Episode 52: Giants

“The old works of Giants stood desolate”

This episode I’ve got a few stories of the many giants from Britain awkwardly stuck together with a vague framing narrative involving the surprising return of one of the podcasts greatest villains/misunderstood just getting on with his life dudes to date.

On the way we’ll take in tiny elephants, wulvers, a mermaid, simps, cobblers, tall tales, unfortunate seagulls and slave driving saints in an episode suitably scaled for the topic.

I’m genuinely so excited to bring you the crazy sequel I stumbled on that I just wasn’t aware existed, which really does go to sheer ridiculous levels in its attempt to up the ante and top the original.

Hope you very much enjoy!

Some giants!

A few small pictures of giants to put you in the mood – these giants may, or may not, appear in the episode.

Origins of Britain episodes

So the key narrative story here is a prequel to the origin of Britan stories. These were recorded way back when – if you want a refresher the two episodes are below.

Featured Folklorist: Geoffery of Monmouth

Jessie Saxby

So I mention Jessie Saxby at length in the episode – thanks to her contribution in the form of the wonderful Story about the two Giants on Unst.

I haven’t got a biography of her written up myself but there’s a good overview here: University of Edinburgh: Jessie Saxby, and if you’re really interested there’s a whole book on her I need to get round to reading at some point: Tales from Wulver’s Hool .

You can find the pulls no punches article about the Wulver here: https://www.shetlandmuseumandarchives.org.uk/blog/the-real-story-behind-the-shetland-wulver.

If you’re looking for the story about the mermaids and the giants though, that’s not available online – and the reason why is actually fairly interesting – her long life has left her in copyright for a similarly long time, and I actually came across an interesting article on the subject that uses her as an example (I do not expect most listeners to be interested, but copyright is rather relevant to me for research purposes). https://www.copyright-debate.com/copyright-balancing-act-heaney

This does mean the works of hers I have linked in the bibliography are technically still in copyright and probably shouldn’t be online. But I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.

Views of Unst and beyond

Hermaness, Outstack and Saxavord – the latter topped with a Radar Station, which certainly wasn’t there in the giants day!

Top Image (Left):  Aurora borealis over Saxa Vord by Mike Pennington, CC BY-SA 2.0. (Right): Mike Pennington / Mist forming over the cliffs at the north end of Hermaness / CC BY-SA 2.0

Selected Sources

• The History of Fulk-Fitz Warine, 1904 – A translation of the medieval manuscript
• Collectanea Archæologica: Communications Made to the British Archæological Association, 1860 – The earliest version of the Wrekin Story I’ve used
• Shropshire Folk-Lore: A sheaf of gleanings, 1883 – Charlotte Burne’s version of the same
• The Home of a Naturalist, 1888 – Jessie Saxby and her brother’s simpler version of the giant legend
• Dalla-Mist, 1876 – Jessie Saxby’s earlier version of the mermaid tale. The longer version is in Shetland Traditional Lore, 1932, which I haven’t been able to source