1.3- Cormoran the Giant
Epsiode 3 sees us take a dive into the lives of the last of the giants and the making of St. Michael’s Mount. And we ask price a home in the restless bay?
For this week’s blog post we’re going to share with you some links to the fascinating sources we used as part of the research for our stories. Prepare yourselves for a deep dive into 18th century chapbooks, stone hearts and wandering classical warriors.
To Jack or not to Jack?
One of our biggest dilemmas this week was whether or not to focus on the Jack the Giant Slayer aspect of Cormoran’s story. While this is probably the more famous part of the tales surrounding St. Michael’s Mount, it is also part of a longer tale created for readers of late 18th and early 19th century chapbooks. Jack’s exploits take him through a series of encounters with different giants across England and Wales, using his cunning to destroy them and save helpless maidens. It is classic fairytale.
If you want to look at an original chapbook from Scotland, you can follow this link to the National Library of Scotland, where you can look through a digitised copy of the Jack the Giant Killer story.
But this isn’t Jack’s tale. We wanted this episode to be focused on Cormoran and Cormelian and the mount.
A view of Chapel Rock looking out towards the mount.
The Green Rock of the Bay
The thing which fascinated us both about the mount was the old folk legend that it came from inland Cornwall, with the Cornish name for the mount being Carrick Los yn Cos- The Grey Rock in the Wood. Just this image was enough to spark off our imaginations. Especially when we discovered that the legend is that Cormoran and his wife Cormelian were said to have transported the rocks from a wood somewhere inland to the bay. This got us thinking about the motivation for the giants to undertake such a mammoth task. Why build a home for themselves so far from the shore?
One of my favourite parts of this story is the creation of what is now known as Chapel Rock. In the original legend of the creation of the mount, Cormelian- who is doing almost all of the heavy lifting in her giant apron made of a dozen bull hides- grows tired of trudging back and forth to the wood for the good grey granite. When her husband is sleeping off his lunch, she decides to forgo the long walk back to the woodland and instead picks up a large green stone from the shore near the mount. Sadly, Cormoran wakes before she has taken more than a few steps from the shore. Furious at her laziness, he either throws his hammer to make her drop the rock or kicks her in the back. Either way, Cormelian drops the green rock half way between the shore and the mount.
In later years the monks who came the the mount after the Norman conquest would build a small chapel on that green rock, thus making it Chapel rock.
Brutus and New Troy
One of the main inspirations for both stories was Amy Jeff’s Storyland. This beautifully illustrated book tells the legends of Britain as passed down through writers like Geoffrey of Monmouth and Gerald of Wales. We love the mix of illustration, exploration of primary source material and Amy’s writing. Order Storyland at Sherlock and Pages via this link.
One of the stories retold in the book is that of the arrival of Brutus and his band of Trojans in Britain and the founding of New Troy. When the Trojans arrive, they find the land inhabited by hot-blooded giants. the conflict is instant and a war begins. Brutus and his friend Cornieus fight the giant Gogmagog for control of the isle. in the end Cornieus challenges Gogmagog to a wrestling match and throws him over the cliffs- to his death or not it is not clear. The result of this victory is the renaming of that land after the victor- Cornwall.
Some sources make a parallel between Cormoran and Gogmagog. And this got us thinking about conflicts, leading to two stories themed around the mount as a refuge.