Giant Truths

Once upon a time there was a girl that each day was surrounded by giants. They were large and usually angry. The girl opened the shutters of her window every morning and greeted the giants with a smile as the lumbered up to see her. She would sit at her chair in her room set at the edge of the mountain as the giants lumbered over to her window and told her all their problems.

It seems giants, especially those with terrible crazy eyes, and those with only half of their faces still on their heads, are very unhappy. They each wanted to smile and to be happy. As the girl listened to the giants each day from behind her window she heard how unhappy they were. She wanted to make them happy. She wanted to see them smile. She didn't want the giants to yell at her from the other side of her window. When giants yell, they roar and this hurt the girl's ears and made her scared to listen.

One day a giant came to her window and bellowed at the girl. He wanted to smile. He wanted happiness and to rest in peace. The girl told him to go into the cave just beyond her window and a smile would be put into his face for him. He did not believe her. She was very quiet and leaned closer to her window so that the giant knew what she said was special to him. She pointed from her window at the cave entrance and told the giant again the cave is waiting for him to enter and that a smile for him would be in there. The giant got madder and told the girl he was too smart to be deceived by her and he would not follow her directions to go into the cave.

Inside the cave the elves and fairies and even some trolls were busy building smiles for the giants. There are many giants that need smiles. And the creatures in the cave are always busy making smiles so the giants can be happy. The giants think no one likes them, or that no one thinks of them. They come to the girl's window hoping, but not really believing that a smile is in a cave.

The girl felt sorry for this giant that could not believe a smile would be made for him. She got up from her chair in the window and walked into the cave and around to the entrance to greet the giant and show him the smile that was being made for him. He was a big giant. She was a small girl. She surprised him when she smile up at him at the cave entrance. He looked at the window and saw she was not there. He looked at the girl in the entrance to the cave and got even more angry thinking she was deceiving him even more.

Really, he was a scared giant. He was big and blustery, so that no one would see his fear. The girl thought he was only confused. She did not know he was scared. The giant, when he saw the girl and the door to the cave, started to bellow and belch and stomp his feet. The earth shook and the girl worried the cave would crumble. The other giants nearby did not know what to think either and they all sat on the nearby stones to keep them from rolling down the mountain. But the giant that was scared turned to the other giants and told them to stomp their feet too. He told the other giants the the cave is a trick and will only make them unhappy. He looked at the girl with his big blood-shot eyes, his face red with anger and he said, "I will not go into your cave! I have better things to do than be tricked by you!" and he stomped some more and then stomped away.

The small girl stood silent at the cave entrance. There was nothing more she could do for the giant. Another giant, surprised that the first giant stomped away, quietly, because giants can be very quiet, walked up to the girl and asked her very politely if he could please have the angry giants smile. What he didn't know was when the angry giant stomped his feet and shook the earth the special smile made white and shiny for him had fallen off the shelf and shattered into a million white twinkling stars. The elves and fairies would have to fly up to catch the stars to make the smile all over again.

The girl grew sad. She said, "I'm sorry." And she went back to her window where she stays, listening to giants every day tell her how much they want to smile.