FIRESIDE STORIES, — 533

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Whoever doth this trumpet blow,*

Shall soon the giant overthrow,

And break the black enchantment straight -
So all shall be in happy state.

Jack at once accepted the challenge, and putting the trumpet
to his mouth, gave a blast that made the hills re-echo. The
castle trembled to its foundations, and the giant and the conjuror
were overstricken with fear, knowing that the reign of their
enchantments was at an end. The former was speedily slain by
Jack ; but the conjuror, mounting up into the air, was carried
away in a whirlwind, and never heard of more. The enchant-
ments were immediately broken, and all the lords and ladies, who
had so long been cruelly transformed, were standing on the native
earth in their natural shapes, the castle having vanished with the
conjuror.

The only relic of the giant which was left was the head, which
Jack cut off in the first instance, and which we must suppose
rolled away from the influence of the enchanted castle, or it
would have “vanished into thin air” with the body. It was for-
tunate that it did so, for it proved an inestimable trophy at the
Court of King Arthur, where Jack the Giant Killer was shortly
afterwards united to the Duke’s daughter, whom he had freed
from enchantment, “not only to the joy of the Court, but of all
the kingdom.” To complete his happiness, he was endowed with
a noble house and estates; and his enchant for giant-killing
having subsided—or, what is more probable, no more monsters

”

* Variations of this incident are found in romances of all nations,