The Giant : Little Poucet or Tom Thumb

The fear of being devoured is one of the fantasies most deeply held in the human psyche, as in its myths and folklore, so ogres and ogresses figure prominently in our pantheon of monsters. In this illustration by Gustave Doré of Perrault's "Petit Poucet” (“Little Poucet” or “Tom Thumb”), the ogre is about to slaughter his own daughters, whose soft round faces are offset by the chicken bones surrounding them, the jagged remains of a carnivorous meal. Combining two fundamental taboos, cannibalism and infanticide, the human monster strikes fear with his terrifying expression and rictus grin, and the huge knife he brandishes at the centre of the composition.téléchargeabl