DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0157
The Kyklops in Folk-Tales
upon the sun shone in, and the princess, transformed at once into a lizard, fell
into the sea. The nurse, having thus gained her end, substituted her own
daughter for the princess. The Giant of the Mountain came out to meet them,
riding on a high horse, with a sceptre in his right hand and a sword in his left.
On opening the litter, he and the father of the bride were equally astonished to
find an ugly wench instead of a beautiful princess. But, as the nurse explained
that in five months' time the bride would regain her good looks, the Giant
received her into his mountain along with her mother, though 'he punished the
king by making him an ostler for a term of five years. The Giant's practice was
to leave the mountain at dawn and return to it in the evening. He told his young
wife that she might enter all the rooms of his castle except one. Curiosity
forced her to enter the forbidden apartment, where she found the mother of the
giants. This portentous creature was sitting on a stool, holding in one hand a
large stone set in plates of gold and in the other an iron staff. Being able to
predict the future, she told the would-be queen that she would live to rue her
deceit, since the real princess was yet alive and already on her track. The maid
fled and told her mother, who, to secure the death of the princess, informed the
Giant that his wife was ill and wished all the fish in the harbour to be burnt
before her eyes. This was done ; but the princess had already escaped the
water and been restored to her former shape. She found her father, who
brought her to the Giant. The mother of the giants bade her son treat the
nurse's daughter as the nurse's daughter had been minded to treat the princess ;
and the false bride was accordingly burnt. The Giant then married the princess
and sent her father home a free man. Some months later the giant began to
ill-treat his wife, because she was more friendly with his mother than he cared
to be. The Giant's wife therefore fled on a ship to her former home. The Giant
himself followed her, and bribed a goldsmith to shut him in a large golden coffer
and sell him as a saint's relic to the king's daughter. The king's daughter
bought the coffer, and proceeded to say her prayers before it. But, while thus
engaged, she heard a slight noise, zicki zicki, and detected the Giant within.
She shrieked aloud. Soldiers came up, ran a red-hot spit through the key-hole
of the coffer, and so bored out the eye of the Giant inside it1. They then took
him and struck him on the ankle-bones till he died.
(5) The Three-eyed Ogre in a Folk-tale from Kypros-.
A woodcutter's eldest daughter once married a passing merchant, who gave
her a hundred and one keys. She might open a hundred chambers in his house,
but not the one over. For all that, she opened it. Looking from its window she
saw a ghastly sight. First, a corpse was borne out to burial without friends or
mourners. Then, her husband appeared among the tombs, made himself a head
as big as a sieve, three eyes, enormously long arms and hideous nails. With
1 In a folk-tale from Syra (E. M. Geldart op. cit. p. 16 f. ' The two brothers and the
forty-nine dragons') the hero kills the Drakoi by thrusting red-hot spits through the
chests in which they are concealed.
- Text in A. Sakellarios T& KvirpiaKa Athens 1868 iii. 136 ff. Translation (here con-
densed) inE. Legrand Recneil de contes populaires grecs Paris 1881 pp. xiv, 115—131 ;Le
Trimmatos ou l'ogre aux trois yeux.' The tale falls under the thirtieth or ' Bluebeard '-
formula of J. G. von Hahn Griechische und albcmesische Mdrchen Leipzig 1864 x- 56, on
which see T. F. Crane Italian Popular Tales London 1885 p. 77 ff. and J. Bolte—G.
Polivka Anmerkungcn zu den Kinder- u. Hausmdrchen der Briider Grimm Leipzig 1913
i. 13 ff., 370 ff., and especially 398 ff.
63 — 2
upon the sun shone in, and the princess, transformed at once into a lizard, fell
into the sea. The nurse, having thus gained her end, substituted her own
daughter for the princess. The Giant of the Mountain came out to meet them,
riding on a high horse, with a sceptre in his right hand and a sword in his left.
On opening the litter, he and the father of the bride were equally astonished to
find an ugly wench instead of a beautiful princess. But, as the nurse explained
that in five months' time the bride would regain her good looks, the Giant
received her into his mountain along with her mother, though 'he punished the
king by making him an ostler for a term of five years. The Giant's practice was
to leave the mountain at dawn and return to it in the evening. He told his young
wife that she might enter all the rooms of his castle except one. Curiosity
forced her to enter the forbidden apartment, where she found the mother of the
giants. This portentous creature was sitting on a stool, holding in one hand a
large stone set in plates of gold and in the other an iron staff. Being able to
predict the future, she told the would-be queen that she would live to rue her
deceit, since the real princess was yet alive and already on her track. The maid
fled and told her mother, who, to secure the death of the princess, informed the
Giant that his wife was ill and wished all the fish in the harbour to be burnt
before her eyes. This was done ; but the princess had already escaped the
water and been restored to her former shape. She found her father, who
brought her to the Giant. The mother of the giants bade her son treat the
nurse's daughter as the nurse's daughter had been minded to treat the princess ;
and the false bride was accordingly burnt. The Giant then married the princess
and sent her father home a free man. Some months later the giant began to
ill-treat his wife, because she was more friendly with his mother than he cared
to be. The Giant's wife therefore fled on a ship to her former home. The Giant
himself followed her, and bribed a goldsmith to shut him in a large golden coffer
and sell him as a saint's relic to the king's daughter. The king's daughter
bought the coffer, and proceeded to say her prayers before it. But, while thus
engaged, she heard a slight noise, zicki zicki, and detected the Giant within.
She shrieked aloud. Soldiers came up, ran a red-hot spit through the key-hole
of the coffer, and so bored out the eye of the Giant inside it1. They then took
him and struck him on the ankle-bones till he died.
(5) The Three-eyed Ogre in a Folk-tale from Kypros-.
A woodcutter's eldest daughter once married a passing merchant, who gave
her a hundred and one keys. She might open a hundred chambers in his house,
but not the one over. For all that, she opened it. Looking from its window she
saw a ghastly sight. First, a corpse was borne out to burial without friends or
mourners. Then, her husband appeared among the tombs, made himself a head
as big as a sieve, three eyes, enormously long arms and hideous nails. With
1 In a folk-tale from Syra (E. M. Geldart op. cit. p. 16 f. ' The two brothers and the
forty-nine dragons') the hero kills the Drakoi by thrusting red-hot spits through the
chests in which they are concealed.
- Text in A. Sakellarios T& KvirpiaKa Athens 1868 iii. 136 ff. Translation (here con-
densed) inE. Legrand Recneil de contes populaires grecs Paris 1881 pp. xiv, 115—131 ;Le
Trimmatos ou l'ogre aux trois yeux.' The tale falls under the thirtieth or ' Bluebeard '-
formula of J. G. von Hahn Griechische und albcmesische Mdrchen Leipzig 1864 x- 56, on
which see T. F. Crane Italian Popular Tales London 1885 p. 77 ff. and J. Bolte—G.
Polivka Anmerkungcn zu den Kinder- u. Hausmdrchen der Briider Grimm Leipzig 1913
i. 13 ff., 370 ff., and especially 398 ff.
63 — 2