The Selfish Giant

Every afternoon, after school ended, a group of children loved to play in a beautiful garden. It belonged to a giant who had been away visiting a friend for many years. The garden was full of soft green grass, bright flowers, and peach trees that blossomed in spring and bore fruit in autumn. Birds sang sweetly in the branches, and the children laughed happily while playing there. To them it felt like the most wonderful place in the world.

One day the giant returned home. He was huge, strong, and not friendly. When he saw the children playing in his garden, he became angry. He shouted that the garden was his private property and ordered them to leave at once. The frightened children ran away. The giant then built a high stone wall around the garden and placed a sign warning others to stay out. After that, no one was allowed to enter.

Without the children, the garden became strangely silent. Spring came everywhere else, but not inside the giant’s garden. The trees refused to bloom, the birds would not sing, and the grass stayed pale. Instead, winter remained there. Snow covered the ground, frost painted the trees silver, and the cold north wind roared through the branches. Even the hail and storm enjoyed staying because the garden was empty and lonely.

One morning the giant heard lovely music. Looking out the window, he saw something amazing — a small hole in the wall allowed the children to enter again. Wherever they played, flowers blossomed and birds returned. The giant realized the garden had been frozen because of his selfishness. He felt ashamed. Then he noticed one small boy trying to climb a tree but unable to reach its branches. The tree bent down to help him, yet he still could not climb.

The giant’s heart softened. He quietly went outside and lifted the boy into the tree. Immediately the tree burst into beautiful blossoms, and the other children stopped playing in fear at first. But when they saw the giant smiling kindly, they returned happily. He knocked down the wall and welcomed them forever. From that day forward the garden remained full of spring, laughter, and friendship.

The little boy he had helped kissed the giant before running away. The giant loved him most of all, yet strangely the boy never returned. Years passed. The giant grew old and weak, but he still watched children playing and felt peaceful remembering that special child. One winter morning he saw the boy again standing beneath a tree covered in white blossoms.

The giant noticed wounds on the boy’s hands and feet and became worried someone had hurt him. The child told him they were wounds of love and invited the giant to his own garden — Paradise. That afternoon the children found the giant lying peacefully under the tree, covered with white flowers. His selfish heart had changed into kindness, and at last he found eternal happiness.