THE SCENE: Corineus, the legendary founder of Cornwall, demonstrates his physical prowess when he engages in a wrestling match with the horrifying giant Gogmagog.
THE TEXT: Corineus experienced great pleasure from wrestling with the giants, of whom there were far more [around Cornwall] than in any of the districts which had been distributed among his comrades.
Among the others, there was a particularly repulsive [giant], called Gogmagog, who was twelve feet tall. He was so strong that, once he had given it a shake, he could tear up an oak tree as though it were a hazel wand. Once, when [the king] was celebrating a day dedicated to the gods in the port where he had landed, this creature, along with twenty other giants, attacked him and killed a great number of the Britons. However, the Britons finally gathered together from round and about and overcame the giants and slew them all, except Gogmagog. [The king] ordered that he alone should be kept alive, for he wanted to see a wrestling-match between this giant and Corineus, who enjoyed beyond all reason matching himself against such monsters.
Corineus was delighted by this. He girded himself up, threw off his armour and challenged Gogmagog to a wrestling-match. The contest began: Corineus moved in, so did the giant. Each of them caught the other is a hold by twining his arms round him, and the air vibrated with their panting breath. Gogmagog gripped Corineus with all his might and broke three of his ribs, two on the right side and one on the left. Corineus then summoned all his strength, for he was infuriated by what had happened. He heaved Gogmagog up to his shoulders, and running as fast as he could under the weight, he hurried off to the nearby coast. He clambered up to the top of a mighty cliff, shook himself free and hurled this deadly monster, whom he was carrying on his shoulders, far out into the sea. The giant fell on to a sharp reef of rocks, where he was dashed into a thousand fragments and stained the waters with his blood. The place took its name from the fact that the giant was hurled down there and it is called Gogmagog’s Leap to this day.
– De Gestis Britonum, Geoffrey of Monmouth, 12 Century AD
