| “ | Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman - Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread. | „ |
| ~ The Giant's classical line |
The Giant is the main antagonist of the popular fairy tale, Jack and the Beanstalk, which has many variants across the world, itself being based loosely on much older folk tales and fairy tales, such as Jack the Giant-Killer.
Depending on the story he is either a true giant (as his name would suggest) or an ogre (a man-eating monster similar to a giant, but often smaller and more openly monstrous in appearance).
History[]
In most versions of the story the Giant is a large, man-eating monster who lives in a magical floating castle high above the clouds. The Giant would regularly come down to harass humans and steal many marvellous treasures for himself, greedily keeping them.
In some versions the Giant has a wife who he often mistreated but in many he is a solitary creature. In all versions Jack ends up climbing a magical beanstalk and finds his way to the Giant's castle, where he finds some of the Giant's magical treasure.
The Giant then spots Jack and pursues the boy, intent on killing and eating him, yet Jack is too quick and manages to flee down the beanstalk. As the Giant climbs down after him Jack proceeds to chop the beanstalk down, killing him (in some versions the Giant instead slips and falls).
With the Giant gone Jack is able to pull his family out of poverty, as well as stop the evil pillaging of the monster.
Personality[]
The Giant is often depicted as greedy and malevolent, he liked to steal from humans and most (if not all) of his wealth was ill-gotten, he also liked to capture humans and eat them, often in rather disturbing ways, such as grinding their bones to make bread.
He was often shown as slow-witted and quick to violence, thus pursued Jack without hesitation and even tried to climb down the beanstalk despite his large size making it quite difficult.
In some versions of the story he has a wife, who he treats with little respect, the one thing he does often seem to take pleasure in is a magic harp which he demands play music for him, in many stories it is the theft of this harp (which is often alive) that sparks the furious chase between him and Jack.
Abilities[]
The Giant is often depicted as extremely large and strong but lacks many of the other magical properties associated with true Giants, though he did come from a magical kingdom far above the clouds. He was for all intents a larger than life human, as noted by how he easily died from falling.
The Giant also has a keen sense of smell, which is how he can sense Jack's presence by smell whenever he is nearby.
In other versions of the story the Giant is more monstrous in appearance, with sharp fangs and claws, this depiction is common of Ogres, it is common for fairy tale "Giants" to often combine elements of the two creatures.
Trivia[]
- The story is loosely based on earlier Jack the Giant-Killer stories, but is often less violent, as Jack the Giant-Killer was much more active in his murder of Giants, while Jack in the story of Jack and the Beanstalk often acts out of self-defence.
- The Giant traditionally has no name, but in same versions is called Blunderbore, likely due to the connections with Jack the Giant-Killer.