Smart, forward, and brave—that’s the very definition of a hero
ONCE UPON A TIME there were a man and a wife who had one-two-three-four-five—too many children, and they could not feed them all. So, they took the three youngest and left them in the deepest part of a dark and tangled wood.
Hand in hand in hand, the three little girls walked and walked, looking for a way home, but they could find none. They just got more lost and more frightened and more hungry.
At last they were so deep in the woods, they had all but given themselves up to despair, when they spied a light.
“Look,” said the youngest, whose name was Molly Whuppie, “there is a house. We can stop there for the night, and get something to eat besides.” Oh, that Molly Whuppie was a smart girl!
So, they rapped on the door, and a woman came out who was as broad as she was tall. “What do ye want?” asked the woman.
“Please, ma’am,” said Molly, “let us in and give us some bread.” Oh, that Molly Whuppie was a forward girl!
“That I dare not do,” said the woman, “for my husband is a giant and he would as soon kill ye as look at ye.”
“Then let us stop for a while,” begged Molly. “We will be away before he comes home.” Oh, that Molly Whuppie was a brave girl!
So the woman took them in and she had just set them down by the fire with some milk and bread when there came a great knock at the door.
“Fe-fi-fo-fum,” said the voice.
“Oh dear,” said the woman, “it is my husband himself. Do not say a word.”
And into the house came the giant. He was ten feet tall and his head scraped the rooftree. His hands were like shovels. His teeth like knives.
“Fe-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of some earthly one,” said the giant. “Who’s here, wife?”
“Just three small lassies,” said the giant’s wife. “They are hungry and cold. And not a bite between them. So ye leave them be.” She shook her wooden spoon at him.
So he sat down at the table, ignoring the girls, and ate an entire cow at one sitting. Whooomp! Just like that. And when he was done, he turned in his chair and stared at the three girls—the two who shook in their boots, and little Molly Whuppie.
“I have three lassies of my own,” he said in that great awful voice. “They will like some company. So ye shall sleep this night with them.” And he led them up a wooden ladder to a loft, where the giant’s lassies lay tucked into bed, snoring through their slit nostrils and whistling through their fangs.
The oldest of the girls relaxed then. “He’s not so bad after all,” she whispered to Molly Whuppie as they all climbed into the giant bed. And soon enough they were fast asleep. All except Molly Whuppie, though she pretended to be.
Then the giant returned, and he placed straw ropes around Molly Whuppie’s neck and her sisters’. But on his own daughters’ necks he placed golden chains.
So when the giant had gone back down the ladder again, Molly sat up. She took the straw chain off of her own and her sisters’ necks, and she took the golden chains off the giant’s lassies. Then she exchanged them. After that, she lay down again and pretended to sleep. Oh, that Molly Whuppie was a clever girl!
In the middle of the night, the deep hind end of night when dangerous deeds get done and evil roams at will, the giant came back up the ladder to the loft. In the dark he felt at the neck of all the lassies, looking for the strands of straw. Then he picked up the girls—who were his own daughters—and carried them down the stairs, where he battered them with a club till they were all but dead. Then he lay down again to sleep, believing that he would have three earthly girls for breakfast.
As soon as Molly Whuppie heard him snoring, she woke her sisters up.
“Be quiet!” she warned them, and quiet they were. Then hand in hand in hand, they got out of the giant’s house and ran and ran till they came to a grand house on the other side of the woods.
Now, that house was the king’s own house. So Molly went right in and told him what had happened. Oh, that Molly Whuppie was a sturdy girl!
The king said, “Well, Molly, you have managed well. But you can manage better yet. Go back and steal the sword that hangs over the giant’s bed, and I shall let your eldest sister marry my eldest son.”
“I will surely try,” said Molly Whuppie. Oh, that Molly Whuppie was a daring girl!
SO SHE WENT BACK, following her own trail, and slipped into the giant’s house when the giant was out on one of his raids and his wife was bending over the cook pot. Then she quickly hid under his big bed and made not a sound.
The giant came home and ate up three sheep for supper. Whooomp! Just like that. And he didn’t smell Molly because of the boiling cook pot. Then he went to bed and was fast asleep, his wife beside him.
Molly waited until they were both snoring, then she crept out from under the bed, stood carefully on the giant’s bed, right above his pillow, and took down the sword. But just as she was about to get it free, the place on the bed where she was standing gave a rattle and she had to just grab the sword and run, for the giant awoke.
Out the door she went, with the giant right behind her. She ran and he ran, but she ran faster till she came to a bridge that was made of just one hair. Molly took a great deep breath and ran across it. She was so light, she skipped right over, but the giant did not dare go across.
He shook his great fist at her. “Ye near killed my girls, ye stole my sword!” he cried. “Woe unto ye, Molly Whuppie, if ye ever come here again.”
But Molly only laughed and called back, “Twice yet I’ll come to Spain!”
Then she took the sword to the king, and he had her eldest sister married to his eldest son that same day, though the feasting and dancing went on for seven.
Then the king said, “You have managed well, young Molly Whuppie. But you can do better yet. Go back and steal the purse that lies below the giant’s pillow, and I will marry your second sister to my second son.”
“I will surely try,” said Molly Whuppie. Oh, that Molly Whuppie was a courageous girl!
SO SHE WENT BACK for the purse and hid in the giant’s house without the giant or his wife knowing. And she bided her time till they slept again. Then she slipped her hand beneath the giant’s pillow, and had just gotten her hand on the purse, when the bed rattled again. So she had to just grab the purse and run, for the giant awoke.
Out the door she went, with the giant right behind her. She ran and he ran, but she ran faster till she came again to the bridge that was made of just one hair. Molly took a great deep breath and ran across it. She was so light, she skipped right over, but the giant did not dare go across.
He shook his great fist at her. “Ye near killed my girls, ye stole my sword, and now ye have my purse!” he cried. “Woe unto ye, Molly Whuppie, if ye ever come here again.”
But Molly only laughed and called back, “Once yet I’ll come to Spain!”
When she gave the purse to the king, he was good as his word, and her second sister was wed to his second son that very day. And the dancing and feasting went on for seven.
After it was done, the king said to Molly, “You have managed well, young Molly Whuppie. But you can do better yet. Go back and steal the finger ring that the giant wears, and I will give you my youngest son.”
“I will surely try,” said Molly Whuppie. Oh, that Molly Whuppie was an amazing girl!
So, back she went to the giant’s house, and the giant ate and drank and went to bed with his wife. And once they were a-snoring, Molly went to the bed. With a touch as light as feather down, she picked up his hand. Then she pulled and pulled and pulled at the ring. But just as she got it off and placed it on her own hand as if it were a bracelet, the bed rattled and the giant awoke—and he gripped her by the hand.
“I have ye now, Molly Whuppie. Ye near killed my girls and stole my sword and purse. But ye shall not go unpunished. I would do as much to ye as ye have done to me. Now, what would ye do to me?”
Molly spoke up at once. “I would put you in a sack. I’d put the cat inside with you and the dog beside the cat, that they could gnaw on your bones. I’d add a needle to prick you, thread to tie you, shears to cut you. Then I’d hang that sack up on the wall. And then I’d go into the wood to choose the biggest stick I could find. A tree trunk would do. And home I’d come to bang that sack with the stick till you were dead as dead.”
“Well, Molly ye have said it well. I will do just that to ye.” So he got the sack and put Molly in it, with his ugly cat and the dog beside her. Then he popped in the needle and thread and shears. He hung the sack on the wall, told his wife to watch it carefully, and then off he went to the wood.
“Oh, do you see what I see?” sang out Molly Whuppie from the sack.
“Oh, what do ye see?” asked the giant’s wife.
“The most beautiful thing in the world,” said Molly Whuppie.
“Let me see, too!” cried the giant’s wife.
“You’d have to be here with me,” said Molly.
“I can’t take the sack down,” said the giant’s wife.
“Then I shall take you up,” said Molly. She took out the shears, cut a hole in the sack just big enough for herself, and jumped out, carrying the needle and thread. She boosted the giant’s wife into the sack and quickly sewed up the hole.
“I don’t see a thing,” said the giant’s wife.
“Keep looking!” cried Molly. Then she hid herself behind the door, for just then, in came the giant carrying a great tree.
He took down the sack and began to batter it.
His wife cried out, “Stop! Stop, ye old fool! It’s me! It’s me!” But the dog barked so and the cat mewed so, the giant could not hear her.
Molly Whuppie ran out the door, and just then the giant saw her. He was so mad, he bit down on his knuckle and stopped beating the sack. Then he ran out after her.
Molly ran and he ran, but she ran faster till she came to the bridge of one hair. She was so light, she just skipped over, but the giant did not dare go across.
He shook his big fist at her. “Ye near killed my girls, ye stole my sword and purse and ring, and now ye have had me beat my wife!” he cried. “Woe unto ye, Molly Whuppie, if ye ever come here again.”
But Molly only laughed. “Never more will I come to Spain!” she told him.
Then she took the ring to the king, and she married the king’s youngest son that very day. And there was feasting and dancing for a month.
Molly and the youngest son ruled in the kingdom ever after. And she never saw the giant again. Lucky for him. That Molly Whuppie was a hero!