The Selfish Giant

A giant had an enormous garden. Its grass was soft and its trees were in blossom; birds sang, and children played there every afternoon. The giant had been away for seven years visiting a friend. When he came back and saw the children in the garden, he roared: "My garden is my own!" He drove them all out and built a high wall around it. And he hung up a sign: "Trespassers will be punished."

Now the children played on the road, in the dust. Spring came; the whole country burst into flower. But spring did not come to the giant's garden. The birds did not sing, the trees did not blossom. Only Snow and Frost stayed in the garden; the North Wind howled on the roof, and the Hail broke the windows. The giant looked out of his window and wondered, "Why is spring so late?"

One morning he woke in his bed to the sound of a bird. He looked out of the window and his mouth fell open: the children had crept in through a little hole in the wall; in every tree sat a child, and every tree had blossomed. Only in the farthest corner was one tree still covered in snow. Under it a tiny boy was crying; he could not reach the branch.

The giant's heart melted. "How selfish I have been!" he said. He went down into the garden. The children were frightened and ran away; only the little boy, whose eyes were full of tears, did not see him. The giant gently lifted him and set him on the branch. The tree burst into blossom at once. The boy flung his arms around the giant's neck and kissed him.

The giant knocked down the wall. "The garden belongs to the children now," he said. He played with them every afternoon. But that little boy never came again, and the giant missed him very much.

Years passed. The giant grew old; now he sat in an armchair and watched the children. One winter morning he looked out of the window: the tree in the corner was covered with golden leaves and silver fruit. Under it stood that little boy. The giant ran to him with joy. On the boy's palms were two wounds. "Who did this?" roared the giant. The boy smiled: "These are the wounds of love. One day you let me play in your garden; today I will take you to my garden: Paradise."

That afternoon, when the children came to the garden, they found the giant under the tree, covered in white blossoms, sleeping in peace.