and began to run; the Giant
following him like a walking castle, making the earth shake at every
step.
[Illustration: The Stratagem of Jack with the Giant Thundel]
Jack led him round and round the walls of the castle, that the company
might see the monster; and to finish the work. Jack ran over the
drawbridge, the Giant going after him with his club: but when the Giant
came to the middle, where the bridge had been cut on both sides, the
great weight of his body made it break, and he tumbled into the water,
where he rolled about like a large whale. Jack now stood by the side of
the moat, and laughed and jeered at him, saying,
"I think you told me you would grind my bones to powder; when will

you begin?"
[Illustration: Jack maketh sport of Him, and draggeth Him out of the
Moat]
[Illustration: Jack maketh sport of Him, and draggeth Him out of the
Moat]
The Giant foamed horridly at the mouth with fury, and plunged from
side to side of the moat; but he could not get out to have revenge