The Selfish Giant

The Story of the Month

Every day after school in the afternoon, the children were accustomed, on their way home, to turn aside into the Giant's garden to play there. It was a lush garden, wide in its reaches: its ground was clothed with green grass, and here and there were scattered lovely flowers that looked like stars, and over it rose twelve peach trees, which in spring put forth beautiful blossoms of red and pearl, and in autumn bore their delicious fruit.

And the singing birds warbled plaintive, heavenly airs that made the children leave their games and listen to them. And they would call to one another: "How happy we are in this beautiful garden!"

One day the Giant came back, having ended his visit to his friend the ogre Korl, with whom he had stayed seven years, during which he talked with him about everything. When he reached his castle and found the children playing in the garden, he shouted at them: "What are you doing here? My garden is my own; everyone understands that, and I will allow no one to play in it." So the children turned tail, abashed. Then the Giant built a high wall around the garden and fixed above its entrance a wooden board on which was written the following: "Whoever violates the sanctity of this garden exposes himself to punishment."

So the children no longer had anywhere to play. They tried to play on the roadside, but the road was full of dust and hard stones, and it did not answer their wish.

When their lessons were over, the children used to wander round the garden's high wall and talk of the beautiful garden they had been denied, saying: "How happy we were in it!" And when spring appeared, life began to stir anew through the land: you would see the sun's rays flooding those parts, which basked in their warmth; and the roses had opened their buds, and one grew heady with their fragrance; and the birds sang, and one thrilled to hear them. But winter still lay harsh upon the Giant's garden, for the singing birds had forsaken it ever since the children were shut out of the garden; as for the trees, they forgot to blossom.

Once it happened that a flower put its head out from among the grasses; but when it saw the notice it bowed its head in sorrow, went back into the earth, and fell into a deep slumber. No one was pleased with that state of things except the Snow and the Frost, who cried out: "Spring has forsaken the garden, so we shall stay here the whole year round to enjoy it." And the Snow covered the grasses with a robe of pure white, and the trees were coated with masses of silver ice. Then the two asked the North Wind to accept their invitation to stay with them, and the Wind accepted with thanks. And the Wind, wrapped in furs, roared all day long about the garden, buffeting the chimney-pots and sending them flying: "It is a quiet, pleasant place; we must invite the Hail to visit us." And so the Hail came, and took to sporting with his whips upon the roof of the castle three hours a day, smashing much of the tiling, then wheeling back to storm through the garden with resounding clatter. He was dressed in a gray suit, and his breath was like ice.

"I cannot tell why the coming of spring is so late; still, I am certain some change will come over the weather," said the selfish Giant, as he took his seat by the window and looked out at the garden clad in its garment of pure white. But spring never came at all, and summer was late past its appointed time.

And autumn came, and the trees bore their fruit; but the Giant's garden remained barren of fruit. And Autumn said: "What a selfish giant!" And so winter stayed crouching over that garden, which was a stage for the assaults of the North Wind and the Hail and the Frost.

One morning the Giant, as he lay in his bed, woke to enchanting strains of music; and the music fell so sweetly on his ears that he thought the King's band was passing before the gate of his castle. But in truth the sweet music came from nothing more than a little bird perched on his window; and to the Giant, whose ears had not been greeted by the warbling of birds for so long, it seemed the sweetest music in the world.

The rains ceased, the hail stopped falling, the wind grew still, and the breeze began to steal in through the window, laden with a sweet, fragrant scent. "I believe spring has come at last," said the Giant, leaping from his bed to look out of the window. And what did he see? He saw a wondrous sight. He saw the children, who had crept in through a gap in the wall, perched upon the branches of the trees. Every tree had a little child all to itself. And the trees blossomed when they embraced

the children once more, and swayed with joy at their coming; and the sparrows fluttered above their heads in delight, and the roses lifted their necks, laughing, among the green grasses. It was an enchanting sight; but winter still lurked in the farthest corner of the garden, where a little boy stood whose small body had not helped him to reach the branches of the tree. He was circling round the tree, weeping bitterly. The tree had bent down its branches for him to climb, but the child was small. And the Giant's heart melted with tenderness when his eye fell on him, and he said: "How selfish I have been! Now I know why spring would not come here. I will set the poor child on the top of the tree, and I will pull down the wall, and make my garden a playground for the children for ever."

So he went down into the garden and entered it gently. But when the children saw that, they were frightened and took to flight, and winter returned to the garden. Only the little boy did not take flight, for he did not see the Giant, his eyes being full of tears. And the Giant drew near him, took hold of him tenderly, and lifted him up into the tree. At once the tree blossomed, and the birds alighted on it to carol and sing; and the child opened his arms, flung them round the Giant's neck, and planted a kiss. When the other children saw the goodness of the Giant's heart, they came running back to the garden, and spring came back with them. And the Giant said to them: "It is your garden, little children." Then he took an axe and began pulling down the wall with it. And the people of the village beheld the Giant playing with the children in his lush garden — a garden more beautiful than any they had ever seen.

The children would play with the Giant until, when evening drew near and the time came for them to go home, they came to bid him farewell. "But where is your little companion?" And the children would answer him: "We do not know where he has gone." "You must tell him that I wish him to come tomorrow." But the children would answer that they did not know where he lived, and had never seen him before. And the Giant felt a deep sorrow.

The days passed and the years followed one another, and the Giant grew old and his vigor waned, and he could no longer play. So he took to sitting in a great wooden chair, watching the children at their play, and he would say to himself: "I have the most beautiful roses, but the children are the most beautiful roses of life."

One rainy day he looked out of his window as he was dressing. He no longer shrank from winter now, for he knew that it was only spring's slumber, and that the roses had gone to their rest.

Suddenly he began to rub his eyes and to gaze long, between belief and disbelief. For the sight was wondrous indeed: in the farthest corner of the garden he saw a tree in blossom, with golden fruits hanging from it, and beneath it stood the little boy he had loved.

The Giant went down into the garden rejoicing, and hastened across the green grasses; but when he came near the child, his face flushed red with anger and he said: "Who has dared to inflict these wounds?" For on the palms of the child's two hands were the marks of nails. "Tell me who inflicted these wounds, that I may cut off his head with this great sword of mine."

And the child answered him: "No one inflicted them... these are the wounds of Love." And the Giant, kneeling before the child, seized by a mysterious feeling, said: "Who are you?"

The child smiled and answered: "Once you let me play in your garden; today I shall invite you to come with me to my garden, which is Paradise."

And when the children came to the garden after school as usual, they found the Giant lying dead beneath the trees, all covered with garlands of white blossoms.