![Cormoran](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Cormoran.png)
Cormoran ( or ) is a
giant associated with
St. Michael's Mount in the folklore of
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. Local tradition credits him with creating the island, in some versions with the aid of his wife Cormelian, and using it as a base to raid cattle from the mainland communities. Cormoran appears in the English
fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
"
Jack the Giant Killer
"Jack the Giant Killer" is a Cornish fairy tale and legend about a young adult who slays a number of bad giants during King Arthur's reign. The tale is characterised by violence, gore and blood-letting. Giants are prominent in Cornish folklor ...
" as the first giant slain by the hero,
Jack, and in tales of "
Tom the Tinkeard
Tom Hickathrift (or sometimes Jack Hickathrift) is a legendary figure of East Anglian English folklore — a character similar to Jack the Giant Killer. He famously battled a giant, and is sometimes said to be a giant himself, though normall ...
" as a giant too old to present a serious threat.
Origin
One of many giants featured in
Cornish folklore, the character derives from local traditions about
St. Michael's Mount. The name "Cormoran" is not found in the early traditions; it first appears in the
chapbook
A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch.
In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...
versions of the "
Jack the Giant Killer
"Jack the Giant Killer" is a Cornish fairy tale and legend about a young adult who slays a number of bad giants during King Arthur's reign. The tale is characterised by violence, gore and blood-letting. Giants are prominent in Cornish folklor ...
" story printed in
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...
and
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
, and is not of Cornish origin.
The name may be related to
Corineus, the legendary namesake of
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. Corineus is associated with St. Michael's Mount, and is credited with defeating a giant named
Gogmagog in
Geoffrey of Monmouth's influential pseudohistory ''
Historia Regum Britanniae
''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...
'', which may be a prototype of the Cormoran tradition.
Appearances
Local traditions
The giant eventually known as Cormoran is attributed with constructing
St. Michael's Mount, a
tidal island
A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands, many of them have been sites of ...
off Cornwall's southern coast. According to the folklore, he carried white
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
from the mainland at low tide to build the island. In some versions, the giant's wife, Cormelian, assisted by carrying stones in her apron. According to one version, when Cormoran fell asleep from exhaustion, his more industrious wife fetched
greenstone from a nearer source, eschewing the less accessible granite. When she was halfway back, Cormoran awoke to discover Cormelian bringing different stones than he wanted, and kicked her. The stones fell from her apron and formed Chapel Rock.
[
From his post at St. Michael's Mount, Cormoran raided the countryside for cattle.] He was distinguished by having six digits on each hand and foot. Folklorist Mary Williams reported being told that the skeleton of a man over seven feet tall had been found during an excavation at the Mount.
Cormoran is often associated with the giant of Trencrom
Trencrom is a hamlet south of St Ives, Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwal ...
in local folklore. The two are said to have thrown boulders back and forth as recreation; this is given as the explanation for the many loose boulders found throughout the area. In one version, the Trencrom giant threw an enormous hammer over for Cormoran, but accidentally hit and killed Cormelian; they buried her at Chapel Rock.[
]
Jack the Giant Killer
The giant of St. Michael's Mount also appears in the English fairy tale "Jack the Giant Killer
"Jack the Giant Killer" is a Cornish fairy tale and legend about a young adult who slays a number of bad giants during King Arthur's reign. The tale is characterised by violence, gore and blood-letting. Giants are prominent in Cornish folklor ...
", early chapbook versions of which are the first to name him Cormoran.[ According to Joseph Jacobs' account, Cormoran is 5.5 m (18 ft) tall and measures about 2.75 m (9 ft) around the waist.] He lives in a cave on St Michael's Mount, using the times of ebb tide to walk to the mainland.[ He regularly raids the countryside, "feast ngon poor souls…gentleman, lady, or child, or what on his hand he could lay,"][ and "making nothing of carrying half-a-dozen oxen on his back at a time; and as for…]sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...
and hogs, he would tie them around his waist like a bunch of tallow
Tallow is a rendering (industrial), rendered form of beef or mutton fat, primarily made up of triglycerides.
In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton fat. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain techn ...
-dips."[
In Jacobs's version, the councillors of ]Penzance
Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...
convene during the winter to solve the issue of Cormoran's raids on the mainland. After offering the giant's treasure as reward for his disposal, a villein farmer's boy named Jack takes it upon himself to kill Cormoran.[ Older chapbooks make no reference to the council, and attribute Jack's actions to a love for fantasy, chivalry, and adventure.] In both versions, in the late evening Jack swims to the island and digs a 6.75 m (22 ft) trapping pit,[ although some local legends place the pit to the north in ]Morvah
Morvah is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village on the Penwith, Penwith peninsula in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
Geography
The village is centred approximately eight miles (13 km) west-southwest of St Ives, Corn ...
.
After completing the pit the following morning, Jack blows a horn to awaken the giant. Cormoran storms out, threatening to broil Jack whole, but falls into the hidden pit. After being taunted for some time, Cormoran is killed by a blow from a pickaxe or mattock.[ After filling in the hole, Jack retrieves the giant's treasure. According to the Morvah tradition, a rock is placed over the grave. Today this rock is called Giant's Grave. Local lore holds that the giant's ghost can sometimes be heard beneath it.
For his service to ]Penwith
Penwith (; kw, Pennwydh) is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former Non-metropolitan district, local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. ...
, Jack is officially titled "Jack the Giant-Killer" and awarded a belt on which was written:[
]
Here's the right valiant Cornishman,
Who slew the giant Cormoran.
Tom the Tinkeard
The giant of St. Michael's Mount also appears in the drolls about Tom the Tinkeard
Tom Hickathrift (or sometimes Jack Hickathrift) is a legendary figure of East Anglian English folklore — a character similar to Jack the Giant Killer. He famously battled a giant, and is sometimes said to be a giant himself, though normall ...
, a local Cornish variant of " Tom Hickathrift". William Bottrell
William Bottrell (1816–1881) was born at Rafta, St Levan in Cornwall on 7 March 1816. He contributed greatly to the preservation of Cornish mythology. Both he and Thomas Quiller Couch contributed folk stories of West Cornwall for Robert Hunt's ...
recorded a tale of the giant's last raid: here, the giant is not killed, but lives to grow old and frail. Becoming hungry, he makes one last incursion to steal a bullock from an enchanter on the mainland. However, the enchanter strikes him immobile as the sea rises around him. He must spend the evening in the cold sea with the bull hanging from around his neck; he subsequently retreats to the Mount hungry and defeated. Later, Tom visits the giant and takes pity on him, and arranges for his aunt Nancy of Gulval
Gulval ( kw, Lannystli) is a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Although historically a parish in its own right, Gulval was incorporated into the parishes of Ludgvan, Madron and Penzance in 1934, and is now considered to be a suburb ...
to sell him her store of eggs and butter. This both feeds the giant and makes Nancy's family rich.
References
{{Jack
Arthurian characters
British folklore
Cornish folklore
English folklore
English giants
Jack the Giant Killer