King Arthur's Son from Jack the Giant Killer
The folk story of Jack the Giant Killer is one of those rare fairy tale stories that's also an Arthurian story - being that its setting during Arthur's reign. Other stories of this type include Tom Thumb and Child Rowland. These stories are generally post-Malory. (unfortunately)
Apparently, according to some scholars the story of "the giant slaying Jack" arose because of the popularity of Arthur himself as the "Slayer of Giants" was so numerous, people were getting bored with it. Jack himself and his story comes off as hodgepodge of various motifs that you find elsewhere in other stories.
What caught my attention with this story, is that the largest episode of Jack's story involves Jack meeting up with a nameless son of King Arthur and adventuring with him.
So, the story of Jack begins with a simple introduction and description of Jack and his first enemy, Cormoran:
For the first three sections of the story, Jack goes around killing giants and making a name for himself (including a famous moment where he tricks a giant into commiting suicide).
For this post, we're skipping over to the part where King Arthur's son is introduced:
Lol. When I was reading this part, I couldn't help but imagine this Prince is actually Sir Loholt, who is sometimes Arthur's Legit son with Guinevere. It actually makes a lot of sense with Lanzelet's description of him:
So yeah, for me he's Prince Loholt. :) Continuing on:
Yup. He's an Arthurian male character, alright. Too nice, not enough braincells.
Also, its kind of heartwarming to know Arthur and Guinevere would have a son who's so kind and generous, he wouldn't think twice to give up his riches if it meant helping someone.
So next up, Jack suggests that they sleep over at a giant's place. This is the other interesting about Jack the Giant Killer: He personally knows this giant and depending on the version, he claims this giant is actually his uncle. Other stories claim the giant is an idiot and Jack's just smooth talking him, but I think its way more interesting if the Giant IS Jack's relative. In Early Arthurian Lore, a number of giant-slayers, including Arthur, Kay and Gawain, all have giantish attributes (Kay's famous superpowers), have giants for relatives (Guinevere, in Welsh myth, is the daughter of Gogfran the giant) or are giants themselves.
Prince: Oh, so that means you're a giant, too? Jack: I guess? Prince: Cool. My Mother, the Queen, is a giantess as well. We're kinsmen! Jack: ... Prince: Also, my uncle can grow really big.
So Jack goes up to the giant's castle and knocks on the door:
So Jack and the Prince spend the night in the giant's castle while the giant himself is locked away. The next day, the Prince continues his journey while Jack promises to catch up after he deals with the giant. What's interesting here is that this giant isn't slain like the others. He survives, unlike Jack's other foes - which kinda puts more points to my theory that this really is Jack's uncle and Jack is a half-breed giant of sorts.
The giant wants to reward Jack:
These magic items are your classic fairy tale archetypal tools that have their inspiration found in earlier myths: You have your bog-standard cuts-through-anything magic sword (like Excalibur), the slippers are the "Seven-League boots" (Based on Hermes' winged sandals) and you have an item that confers invisibility (It comes in many forms: Hade's helm, Siegfried's cloak and even Arthur himself has an Invisibility cloak too)
Jack getting these items is a way to give your hero superpowers without utilizing... unsavory methods. That he's able to use these items despite belonging to - and presumably used by - a giant is never questioned.
Moving on, we get to meet the "Possessed Lady" Loholt the Prince was after this whole time:
Well that was rude. So naturally, the Prince despairs until Jack does something about it:
Methinks that this lady is actually a murderous sorceress and isn't actually possessed.
Lady: Um, what is wrong with him? Jack: *Puts on his Cap* ...Camelot, apparently...
So once again, its up to Jack to save the day.
Are you sure this Lady is possessed? Also, she's scolding Satan - definitely wife material Queen material.
And so, Satan was killed (lol), the Lady was restored to her former good looks (even though she was already described as beautiful), she and the Prince get married and Jack gets to be one of the Knights of the Round Table.
And that's the end of this section of Jack the Giant Killer's story and end of this post. Jack's story goes on for a few more episodes of giant-slaying before ending on your typical "...and they lived happily ever. The End."
I wonder what the usual cast's (Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin, Lancelot, Gawain, etc.) reaction to this story would be.
It's notable that (at least in the version I'm reading) this section with "King Arthur's Son " is longer than other stories. Moreover, no giants are actually killed in it. The "uncle" giant was merely hood-winked and Jack uncharacteristically spares him. The story is mostly about helping King Arthur's son woo a demonically possessed Lady.
