Molly Whuppie facts for kids

Molly Whuppie is a famous fairy tale from England. It is set in Scotland. Joseph Jacobs collected this story in his book English Fairy Tales. There is also a Scottish version called Maol a Chliobain. John Francis Campbell collected this version in Popular Tales of the West Highlands.

Joseph Jacobs noticed that these two stories were very similar. He also found an Irish version called "Smallhead." He believed that the tale originally came from the Celtic people. This type of story is known as Aarne-Thompson (ATU) type 327B. This means it's a story where a small character defeats a scary ogre or giant. What makes Molly Whuppie special is that a clever girl, not a boy, defeats the giant. Other stories like this include "Esben and the Witch" and "Hop o' My Thumb". You might also know similar tales like "Jack and the Beanstalk".

The Story of Molly Whuppie

Leaving Home

In the Molly version of the story, a family had too many children. The parents decided to take their three youngest children into the forest. They left them there.

In the Maol version, three daughters decided to leave their mother. They wanted to find their own way in the world. Their mother baked three special bannocks (a type of flat bread). She offered each daughter a choice. They could have a big bannock with her curse, or a small bannock with her blessing. Only Maol, the youngest, chose the small bannock and her mother's blessing.

Maol's older sisters did not want her to come along. They tried to stop her three times. They tied her to a rock, then to a pile of peat, and finally to a tree. But because of her mother's blessing, Maol was always able to follow them. So, the three sisters continued their journey together.

Meeting the Giant

The sisters soon came to a large house. They knocked and asked to be let inside. The woman who lived there warned them. She said her husband was a giant and might try to eat them. The girls promised to leave before he came home. The woman gave them some food.

Just as they were eating, the giant arrived. His wife quickly told him that they were just three small girls. She asked him not to harm them. The giant told them they could stay the night. He said they would share beds with his three daughters.

To tell them apart, the giant put gold chains around his daughters' necks. He put straw chains around the sisters' necks. In another version, he used amber chunks for his daughters and horsehair for the sisters. Molly, being the cleverest, secretly switched the chains. She put the gold chains on her sisters and the straw chains on the giant's daughters.

In the middle of the night, the giant came to the beds. He harmed the girls wearing the straw chains, thinking they were Molly and her sisters. But because Molly had switched the chains, he accidentally harmed his own daughters instead. Molly quickly woke her sisters. They ran away as fast as they could. In the Maol story, they had to cross a river to escape the giant.

Molly's Challenges

The sisters ran until they reached a king's palace. They told the king their amazing story. The king was very impressed by Molly's bravery. He made a deal with her. If she could steal the giant's sword, he would marry his oldest son to her oldest sister.

Molly bravely went back to the giant's house. She hid under his bed. When the giant fell asleep, she quietly took his sword from the back of his bed. As she crossed the doorway, the sword rattled. The giant woke up and chased her! But Molly was quick. She escaped over a magical "bridge of one hair." The king kept his promise, and his oldest son married Molly's oldest sister.

Next, the king gave Molly another challenge. If she could steal the giant's purse, which he kept under his pillow, his second son would marry her second sister. Molly went back again and hid under the bed. While the giant slept, she grabbed the purse. But this time, the giant woke up and chased her even faster! Again, she escaped over the bridge of one hair. Her second sister then married the king's second son.

The Final Challenge

Finally, the king had one more challenge for Molly. If she could steal the ring from the giant's finger, his youngest son would marry her. Molly went back to the giant's house. She hid under the bed and reached for the ring. But this time, the giant caught her!

The giant asked Molly what she would do if he had done the same to her and she had caught him. Molly thought quickly. She said she would put him in a sack. She would also put a dog, a cat, a needle, thread, and scissors in the sack with him. Then she would hang the sack on the wall. She would go to the woods to find a thick stick. When she came back, she would beat him until he was dead.

The giant thought this was a great idea! He declared that he would do exactly that to Molly. So, he put Molly in the sack and left to find a stick. While he was gone, Molly started calling out from the sack. "Oh, if you saw what I see!" The giant's wife heard her. She kept asking what Molly meant. Finally, the wife asked if she could see it too. Molly used the scissors to cut her way out of the sack. She then sewed the giant's wife into it instead.

The giant came back with his stick. He started hitting the sack. The dog's barking and the cat's meows were so loud that he couldn't hear his wife's cries. But then he saw Molly running away with his ring! He chased her, but she escaped over the bridge of one hair one last time. Molly married the king's youngest son. She never saw the giant again.

Other Publications

The author Flora Annie Steel also published this tale. It was in her book English Fairy Tales. She called it Molly Whuppie and the Double-Faced Giant.