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X.
As when some school-boy—idle thief—
With double-knotted handkerchief,
What time his comrade stooping low,
With tightened skin invites the blow;
With sundry feints, delays to smite,
And baulks, to linger out delight;
So Jack, with thorough-going blade,
Stood aiming at the Giant's head.
At last the champion cried, "Here goes
Struck, and cut off the monster's—nose.
Like a thousand bulls all roaring mad,
Was the furious Giant's shout,
With the iron club, which I said he had,
Oh! how he laid about!
"Oho! if that's your way, old cock,
We must finish the game," quoth Jack;
So he vaulted upon the chopping-block,
And ran him through the back.
The Giant howled; the rocks around
Thrilled with his demon squall,
Then flat he fell upon the ground,
As the Monument might fall.
XI.
The Giants slain, the Cornish man
Despatched their gory heads by van
To great King Arthur;—gifts more queer
Have ne'er been sent to our Sovereign dear.
She gets gigantic cheeses, cakes,
Which loyal-hearted subject makes;
Gigantic peaches, melons, pumpkins,
Presented by her faithful bumpkins;
And giant heads of brocoli—not
The heads of Giants sent to pot—
Long may such heads, and such alone,
Be laid before her stainless throne!
XII.
Now Jack the darksome den explores,
And through its turns and windings pores,
'Till to a spacious hall he comes,
Where, o'er the hearth, a cauldron hums,
Much like a knacker's in the slums;
Hard by, a squalid table stood,
All foul with fat, and brains, and blood;
The two great Ogres' carrion food.
Through iron grate, the board beside,
Pale captive wretches he descried;
Who, when they saw the hero, cried,
"Alas! here comes another, booked,
Like us, poor pris'ners, to be cooked."
"Thank you," said Jack; "the Giants twain
Have had their bellyful of me;
To prove I do not boast in vain,
Behold, my bucks of brass, you 're free!"
And he brast the bars right speedily.
To meat they went, and, supper done,
To the treasury they hied each one
And filled their pockets full of money.
What Giants could want with silver and gold,
In sooth tradition hath not told:—
'T is a question rather funny.
XIII.
The very next day
The rest went away,
To their dear little wives and their daughters,
But Jack to the knight's
Repairs with delights
To recruit himself after his slaughters.
The lady fair and the gentle knight
Were glad to see Sir Jack "all right;"
Resolved to "do the handsome thing,"
They decked his finger with a ring
Of gold that with the diamond shone—
This motto was engraved thereon:—
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XIV.
The feast is spread in the knightly hall,
And the guests are uproarious, one and all,
Drinking success to the hero stout
Who larruped the Giants out-and-out;
When, lo! all their mirth was changed to gloom,
For a herald, all whey-faced, rushed into the room.
Oh, the horrified wight!
What a terrible sight!
He spoke—five hundred jaws were still;
Eyes, twice five hundred, staring wide—
"Mac Thundel's coming, bent to kill
You, valiant champion—hide, sir, hide!"
The cry of the crowd without they hear,
"Mac Thundel is coming, oh dear! oh dear!"
"And who the deuce is this Mac Thundel,
That I," Sir Jack replied, "should bundle?"
"Mac Thundel, Sir Knight, is a two-headed beggar,
You have slain his two kinsmen, the Giants Mac Gregor:
That he 'll kill you and eat you he swears, or 'de'il tak' him,'"
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed bold Jack, "let him come—I shall whack him."
"Gentles and ladies, pray walk below
To the castle yard with me;
You don't object to sport I know,
And rare sport you shall see."
"Success to gallant Jack!" they shout,
And follow, straight, the champion stout.
The knight's retainers he summons, all hands,
And thus with hasty speech commands:-
"Ho! merrymen, all, to the castle moat,
Cut the drawbridge well nigh through;
While I put on this elegant coat
The knaves his bidding do.
The form of the hero dissolves in air,
And the ladies exclaim and the gentlemen stare.
XV.