Lesley Conger

Lesley Conger, whose subsequent picture-book, Tops and Bottoms, is a retelling of a traditional Northamptonshire tale concerning a battle of wits between a goblin and a farmer, presents the stories of three giants, and of their pint-sized adversaries, in this brief thematic collection.

In The Giant and the Cobbler, the genesis of the Wrekin - a large hill near the town of Shrewsbury - is explained, as a terrible giant, determined to do something truly awful, sets out with a massive pile of earth, intending to use it to create a flood that will drown all of Shrewsbury. Fortunately, a skinny, weak, and cowardly cobbler, who, for all his flaws, is rather clever, and cares for his Shrewsbury customers, is able to trick the giant into depositing his load in a less harmful manner...

How Big-Mouth Wrestled the Giant tells the tale, not of the youngest, nor even of the eldest of three brothers, but (atypically, in folklore) of the middle brother, a braggart with a penchant for exaggeration. When Big-Mouth encounters the giant of Wrestling Wood one day, even his terror can't stop his mouth, and his incessant bragging eventually convinces his massive adversary that he is indestructible. Of course, bragging may have won Big-Mouth the day, but amusingly, it doesn't bring him any acclaim...

The third and final selection is The Brave Little Tailor, in which a tailor's actions, in fashioning for himself a belt with the motto "Seven At A Blow" upon it - indicating his slaughter of seven flies, when his strawberry-jam was disturbed - leads to unexpected consequences, when it is misunderstood by the king, who concludes that here is the very man to rid the kingdom of the two dangerous giants in the Northern Woods!

Engagingly told, and illustrated in a vintage style - the artwork here is done in black and white, with deep purple accents - Three Giant Stories is a fun little collection. I did wish that Conger had included some information as to her sources - the first selection is clearly English, and the third, German, but what about the second? I may have to track down Diane Goode's Book of Giants and Little People, which apparently also contains a retelling of this story, and see if she gives any further details. Recommended to young folklore enthusiasts, particularly those who enjoy tales of giants.… (mere)

A clever and hard-working farmer manages to outwit a goblin in this folktale from England's Northamptonshire, splitting his crop with his opponent three times, and managing to come out with the better part of the bargain in each case. The drama begins when the farmer, never having understood why his west field had to law fallow - a custom inherited from his father - decides to cultivate it, and is immediately confronted by the goblin, who demands his crop. Convincing his adversary to take half of the crop (but to allow him to do all the work), the farmer plants corn when the goblin demands the bottoms, and carrots when he chooses the tops. But when, having grown tired of being bested, the goblin instead divides the field itself into two halves, and states that whoever finishes harvesting their share of the crop first will get everything, it looks like the farmer's luck has run out. Or has it...?

This tale type, in which a farmer tricks some sort of supernatural opponent - a goblin, a devil, a troll - in a game of choice, can be found in many traditions the world over. It is tale type 1030, "Man and Ogre Share the Harvest," in the Aarne-Thompson folklore classification system, and is similar to the Brothers Grimm tale, Der Bauer und der Teufel ("The Peasant and the Devil"), amongst others. This picture-book presentation of the English variant of the story, published in 1970, is engaging, and the artwork (watercolor, I think?) appealing, in a vintage way. I do wish that Conger had given some indication of her source material, as the only indication that this tale comes from Northamptonshire, is to be found in the dust-jacket blurb. Leaving that issue aside, Tops and Bottoms is an engaging little book, one I would recommend to young folktale lovers, and to fans of illustrator Imero Gobbato.… (mere)