Giants in Fairy Tales

The main characteristic of giants is their size. To maintain it they have to eat a lot and people are frequently on their menus. Long legs and occasionally special footwear give them the advantage of moving fast. But just like other predators in nature, they are not very smart.

Hop-o'-my-Thumb is essentially a French version of Hansel and Gretel. There are seven boys instead of a boy and girl and a giant instead of the witch. Giant loves to eat people and wants to kill the boys when they are sleeping in their beds. But he is outsmarted and kills his own daughters instead. Not much later he is also robbed of his greatest possession - seven-league boots.

The giant in Jack and the Beanstalk is the most famous giant in classic fairy tales. He is a man-eater too and has several precious objects. When Jack steals some of them, he tries to catch him and kill him. But Jack escapes from his pursuer and with some help from his mother destroys the beanstalk which results in the giant's fall and death.

Jack from this story, mostly known in Great Britain, differs from other fairy tales with giants by lack of excuses for killing the giants. Jack just wants to destroy them all. Of course, we find them dangerous, cruel, and bloodthirsty by the way, but Jack seems to kill them all mostly because he likes killing. And he is very successful with that, destroying everybody who crosses his path, even a few giants at the time. Jack's crusade is the most gory among all classic fairy tales about giants.

Giants rely on their impressive presence and are quite confident and carefree. They don't really expect that somebody would dare even approach them, let alone threaten them or their possessions.

At the beginning of Arabian Nights, we learn that great King Shahrayar is not immune to women's infidelity. His brother finds his wife unfaithful too. Then they encounter a giant with a mistress locked in a cage and hide from danger at the last moment. When the giant falls asleep they see that even giants and cages can't prevent women's infidelity.

The giant in the third of Sinbad's voyages is another man-eating monster who manages to imprison Sinbad's crew in his cave. By force, people have no chance to defeat him. It takes a lot of effort and wit to trick him but eventually, the giant loses his prey and his sight too. While Sinbad survives, most of his remaining companions are killed by rocks thrown by other giants.

Most illustrators portray the shapeshifting ogre as a kind of magician but the narration is pretty clear - the ogre is a man-eating giant with the power of shapeshifting. This is how Henry Thiriet saw the final obstacle to Puss in Boot's master plan.

You probably already know - the cat flatters the ogre until he starts changing into different animals. When he turns into a mouse, Puss in Boots simply eats him. A giant is a giant only as long as he isn't anymore.

We have already mentioned a few naive giants but they can also be just plain stupid. Here are a few examples:

This less-known fairy tale by the Grimms is a story about a boy who marries a princess but loses her and when he tries to get her back meets three giants. They have three magical objects and each one of them is priceless. But they argue how to distribute them and the boy who came by seems acceptable for the role of the judge. Well, he thinks that he should have all three objects and tricks them out of them!

Brave Little Tailor by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm is probably the second most popular fairy tale with giants. They are not in the main role but play an important part in the tailor's way to the royal position. At first, he meets one who takes him to the cave with many other giants. Suffice it to say he outsmarts them all. Later, he has to kill two giants who terrorize the land and manages to provoke both so successfully that they kill each other.

In rare cases, giants can be friendly and helpful. Just don't count on that, although it seems in recent years the level of kindness among giants is on the rise.

This is another less-known fairy tale from the collection by the Grimm Brothers. It starts with a couple who have a small and weak son. A giant comes by and takes the boy to raise him. Six years later the boy returns home. He is a huge man, almost a giant with immense strength and exceptional will to help.

Selfish Giant is a fairy tale written by Oscar Wilde. There's a giant who has a beautiful garden that is frequently visited by children. Giant doesn't want them to destroy flowers and other stuff, so he fences the garden. Without kids, the garden loses life. Winter comes in permanently. After some time, the giant realizes that the garden should be open to all children, and spring returns to the garden. When many years later the giant dies he goes to heaven.

My resources:

https://charles-perraults-fairy-tales.weebly.com/books/perraults-fairy-tales-illustrated-by-thiriet
https://charlesrobinsonillustrator.blogspot.com/2024/02/happy-prince.html
https://myfairyland.jimdofree.com/giant/