Everybody at his approach ran out of their houses, while he
seized on their cattle, making nothing of carrying half-a-dozen oxen
on his back at a time; and as for their sheep and hogs, he would tie
them round his waist like a bunch of tallow-dips. He had done this
for many years, so that all Cornwall was in despair.
One day Jack happened to be at the town hall when the magistrates were
sitting in council about the giant. He asked, "What reward will be
given to the man who kills Cormoran?" "The giant's treasure," they
said, "will be the reward." Quoth Jack, "Then let me undertake it."
So he got a horn, shovel, and pickaxe, and went over to the Mount in
the beginning of a dark winter's evening, when he fell to work, and
before morning had dug a pit twenty-two feet deep, and nearly as
broad, covering it over with long sticks and straw. Then he strewed a
little mold over it, so that it appeared like plain ground. Jack then
placed himself on the opposite side of the pit, farthest from the
giant's lodging, and, just at the break of day, he put the horn to
his mouth, and blew. This noise roused the giant, who rushed from his
cave, crying: "You incorrigible villain, are you come here to disturb
my rest? You shall pay dearly for this.
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