Giant of the Village
There once was a giant who guarded the entrance to a village. Everyone in this village worked together for a betterment of the community. They all supported each other's needs; they played to each other's strengths and aided in eachother's weaknesses. One day, one of the villagers was gathering water from a nearby river when he discovered a cradle floating gently down the stream. The man immediately dove into the water and retrieved the cradle. He brought it back to shore and was shocked at what was inside. It was a baby, but it was not the size of a normal infant. The baby was nearly the size of a teenage child! Without hesitation, the man brought the baby back to the village, and every single member of the community was in agreement that they should help the child. The villagers fed the child a healthy amount, they built him his own shelter, and they aided in his development until he became independent. Once the giant was a fully grown man, most of the village expected him to leave. The giant had no plans for this. Instead, he decided he would stay with the people that had saved and cared for him. He would protect them from any danger that they might come across. After all, the villagers were his family.
One day, a royal guard stumbled upon the village and immediately returned to his king to report his sighting of the giant. The king was completely outraged that there was a giant living in his kingdom. He would not have it. He immediately ordered a unit of his soldiers to take a visit to the village and dispose of the giant. The king wanted to see the giant for himself so he decided he would accompany the men on the trip to the village. It was not that the king was an evil man, but he simply believed that having a giant in his kingdom was an endangerment to his people.
The king and his men approached the village, and they gazed upon the twenty-foot giant that stood guard at the entrance of the community. All of the men got off of their horses and advanced toward the giant. The king led the large charge against the giant. They all removed their swords from their sheaths and made it quite clear to the giant what they were about to do to him.
"Wait!" the giant cried.
"What is it?" the king replied.
"If you strike me down here, I am afraid I will fall onto the village and squash many of the innocent people that reside here."
"What do you suggest we do?"
"Please, remove small pieces from my body. This way, I will not harm any of the people from my village. It will be much more painful, but I am willing to take the pain. These people have done so much for me."
The king let out a long sigh. There was absolutely no way he could kill the giant now. There was nothing but kindness in his heart. It was clear that the giant cared so much for these people to the degree that he was willing to experience an extremely painful death.
"Giant, we cannot kill you. You are much too virtuous. Please, continue to take care of the villagers in these small town. They seem very important to you," the king said.
With that, the king and his men left. The giant and the villagers were relieved that the giant's life was spared on this day. The giant took the word of the king and never let any harm come to the people of the village. He guarded the village with all of his heart until the end of his days.
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Author's note: This story was completely based off of the Jataka tale called: The Spirit that Lived in the Tree. In this story, a king is clearing out a forest. He comes across a tree that is about the be cleared. The tree begs to not be cut down because he fears he will fall onto the grass and kill his kin. The tree requests to have all its branches cut off one by one so the grass below will experience to pain or death. The king is touched by this request and refuses to cut down the tree. In my story, it is clear that this is highly inspired by this story. I just changed the tree into a giant and the grass into people. I was also thrilled to end this story with a happy ending. All of my stories have had some sort of twist or filled with sinister plot points. This story was meant to be one of happiness where everyone wins. My favorite part of this story and the Jataka tale is the kind nature of the king. He spares the tree of giant in my story. I feel like a lot of these stories contain a king that is somewhat rude or evil. This king shows he his kind of heart and that is important for a happy ending.
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Bibliography: Shedlock's Eastern Stories and Legends
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