Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England published in 1865 describes how Mount St. Michael was built by giants:

The History of the redoubtable Jack proves that St. Michael's Mount was the abode of the giant Cormelian, or, as the name is sometimes given, Cormorant. We are told how Jack destroyed the giant, and the story ends. Now, the interesting part, which has been forgotten in the narrative, is not only that Cormoran lived on, but that he built the Mount, his dwelling place. St. Michael's Mount, as is tolerably well known, is an island at each rise in the tide–the distance between it and the mainland being a little more than a quarter of a mile. In the days of giants, however, it was some six miles from the sea, and was known as the White Rock in the Wood, or in Cornish, "Carreg luz en kuz." Of the evidences in favor of this, more will be said when the traditions connected with physical phenomena are dealt with. In this wood the giant desired to build his home, and to rear it above the trees, that he might from the top keep watch over the neighboring country. Any person carefully observing the structure of the granite rocks will notice their tendency to a cubical form. These stones were carefully selected by the giant from the granite of the neighboring hills, and he was for a long period employed in carrying and piling those huge masses, one on the other, in which labor he compelled his wife to aid him. It has been suggested, with much show of probability, that the confusion of the two names alluded to has arisen from the fact that the giant was called Cormoran, and that the name of his wife was Cormelian; at all events, there is no harm in adopting this hypothesis. The toil of lifting those gigantic masses from their primitive beds, and carrying them through the forest, was excessive. It would seem that the heaviest burdens were imposed upon Cormelian, and that she was in the habit of carrying those rocky masses in her apron. At a short distance from the "White Rock," which was now approaching completion, there exists large masses of greenstone rock. Cormelian saw no reason why one description of stone would not do as well as another; and one day, when the giant Cormoran was sleeping, she broke off a vast greenstone rock, and taking it in her apron, hastened towards the artificial hill with it, hoping to place it without being observed by Cormoran. When, however, Cormelian was within a short distance from the "White Rock," the giant awoke, and presently perceived that his wife was, contrary to his wishes, carrying a green stone instead of a white one. In great wrath he arose, followed her, and, with a dreadful imprecation, gave her a kick. Her apron–string broke, and the stone fell to the sand. There it has ever since remained, no human power being sufficient to remove it. The giantess died, and the mass of greenstone, resting, as it does, on clay slate rocks, became her monument. In more recent days, when the light of Christianity was dawning on the land, this famous rock was still rendered sacred: "a lytle chapel" (Leland) having been built on it; and to this day it is usually known as the "The Chapel Rock."

Even in the days of the Cornish giants, there was discord among the males and females, if this story is any guide.