A huge bearded giant crouches over a flowing stream, drawing water into his mouth as fish swim past; original caption below reads The Giant Tries to Drink the Stream.
Batten illustrates the pursuing giant drinking the stream in Jacobs’s retelling of The Master-Maid.
Overview
The giant outwardly offers easy employment, but each pitchfork of waste removed from his stable is replaced by ten more. Mastermaid shows the prince how to reverse the fork and use its handle, which empties the stable at once. His horse breathes flame, and another task requires collecting a fire-tax from Hell, where he must accept only as much treasure as he can carry. The captive Mastermaid teaches the prince how to complete each assignment. The giant recognises her help, despite the servant's pretence of ignorance, and ultimately orders the prince's death.
Mastermaid instead prepares a deception while she and the prince flee with treasure. Three drops of blood answer the sleeping giant's questions, delaying his discovery. Reaching the sea, he summons a stream-sucker to lower the water and reveal their ship. When a thrown lump of salt becomes a mountain, his hill-borer opens a route through it. Restored water lets the fugitives reach land before he catches them; his final death is not narrated there.
Origins & earliest records
The Mastermaid is a collected Norwegian tale translated by Dasent in Popular Tales from the Norse, first published in English in 1859. The inspected electronic text includes a second-edition notice without a secure print date. This profile identifies its unnamed giant through the named story, rather than supplying an invented proper name or claiming a separate species.
Records & interpretation
Self-multiplying stable waste, the flaming horse, infernal fire-tax and answering blood drops appear directly in the primary narrative. The giant's summoned helpers are distinct actors, not transformations of his own body. Such details document a supernatural household and escape sequence. They do not verify a historical employer, an actual infernal tax system or zoological creatures draining seas.
In the literature
“three drops of blood fall on a three-legged stool”
Tale XI, The Mastermaid; Mastermaid prepares the false cooking responses · George Webbe Dasent
The blood drops keep the sleeping Giant answering a voice after the pair have fled.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
The Mastermaid (Popular Tales from the Norse)
Inspected named tale XI. Electronic witness includes a notice to the second edition; its exact print date is unresolved.
- 02
Popular Tales from the Norse — The Mastermaid
Dasent historical English translation of Asbjørnsen and Moe; hosted PG8933 includes a Second Edition notice, but its exact selected print edition date and printed pages are unresolved. 1859 is the first English collection context only. Exact observed chapter anchors and episode locators used.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Popular Tales from the Norse — The Mastermaid
Dasent historical English translation of Asbjørnsen and Moe; hosted PG8933 includes a Second Edition notice, but its exact selected print edition date and printed pages are unresolved. 1859 is the first English collection context only. Exact observed chapter anchors and episode locators used.
- The Giant assigns stable-cleaning that multiplies dung, recovery of a fire-breathing horse and collection of a fire-tax from Hell. Mastermaid supplies the reversed pitchfork, special bit and precise amount demanded that let the prince succeed.
- The Giant orders Mastermaid to kill and cook the prince. Instead she leaves three blood drops to answer his sleepy questions and cooks rags and shoe soles while fleeing with the prince and magical objects.
Tale XI, The Mastermaid; Ordered cooking, blood replies and escape
- The Giant calls Stream-sucker to lower the sea and Hill-borer to pierce a salt mountain cast up by the fugitives. Mastermaid restores the sea from a flask and reaches land with the prince before another gulp can stop them.
Tale XI, The Mastermaid; Pursuit defeated by sea, salt mountain and renewed water
Complete named tale read; the later human courtship recognition episode is not counted as a separate Giant attestation. Exact selected print date, page numbers and earliest attestations are not inferred.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textPopular Tales from the Norse — The Mastermaid (tale XI)Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
Original narrative illustration, explicitly captioned; Jacobs’s1916Master-Maid retellingA huge bearded giant crouches over a flowing stream, drawing water into his mouth as fish swim past; original caption below reads The Giant Tries to Drink the Stream.
Batten illustrates the pursuing giant drinking the stream in Jacobs’s retelling of The Master-Maid.
