First Favourite Tales: Jack and the Beanstalk

The men of the north knew that they walked along a precipice edge, their precarious security threatened constantly by the sword, the storm, the attack of an enemy. Disaster might reach them at any time, whether heralded by gloomy omens or falling from a blue sky. The crops might fail, the fish disappear from the coastal waters, or an invader come upon them from the sea. Many a minor Ragnarok was enacted in the halls of Anglo-Saxon England, Norway, and Iceland, when the roof crashed down in flames, and a noble, courageous band of men perished at the hands of a stronger or more cunning enemy. A blunted sword-blade, a chance encounter, or a snow-storm in the hills might result in the loss of all that made life worth living, and even the most far-seeing could not guard against such accidents. It has been remarked that the favourite tales of the Germanic peoples and the Scandinavians, the most moving themes of their poetry, were concerned with the deaths of young heroes and with defeats in battle. The myths emphasize the remorseless power of fate: the curse of Andvari’s ring dogged Sigurd the Volsung and brought him to an early death; Balder fell in spite of all the wisdom of Odin and the protection of Frigg; the grey wolf watches the abode of the gods, for he knows that his destined time will come and the bonds will snap, long though the waiting must be ...»