Story

The Selfish Giant

15 minAges 7-9

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The story

Introduction

Deep in the heart of a bustling village, lived a giant. Now, this wasn't just any giant; he was a rather grumpy one, with a magnificent garden that blossomed with the most beautiful flowers and delicious fruit you could ever wish for. But the children? Oh, they loved to play there! Until one day, the giant returned, and everything changed. What made this giant so selfish? And could his cold heart ever learn to be kind?

The Giant's Big Wall

Well, his heart was rather cold indeed! When the Giant came back home after seven long years, he found the children playing in his beautiful garden. He stomped his enormous foot, making the ground tremble. 'What are you doing here?' he roared, his voice like thunder. 'This is MY garden! No one is allowed to play in it but me!' The poor children, startled and frightened, scampered away as fast as their little legs could carry them. The Giant, huffing and puffing, decided he would make sure they never came back. He didn't want to share his lovely green space. So, the very next day, he built a huge, high wall all around his garden. It was so tall, you couldn't even peek over it! And just to make it extra clear, he put up a big sign that said, 'TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED'. Now, the children had nowhere to play at all. Their favourite spot was gone.

An Endless Winter

The poor children wandered off, their little hearts heavy. And the giant? Well, he was quite pleased with himself. He thought, "Now my garden is just for me!" But something very peculiar happened that year. When the children stopped playing in the garden, a strange hush fell over everything. Spring, with its lovely green leaves and colourful flowers, usually came skipping through the land, chasing away the cold, grey days of winter. But not to the giant's garden. Oh no! Everywhere else, tiny green shoots pushed through the soil, cheerful daffodils swayed in the gentle breeze, and happy birds began to build their nests, singing their favourite songs. The whole world woke up! But inside the giant's tall, high-walled garden, it stayed exactly the same. The Frost, with his sparkly, icy fingers, danced around the trees, never melting. The Snow, in her thick, white blanket, covered the ground day after day, refusing to leave. The North Wind, a blustery old fellow, roared and whistled through the branches, making them shiver and shake. And the Hail, with his tiny, hard pebbles, rattled on the roof of the giant's grand castle, making a terrible noise! Poor little birds who tried to fly into the garden to sing their spring songs found it far too cold and flew right back out again. And the beautiful flowers just couldn't make themselves grow. They stayed fast asleep under the icy ground. The giant would wake up every morning, look out of his window, and grumble. "Why is Spring so late this year?" he would ask himself. He paced up and down, pulling at his beard. "I do hope the weather changes soon," he'd mutter, wrapping his huge cloak tighter around him. But Spring never came. And Summer never came either. It was an endless winter in the Selfish Giant's garden. And it stayed that way for a very, very long time. The giant was quite puzzled. He didn't understand why his beautiful garden, which he loved so much, was the only place in the whole wide world where winter just wouldn't leave.

A Little Hole and a Little Boy

Well, the Selfish Giant was still quite puzzled, wasn't he? He just couldn't understand why his garden, the most beautiful garden in the whole wide world, was the only place where winter simply would not leave. Day after day, week after week, the snow kept falling, the wind kept howling, and the frost stayed put. The poor trees were bare, the flowers were asleep under a thick blanket of ice, and no little bird dared to sing a single tune. Then, one morning, something rather wonderful happened. The Giant was lying in his bed, half-asleep, when he heard a tiny sound. It wasn't the roar of the North Wind, which he’d grown so used to. And it certainly wasn't the rattling of the hail on his roof. No, this was a much sweeter sound. It was… a little bird singing. Yes! A tiny little bird singing the most beautiful song, right outside his window! It had been so long since he'd heard a bird sing that he thought he must be dreaming. The Giant rubbed his eyes and sat up. He listened intently. And then, he heard another sound. Laughter! Children’s laughter! A sound he hadn’t heard in his garden for what felt like forever. He leapt out of bed, pulling on his slippers as quickly as he could, and rushed to the window. He looked out over his frosty, frozen garden, his heart thumping with curiosity. And what do you think he saw? Well, it was the most amazing sight! The children had found a way back in! They had crept through a tiny little hole in the wall, a hole so small the Giant hadn't even noticed it. And they were everywhere, weren't they? In every corner of his garden, there were little boys and girls, running and playing. And as they ran, something magical happened. In every spot where a child stood, the winter seemed to melt away. The snow disappeared, the grass turned green, and tiny buds burst onto the branches of the trees! The flowers, which had been fast asleep for months and months, suddenly stretched open their colourful petals. Birds flew down from the sky, singing their happy songs, and bees buzzed amongst the blossoms. It was spring! True, glorious spring had returned to his garden, simply because the children were there! Can you imagine that? But in one corner of the garden, the furthest corner, it was still winter. And why do you think that was? Well, in that corner, stood a little boy. He was so tiny, much tinier than the other children, and he was trying to climb up a tree. But he was just too small, wasn't he? His little arms couldn't reach the lowest branch, and his little legs couldn't push him up high enough. He kept trying and trying, his little face scrunched up with effort, but he just couldn't do it. The tree he was trying to climb was still covered in frost and snow, and it looked very sad. It knew the little boy couldn't reach, and it longed to blossom and be green like the other trees. It even tried to bend its branches down a little bit, to help the boy, but it was just too stiff from the long winter. And the little boy, after many tries, sat down on the frosty ground and began to cry. Big, hot tears rolled down his cold little cheeks. Now, the Selfish Giant watched all of this from his window. And as he watched the little boy crying, trying so hard to reach the tree, a very strange feeling began to grow in his heart. It wasn't the usual grumpy, cross feeling he often had. No, this was different. He felt a little pang, a little ache. He saw the sadness of the boy, and the sadness of the tree, and for the very first time, he understood. “How selfish I have been!” he whispered to himself. “Now I know why the Spring would not come here. It is all because I kept the children out! I built that big, cold wall, and I made my beautiful garden a lonely, frozen place. I chased away the very thing that made it alive and joyful.” He knew, in that very moment, that he had made a terrible mistake. He looked at his beautiful garden, now half-filled with sunshine and laughter, and half still trapped in the winter’s cold, and he felt a deep regret. He knew what he had to do. He had to be kind. He had to let the children play in his garden forever and ever.

A Change of Heart

The very next morning, as the sun peeked over the tall trees, the Selfish Giant woke up with a brand new feeling in his enormous chest. It wasn’t a grumbly, grumpy feeling anymore. Oh no! It was a warm, fizzy feeling, like a glass of lemonade on a sunny afternoon. He knew what he had to do. He pulled on his big, sturdy boots, which usually stomped and clomped, but today they seemed to step a little lighter. He found his biggest hammer and a strong pickaxe, not for building, but for breaking. He walked out into his garden, which was still mostly covered in frost and snow, except for that one sunny corner where the little boy had been trying to climb the tree. The children, who had been peeping through the tiny hole in the wall, saw him come out. “Oh dear!” one little girl whispered. “Here comes the Giant! He’s going to shout at us!” They all hid behind a big oak tree, their little hearts going thump-thump-thump. But the Giant didn't shout. He didn't even grumble. He walked straight to the big, grey wall, raised his hammer high, and with a mighty *CRASH!* he knocked out the first brick! Then another! And another! *CRUMBLE! BANG! TING!* went the bricks as they tumbled to the ground. The children watched, their eyes wide with surprise. As the wall started to come down, the Giant spotted the little boy he had seen yesterday, the one who was too small to reach the branches. He was trying again, jumping and stretching, his rosy cheeks puffed out with effort, but he just couldn't quite make it. The Giant’s heart melted like a chocolate biscuit in a warm cup of tea. “Little one,” he boomed, but his voice wasn't gruff or scary anymore. It was as gentle as a summer breeze. “Let me help you.” The little boy looked up, his eyes as blue as cornflowers, and for a moment, he looked a little frightened. He had never heard the Giant speak so kindly before. The Giant bent down, very, very slowly, until his big, kind face was level with the boy’s. He held out his enormous hand. “Come on, little chap,” he said, “Up you go.” The small boy put his tiny hand into the Giant’s massive one, and the Giant gently lifted him, as light as a feather, right into the branches of the tree. And do you know what happened then? It was the most magical thing! As soon as the little boy was nestled safely amongst the branches, that tree, which had been bare and frosty, suddenly burst into glorious blossom! Pink petals, white flowers, and bright green leaves unfurled as if by magic. A little bird, singing the sweetest, most joyful song, flew down and landed right on the boy’s shoulder. It was as if spring had waited just for this moment! The little boy, so happy to be in the tree, leaned over and gave the Giant a big, soft kiss on his cheek. The Giant felt such a lovely warmth spread through him, a warmth he hadn't felt in years and years. It was better than all the shiny gold in the world, better than all the fancy cakes he used to eat alone. Seeing this, the other children, who had been peeking from behind the oak tree, realised that the Selfish Giant wasn't selfish anymore! They rushed out from their hiding places, laughing and cheering, and ran into the now blossoming garden. The Giant, with a huge smile on his face, continued to pull down the rest of his big, ugly wall, brick by brick, until there was no wall left at all. And from that day on, the Selfish Giant was no longer selfish. He was the Happy Giant! He played hide-and-seek with the children amongst the flowers, he told them silly stories under the apple trees, and he even let them climb on his enormous knees. He understood now that sharing his garden made it even more beautiful. His favourite game was a gentle game of ‘Giant Steps’, where the children would try to copy his enormous strides across the lawn. His garden was always filled with the sound of laughter and happy chatter. It was the most wonderful garden in the whole of the British Isles, always sunny, always green, even in the middle of winter, because the children’s joy kept the cold away. Every afternoon, after school, the children would pour into the garden like a colourful river, ready for adventures and games. The Giant loved every single one of them, but there was one little boy he never forgot, the one who had kissed him. That special boy, with his cornflower-blue eyes, visited the garden every day for a while, but then, one afternoon, he wasn't there. And though the Giant looked for him amongst the daisies and under the rose bushes, he couldn't find him anywhere. He often wondered where his littlest friend had gone, feeling a tiny bit sad, but still surrounded by the joy of all the other children.

Outro

And so, the Giant learned that sharing made his world much brighter. What a lovely story, wasn't it? Thank you for listening with us today. We hope you enjoyed exploring his wonderful garden! Perhaps you could imagine your own magical garden now? Or tell us about your favourite part! Don't forget to let Sonacasts know if you have any feedback. Until next time, keep dreaming big and sharing your joy!