148 - FAIRIES AND GIANTS OF CORNWALL. 
the nurse, by virtue of the ointment, recognizes a fairy man at 
some market, probably pilfering, and on accosting him, and being 
asked with which eye she sees him, on her answer is deprived of 
the sight of it. 
We have some materials for the History of Giants in Cornwall. 
They are mentioned in the earliest records connected with the 
County—Domesday Book, however, not condescending to notice 
them. Carew quotes from Camden, Havillan, a poet of the 12th 
century, who refers to the Titanic race in the county. Gogmagog, 
their leader at the time of the landing of Brutus, was 18 feet high, 
but was thrown by Corinzus, who did not much exceed the human 
stature, and then became Duke of Cornwall. Geoffrey of Mon- 
mouth says, that the oracle told Brutus in his early days, his 
future success, referring to a land of giants, thus :— . 
Brute, sub occasum solis, trans Gallica regna, 
Tnsula in oceano est undique clausa mari. 
Insula in oceano est habitata gigantibus olim, 
Nune deserta quidem, gentibus apta tuis. 
There was a belief in the time of Saxo Grammaticus (12th Century) 
that the earliest human beings were of great size and power, being 
Yumir, the evil spirit, and his offspring. They were succeeded by 
others of less size, but greater sagacity, who overthrew their pre- 
decessors by means of sorcery. These last were Odin and his 
kindred, who had the reputation of gods. After them came 
others of less bulk, who became the priests of the gods. 
Whether the Druids had anything to do with the early giants 
is very problematical. Borlase attributes the Cromlechs and most 
of the antiquities in Cornwall to them, and has been followed by 
others ; but this is now doubted, if not disproved. They indeed 
selected groves of oaks for their sacred rites, while the Cromlechs, 
wherever they have been examined, appear to have been places of 
burial ; and there are fewer of these monuments in Britain where 
the Druids are said to have flourished, than in Armorica, Scandi- 
navia, and Algeria, and the Kast, where they were not known. 
But this question would require to be treated of by itself. 
One of the principal heroes connected with giant history, is 
that popular character, Jack the giant-killer, however he may be 
called. In the Northern Tales, a character called Boots is intro- 
duced, generally the younger son in a poor family, and a sort of 
