Small Giant
Part 1: The Unhappy Man
Alfred was a small man. He is barely five feet tall. Because of it, he feels miserable. The beautiful and tall women he liked did not take notice of him. He was sometimes the victim of bullying. In short, he became a very bitter man.
This must be the reason why he took a job as a fisherman. He wanted to be as faraway from people as possible. People mean rejection and bullying to him. By being out of the sea many times, he avoided contact with people.
But this did not stop his bitterness. He was the smallest fisherman in the ship and fishermen can be a mean bunch. The taller fishermen in the ship bullied him and made him run errands for them. They fully know that he was a pushover because of his small stature.
He might not show it to the other fishermen, but he resented almost every last one of them. Sometimes, he dreamed of becoming much bigger than the other fishermen and bullying them. Then reality will set in and he would be lonely again.
Part 2: A Terrifying Event
His lonely life continued as normal until one day the ship encountered a storm in the sea. The waves were nearly as high as the ship itself and many times, the ship almost capsized. Then the ship started taking in water.
The fishermen tried to plug the leak in the ship, but it was too large to be plugged. They were all sure that the ship will sink soon. The captain gave the orders to abandon ship and soon, all of them rode in the lifeboats and sailed away from the fast sinking ship.
But in the lifeboat were Alfred was riding, they had a problem. The lifeboat could not carry all of them. There was simply too many of them to ride the lifeboat. Everyone fought with each other to remain in the lifeboat. Alfred was simply too small and too weak to fight to remain in the boat.
Part 3: The First Island
He drifted at sea for almost a day. He was just waiting to die when he noticed in the far horizon a group of islands. He became hopeful that maybe he would reach one of the islands, but he was simply too weak now to swim.
He just hoped that the currents would drift him ashore in one of the islands. Then tiredness overcame him and he fell into a deep sleep. His fate now rested with the currents. They are the only ones that could dictate which direction he would go.
When he awoke, he found himself lying in a beach. The beach was long and it opened up to a jungle. Thirsty, he decided to look for water in the jungle. Then, he noticed something. There were not many tall trees in the forest. The plants were also small.
Then he noticed a wild boar in the distant. When he came near it, he was surprised that it was very small. It was the size of a baby pig, but it definitely looked like a full grown boar. Then to his surprise, he saw it struck by a small spear.
He rushed towards the small wild boar and retrieved the small spear. Then he heard noises. From a distant, he saw small men running. He took the boar and chased after the small men. The small men eventually stopped running when they reached a clearing full of small houses.
Alfred was very surprised. The small people in the village were no taller than his knees. Then an old man came near him, “Sir, you are not from around here. Are you lost?” Alfred explained his story of being afloat in the sea because his ship has sinked.
The old man was pleased with his answer, “Then the guardians would know what to do with you.” Then the small people offered him food and made a bed made from straw just for his size. Alfred was delighted with them.
Part 4: The Spoiled Giant
The small people treated him nicely and he treated them nicely as well. They cooked him food and he helped them hunt and gather food as well. But he noticed that they barely talk to him. It did not trouble him much because he understood that he was a giant compared to them.
Then one day, he heard the sound of the small women singing. He was delighted. He smiled at them, “Beautiful women, can I ask when do you normally sing so I can come and be entertained?”
The small women smiled, “Do not worry, from now on we will sing for you everyday.” This delighted Alfred that he always looked forward to the small women singing for him everyday. His day would not be complete unless he got entertained by their singing.
Then one day, the small women stopped singing for him, “I’m afraid we cannot sing for you anymore, at least temporarily. It is almost harvest season and everyone needs to help in the harvesting of crops.”
He became angry and picked up the leader of the small women by her waist, “You promised me that you would sing for me everyday. I am a lonely man in the company of small people. Can’t you see how miserable I am? No, you must continue singing for me!”
Part 5: The King
The small woman he held shouted in terror. The small men saw him holding the small woman by his hand. The old man pleaded with him, “Giant, please put the woman down. We have done nothing to you.”
Alfred smirked, “All I wanted was for the women to continue singing for me. I won’t release her until they promise to sing for me everyday again!” The old man became angry, “They sang only to help with your loneliness. They are not your slaves to sing for you forever!”
But Alfred was already feeling very powerful especially since he held the small woman, “I can force you all to do as I want. I am much bigger than you. You can’t do anything to me.” The old man bit his lips, “We would do as you please.”
Part 6: Alone Again
He slept soundly after the small people fed him and sang for him. The next morning, when he awakened, the small people were gone from the village. He searched for them but cannot find them.
He was alone again. There were no small people to cook his food and to sing for him when he needed entertainment. He learned to hunt on his own. He soon learned that hunting as a giant is very difficult. His big size announced his presence to any animal he was hunting. They were easily gone before he can come near them.
The cooking tools of the small people were also too small for him to use. He had to content himself with eating small plants and fruits which hardly satisfied his hunger. He was hungry all the time.
He was very miserable and wished that the small people would return. Sometimes when he searched for them in the forest, he would shout his apologies to them and ask them to come back. But the small people did not come back to him.
Part 7: The Guardians
Then one day, as he was walking in the beach, he saw a ship from afar. He waved at it but it seems no one in the ship saw him. No one responded. He then looked far from left to right of the beach.
He noticed there was a ship that ran aground in the beach. He hurried towards it. When he was near it, he became horrified, “This is not a ship, this is a giant boat!” Before he can run, he heard loud footsteps coming from the forest.
Giants double his size appeared in the beach from the forest. He stumbled as he tried to get away from them. They easily caught him. One of the giants held him by his chest, “Come out! Come out small people!”
There was a rumbling in the plants and pretty soon Alfred saw the small people. One of the giants spoke, “Is this the small man that threatened your daughters?” The small people said yes.
Alfred pleaded, “I know I threatened you all small people, but I am very sorry. I’m just so lonely that I wanted to hear your daughters sing for me always. Please forgive me.” The giant smiled, “So, you think you can lord it over the small people just because they are small.”
Part 8: The Giant People
He was put in the boat of the giants, and from there they rode the big ship of the giants which took them to the island of the giants. Alfred was scared all the way. He has not seen such big people throughout his life. To them, he was the size of a very small child.
He was especially scared when he heard the giants talking. One giant said to a second giant, “This is the small man who threatened our friends, the small people. He thinks he is some kind of giant.”
The second giant laughed, “Well, you know what we do to little people who think they are giants.” Then both men looked at him and continued laughing. Alfred was shaking in fear. He was very regretful of how he treated the small people.
Part 8: The Servant
When they landed in the island where the giants lived, he wanted to scream in fright. Everything there was huge. The plants, trees and animals were much bigger as compared to his size.
The village of the giants too was horrifying to him. Everyone there was a giant. The giants live in giant houses where they have giant horses and animals which they cared for. He was very scared of what they would do to him.
Then, he was warned. “If you try to run away from this village, you would die. The giant animals would either attack you or kill you. You are no match for them because of your very small size. If you want to live, stay in this village.”
Then they gave him a normal sized pail and other cleaning tools. The giant laughed, “For now on, you would be caring for our farm animals. Be careful, they are much too big for you. If they attack you, you could die.”
From then on, this became his work. He would feed and clean the giant cows, pig and sheep which the giant owned. After taking care of them, he would then clean the house of the giant. He was always very scared that one day, the giant farm animals would attack him.
Part 9: Drinking With A Giant
One day, the giant asked him to drink with him. The giant poured wine on a normal sized bowl and handed it to him. The giant asked him what his life was like before he arrived the island of the small people.
The giant smiled as he drank his wine, “Tell me, how your life was before and now.” Alfred was already pretty drunk. The wine of the giants were very powerful compared to normal human wine. Alfred talked freely, “I am miserable, I have been pushed around all my life and now I am still being pushed around.”
The giant laughed, “No one in this village have ever pushed you around. In fact, you were the one who pushed around the small people.” Alfred sighed, “You don’t know how it feels to be bigger than other people. It gets to your head like wine. It makes you drunk with power.”
He then finished his bowl of wine, “If I could just ask forgiveness to those small people, I would. I know how it feels to be small and powerless. I will regret my actions to them forever.” Then he collapsed out of drunkenness.
When he awoke, he was in a boat together with the giant, they were heading to another island. He begged the giant, “Please don’t take me to another island inhabited by larger giants. I regret all my actions. I would happily be your unquestioning servant.”
The giant just smiled, “We giants understand the meaning of power. We have been controlling ourselves all our lives. We know if we become just like you, we would surely regret it one day. I am taking you the place you deserve.”
Part 10: The Final Island
The island they landed on seemed normal. When they arrived, Alfred saw that is was a normal looking forest. Compared to the giants, the forest plants and trees looked small but about similar to the size of normal plants and trees.
Then they reached a village. Even before they arrived in the village, Alfred was already smiling. He saw that the houses were normal sized houses. Then his heart leaped with joy. The people in the village were normal sized humans.
Some were tall as him while the others were smaller or taller than him. The giant smiled, “This is where all the shipwrecked humans eventually end up once they have been to the island of the small people.”
Then he touched him in the head, “We punish humans who are cruel to the small people. We, the giants, think that you are not an evil person. You are merely a lonely small person. In this island, no one would harm you or try to abuse you. You are under our protection.”
Then the giant pointed at the people in the island, “But you do not need protection from us, the people here are all kind. I hope you would learn to live happily with these people.” Alfred was in tears when he saw how kindly the people treated each other.
Small or Tall, the people happily got along with each other. In time, Alfred married a beautiful woman who was taller than him and he soon had a family. The giants and the small people were usual visitors in his household.