Ogres, giants, and trolls have some things in common. All of them are human-like, big, and usually scary creatures from fairy tales and folktales. All of them are known for eating people, especially children. But they are not the same.
- The word “ogre” was first published in Charles Perrault’s Puss in Boots in 1896, so we often associate ogres with French folklore. However, ogres can be found in other traditions, as well. Indigenous people of North Africa, including former French colonies like Algeria and Morocco, have these traditions as well. Perhaps the stories traveled North to France.
Compared with other big humanoid creatures in folklore, ogres have some special talents: they can shapeshift— change from one creature to another. They often live in the forest, but the ogre in “Puss in Boots” had a grand castle. The ogres in “Lonja, the Ogre’s Daughter” smell human blood after the prince comes to visit Lonja, just as giants and trolls do.
- Giants may be friendly, powerful, or bad-tempered. The most important characteristic is that they are really big. The giant in Jack and the Beanstalk has a little poem he recites:
“Fee, fo, fi, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!
Be he alive or be he dead, I’ll grind his bones to make my bread!”
But the Jentilak of Basque folklore are kind and gentle giants, and some Irish and Welsh heroes are giants. The main trait of giants in folklore is just that they are big.
- Trolls are strongly associated with Scandinavian folklore. However, these traditional tales include trolls that shout that they can smell “Christian blood” and intend to eat the owner of that blood, just like the giant in “Jack and the Beanstalk.” And the ogre Shrek is translated as “troll” in Scandinavian countries where the Shrek movies are dubbed into local languages. In the U.S., we are more likely to think of trolls as ugly creatures who live under bridges, like the troll in the Norwegian tale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
The three books listed above can form the heart of your study. Click through the links on the stories’ names to find lesson plans for each. And be sure to pull out a Venn diagram to compare the three types of folklore character.
Prepare for your Ogres, Giants, and Trolls unit by enjoying the movie Shrek together — or one of the sequels if you like. Add some books from the list below to your library, and maybe a cute little plush ogre. Grab Shrek-style ogre ears headbands or an ogre costume if you want to go all in. But don’t forget to discuss the fact that Shrek is not a typical ogre.
Once you’re in the mood, get started on some serious study.
Curriculum Connections:
- Scandinavian culture
- French culture
- North African culture
- Bullying
- Adjectives
- Compare and contrast
Cultural differences
Scandinavian dubbed versions of the Shrek movies don’t call Shrek an ogre. They call him a troll. Why? Because Scandinavian folktales feature trolls, not ogres. This is something you’ll notice as you read stories about these big creatures: English stories like Jack and the Beanstalk tend to have giants, Scandinavian ones like The Three Billy Goats Gruff have trolls, and French stories like Puss in Boots have ogres. Northern Africa has stories like Lunja, the Daughter of the Ogress, an Algerian tale that features a giant, shape-shifting, human-eating woman — that is, an ogress. Choose a few of these stories to read.
As you enjoy these different stories, take the opportunity to learn about the different cultures associated with them. There are stories about big humanoid creatures all over the world. We’ve chosen two regions and one country, but you can adapt your choices to your planned standards.
Scandinavian culture
The Scandinavian nations are very closely related in history and culture, since all began as speakers of Old Norse. At first, there were many tribal groups with their own rulers and communities. Later, they formed larger kingdoms.
Norway was the first of the Old Norse kingdoms, uniting under King Harald Fairhair in 872. Denmark didn’t become a kingdom until 965, so the Vikings who went to Iceland in the early 900s were not Danish. They were just Norse, since that was the language they spoke. Norway, Denmark, and Sweden moved around and combined and separated again throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, with the Kingdom of Denmark taking on its current form in the 1800s. At that point, they went ahead and claimed the islands that had belonged to whichever of the Scandinavian kingdoms was on top of the pile. That meant that both Iceland and Greenland were under Danish rule.
Later in the 20th century, when owning a colony became a source of embarrassment, Iceland became independent. Greenland held a referendum in which the voters determined that, while they saw independence as their eventual destiny, they weren’t ready to give up Denmark’s support yet. Denmark wrote up a new constitution giving Greenland (and the Faroe Islands) full representation in parliament and making it clear that Greenland was not a colony any more. Finland was under Swedish rule and then Russian until 1917, when it became independent.
Check out some of our relevant lesson plans:
French culture
France has been a nation, officially, since 843. Previously, there were Gauls and Franks, both of whom were ancestors of the French, but 843 was the year a treaty defined the area that is now modern France. France was ruled by kings until the 1789 French Revolution, inspired by the American Revolution.
While Scandinavia and Northern Africa are clearly regions, with strong historical and cultural relationships among their nations, France is not part of such a group. France is in Western Europe. Vikings from Scandinavia invaded France in the 9th century and some decided to stay, becoming the Normans who conquered England in the 11th century. In the 1830s, France invaded and occupied Northern Africa, including Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. The three cultural groups we’re looking at therefore are connected by France.
France is known for its contributions to the arts. France is also famous for food and fashion, both of which might be included among the arts by people from France.
Check out our lesson plans:
Also check out this grand costume for Puss in Boots from the Museum of Tulsa History. The style is what you would have seen in France at the time the story was written down. The ogre in the story would probably have worn something similar.
Northern African cultures
The indigenous people of Northern Africa were the Amazigh, who have lived North of the Sahara Desert for at least 10,000 years. They are often called Berbers, just as the Gauls and Franks were called Barbarians. both those words came form Greek and Latin words for foreigners. The word Berber is now used mostly for styles of carpets associated with the Amazigh, just as you might hear people talking about Oriental or Persian carpets even though we don’t generally use those word for people or their locations. This area is also called Maghrebi: the culture includes indigenous Amazigh traditions, Arabic language and Islamic civilization, Mediterranean connections, African influences, Jewish heritage, and French and Spanish colonial legacies. You may have noticed that Algerian and French players often play on the soccer teams of both countries.
The Amazigh had a variety of economic systems, including raising sheep, growing crops, and participating in the Silk Road trading from China to Turkey. They were invaded by Phoenicians, Romans, and then Arabs in the 7th century. Arabic is widely spoken in the modern nations of Algeria and Morocco, along with Amazigh languages and sometimes Turkish and Spanish. Reflecting the long Arab rule over the area, most people in the region are Muslim. If you have eaten in a Mediterranean restaurant, you have probably tried traditional North African foods like couscous and spicy stews called tagines.
Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, all part of the Mahreb region, were colonies or protectorates of France from the 19th century until the 1950s, when they gained independence. The folklore of this region includes a number of different ogres. One is Teryel, who used to be a human woman who wanted to be independent and free to choose her own path. She became an ogre, and now walks around the villages looking for disobedient children. She shoves them into her sack and takes them back to her cave to eat them. Her daughter, Lonja or Loundja, is the heroine of a story much like the European Rapunzel.
Our African Virtual Field Trips page has links to virtual camera tours of Northern Africa.
Useful lesson plans:
Bullying
Ogres, giants, and trolls are often very frightening. They are typically violent and make terrible threats, like “I’ll grind his bones to make my bread!” They certainly qualify as bullies.
Sometimes these stories are used to frighten children into behaving well. Teryel, who collects disobedient children in a sack, was used to threaten children into behaving well so she wouldn’t catch them.
But sometimes the big creatures are just bad guys in the story: bullies. Bullies are by no means a new thing, but cyberbullying is a growing problem. It can be difficult to deal with bullies, but here are some ideas:
Adjectives
Adjectives are words used to describe nouns. When you work on your Venn diagram comparing trolls, ogres, and giants, you’ll find that a lot of the words you use are adjectives.
Whichever books you read, identify and list the adjectives. For example, Loundja, the daughter of the ogress Teryel, is often described as bewitching, radiant, cunning, and resilient. The ogre in Puss in Boots is often described as massive, ugly, greedy, strong, and rich. In general, the big creatures are described in frightening ways, while the heroes of the stories, from the Billy Goats Gruff and Puss in Boots to Jack and Loundja, are described as young and clever.
Try filling out your Venn diagram entirely with adjectives. For examples, ogres often live in forests, so you can call them “forest-dwelling.” They often eat people, so they could be described as “man-eating.”
Compare and contrast
Once you have studied the huge creatures in as many different stories as you choose, have kids write a compare and contrast essay comparing either ogres, giants, and trolls, or stories from different countries or regions. Have them organize their thoughts with a Venn diagram before writing.
Online resources
- “Describe the Ogre” worksheet at twinkle.
- Play the “Ogre Land” game at PE Central. The ogres in this activity are described as having tentacles. Discuss — could they still be called ogres if they had tentacles?
- Lessons for The Ogre Bully from August House
Books
Puss in Boots This is a beautiful classic version by Jerry Pinkney. Check out our Puss in Boots lesson plans when you use this terrific ogre story.
The Ogre Bully A Swedish folktale. See a link to online lessons above.
Awful Ogre’s Awful Day: A Wonderful Illustrated Book About a Lovable Ogre for Kids
Lonja, the Ogre’s Daughter — This is the only picture book we’ve found, but it has an episode in which Lonja dresses up as “a black servant” and later washes off her makeup to be revealed as a beautiful blonde.
Fatima Al Samha (The Beautiful) and the Forest Ogre
Shrek –This is the original book by William Steig.
The movie Shrek also includes characters from a number of other familiar fairy and folk tales:
- Pinocchio: The wooden puppet from Carlo Collodi’s Italian tale, who famously insists his nose doesn’t grow when lying.
- The Gingerbread Man (“Gingy”): The runaway sweet-treat character created by the Muffin Man on Drury Lane.
- The Three Little Pigs: The trio of pigs, who speak with German accents.
- The Big Bad Wolf: Borrowed from Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs, memorably lounging in Shrek’s bed wearing grandmother’s clothes.
- Puss in Boots: The legendary swashbuckling cat from the European literary fairy tale.
- Rumpelstiltskin: The main villainous imp of Shrek Forever After who trades alternate realities for contracts.
- Rapunzel
- Sleeping Beauty: Featured heavily as princesses and acquaintances of Prince Charming in later sequels.
- Snow White
- Cinderella: Appears with the aforementioned young women as part of the royal princess circles and exiled groups.
- The Three Bears: Found sitting in the swamp and later at local spots.
- The Three Blind Mice
- The Pied Piper: Rounded up by guards.
- Peter Pan and Tinker Bell: Seen briefly bundled up for banishment in the first film.
If you don’t want to focus on geography, a study of fairy tales in general can be a satisfying way to study giants, trolls, and ogres.
