They began to till the fields, and to build them houses in such sort that after a brief space ye might
have thought it had been inhabited from time immemorial. Then, at last, Brute calleth the island Britain, and his companions Britons, after his own name, for he was minded that his memory should be perpetuated in the derivation of the name. Whence afterward the country speech, which was aforetime called Trojan or crooked Greek, was called British.
But Corineus called that share of the kingdom which had fallen unto him by lot Cornwall, after the manner of his own name, and the people Cornishmen, therein following the Duke's example. For albeit that he might have had the choice of a province before all the others that had come thither, yet was he minded rather to have that share of the land which is now called Cornwall, whether from being, as it is, the cornu or horn of Britain, or from a corruption of the said name Corineus.
For naught gave him greater pleasure than to wrestle with the giants, of whom was greater plenty there than in any of the provinces that had been shared amongst his comrades. Among others was a certain hateful one by name Gogmagog,[228:1] twelve cubits in height, who was of such lustihood that when he had once uprooted it, he would wield an oak tree as lightly as it were a wand of hazel.
[228:1] The ancient books of Arabia and Persia are full of marvelous tales of Gog and Magog—Jajiouge and Majiouge, as they are called. These giants they locate in Tartary, and the Caucasian Wall from the Caspian to the Black Sea was supposed to have been built by them of all sorts of metals. In Genesis Magog is the tenth son of Japheth; Gog and Magog are spoken of by Ezekiel; and later Gog and Magog were names of nations.
Brute, having thus got footing in Britain, was preparing to improve the same, when Albion, who had
named this island after his own name,—by which it is sometimes called at this day,—having intelligence thereof, raised his whole power, being men of gigantic stature, and vast strength, and bearing for their arms huge clubs of knotty oak, battle-axes, whirlbats of iron, and globes full of spikes, fastened to a long pole by a chain; and with these, he fell upon the invaders on a certain day when Brute was holding high festival to the gods.
A bloody battle was fought, wherein the Trojans were worsted and many of them slain, and their whole army was forced to retire.
Brute, hereupon considering the disadvantage between his men and the giants, devised a stratagem to overthrow them, by digging in the night a very long and deep trench, at the bottom impaling it with sharp stakes, and covering it with boughs and rotten hurdles, on which he caused to be laid dried leaves and earth, only leaving some passages, well known to his men by particular marks.
This being done, he dared the giants to a second battle, which Albion readily accepted; and the fight being begun, after some dispute, Brute seemed to retire; whereupon the giants pressed on him with great fury; and the Trojans retiring nimbly beyond their trench made a stand, and ply'd them with a shower of darts and arrows, which manner of fight they were unacquainted with, whereby many of them were slain. However, Albion encouraging his men to come to handy strokes with their enemies, they rushed forward, and the vanguard immediately perished in the trenches;