A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

The giant visits a cottage as a well-dressed, handsome suitor and obtains Signy, then Asa, and finally their mistreated younger sister Helga. After each departure his appearance changes into that of a three-headed giant. Signy chooses to be carried and sits on one of his heads; he locks the first two sisters in an underground room when they refuse marriage. Helga is instead put to household work. No one asks her consent before she is taken.

A little dog leads Helga’s attention to the forbidden door, where she sees her captive sisters. She persuades the giant to hand over his keys, releases the starving women and hides them in a sack packed with meal scraps. She asks him to carry it to their parents, warning that her sight reaches through hills and caves. This asserted power is a deception: the hidden sisters repeat her warning whenever the burden makes him pause. He delivers them without opening the sack.

Preparing the wedding, Helga dresses a tree trunk as the bride and escapes in a soot-covered disguise, presenting herself to the giant and his guests as a poker-rider. They do not recognize her. At the cave of Mealshead the silent wooden bride exposes the humiliation; guests and host quarrel, and their fighting leaves them all dead. Helga watches from outside, then returns with her family to recover the treasure. Her later marriage is to a different man. The tale gives the giant three heads and a human disguise, but does not establish separate minds for the heads or make Mealshead his personal name.

Three headsHandsome human disguiseLocked-room captivesDeceived by sack and wooden bride
01

Origins & earliest records

Icelandic Legends, second series (1866), A Giant Tricked, pp. 498–510.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale from the sisters’ family setting through false wedding, fight and Helga’s later marriage; deceptive claimed second sight is distinguished from an observed supernatural ability.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Icelandic Legends, second series: A Giant Tricked, pp. 498–510

    Collected by Jón Árnason; translated by George E. J. Powell and Eiríkr Magnússon · 1866

    Complete tale; Mealshead is the cave’s place-name, not an independently named giant.

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.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary textIcelandic Legends, surviving 1866 alternate copyResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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