Gerald the Friendly Giant

So I wrote this for a friend of mine. She was doing short stories in her English class and she needed to write a story and she asked if I could do it because she can't write. Yeah I know it's wrong to do someone else's homework but I love to write =D

This is a really short story, about 1 200 words about a lonely giant and how he gains respect of the village people. Please R&R

~.~.~


Gerald the Friendly Giant

  It was beginning to look like a beautiful day. The sun was peaking over the tree tops, setting its rays across the small village in between the forest and the large mountain that towered over it. The birds were twittering and the squirrels had just come out to play. The sleepy village was just waking up, ready to start their day and commenting on the beautiful weather. It was going to be a good day they all thought, except one. Gerald the Giant lived in a cave a top the mountain. The villagers feared him and that’s why they were mean to him and never included him in any of their daily activities. Gerald was a friendly giant though and he never understood why no one liked him. In fact most went to the extreme of glaring at him or running away when they saw him so now he only stayed in his cave, brooding.
Gerald crawled onto the ledge of the mountain and looked down at the town-folk. Some were setting up market stalls as a few carts began to ride into the town square. A couple of rocks fell from the cliff edge and bounced off the mountain below him. He sighed sadly and watched as they hurried themselves with their business, not caring that he was above them, not caring that he was sad, not caring that he was alone.
Gerald crawled back into his damp and dark cave, knowing that the four troublesome boys would be up to see him soon. They always ran up the mountain side to his cave where they threw rocks at him and laughed. Gerald didn’t retaliate, he wasn’t mean like they were and he knew the village folk would hate him even more if he hurt one of the boys so he just turned his back and let them laugh at him.

After Gerald ate his dismal breakfast of bird eggs and fish that he had caught in the river a few large steps away from the village he curled up in the corner of his cave and tried to repair his shirt that had snagged on the mountain peak yesterday and had torn a whole in it.
Gerald only looked up from his sewing when he heard footsteps coming up the mountain path and kids laughing voices. He sobbed and tried to block the sounds out but they wouldn’t go away.
“Go on Mary, he won’t cut you up and feed you to his eagle, he’ll just eat you himself!” A boy’s voice taunted. A few laughed at the boy’s joke. “Chicken!” He sneered.
“Am not!” A girl shouted.
“Are too!”
“I am not!”
“Prove it then, go into that cave and show us all you’re not a scaredy cat.”
“Fine!” The girl shouted and a lone pair of footsteps could be heard advancing toward Gerald’s home. A small girl appeared in the opening. She was shaking with fright and her feet were rooted to the spot in fear. She was wearing a light blue dress that came to her knees, lacy, white socks that reached past her ankles and polished black shoes.
“Come to throw something at me?” Gerald asked, abandoning his nearly repaired shirt.
“N-no,” The girl stuttered.
“Come to laugh at me?’
“No,” The girl said bravely, gaining confidence as she saw that the giant had not moved over to her, possibly to grab her by the hair between his finger and thumb and throw her off the cliffs edge. “Why would I?” She asked.
“Because I’m the big scary giant that lives in the mountain that people are scared of and like to tease.” Gerald said shakily as he began to cry. Mary took a tentative step forward into the cave but stopped as Gerald let out a wail. “No one likes me and I have no friends!” He cried.
“It’s ok,” Mary said, trying to calm him. She was still scared but came to realise that he was harmless. “People are just scared because of the stories they hear but I bet they’re not true.”
“Stories?” He sniffled,
“They’re called Fairytales. In one, a boy climbs a beanstalk and meets a fearsome giant but the boy steals all of the giants toys which I don’t think is very nice and then he climbs back down the beanstalk and cuts it down.”
“That’s not very nice at all.” Gerald agreed. Mary shook her head,
“No it’s not and then there’s this other one where this human gets lost and ends up on an island where everyone’s really small and he’s the giant to them and they pin him down and are scared of him but really he’s a good person.”
“What happens to in the end?” Gerald asked. He was enjoying hearing about these stories. He had crossed his legs and rested his head on his hands, listening intently to her stories.
“They trust him and he helps them win against the little people’s enemy. I think everyone should learn from that story. I’m Mary by the way,” She said,
“I’m Gerald,”
“You’re really friendly Gerald; you’re not scary at all.”
“I know but people still think I am.” He said sadly. “Do you want to be my friend Mary?” He asked hopefully, his brown eyes glistening with glee and anticipation.
“Okay,” She said and smiled.

Mary came back every day to visit her new friend. She had told the troublesome boys to stop harassing Gerald and she was even trying to tell everyone in the village about how nice Gerald was but no one listened to a little girl.

“It’s ok Mary, I’m just happy we’re friends.” Gerald told her one day. Mary had told Gerald about no one listening to her.
“I’m sure they’ll see in the end that you’re nice.” She said hopefully.
“Me too Mary, me too.”
“I should be getting back home for supper, I’ll come see you tomorrow Gerald.” She told him as she stood from her position on her floor. Suddenly there was a scream from the village below and they both hurried to the edge to see what was happening. The village was on fire, the thatched roofs and the trees of the forest going up in flame. Mary gasped when she saw the fire nearing her own house where she had two brothers and a very young sister. Gerald was struck with a sudden thought,
“Stay here Mary, you’ll be safe, I’ll be right back.” He said and thundered down the mountain side. When he reached the bottom he took four large steps from the other side of the mountain where he reached the large river. He opened his mouth in the river and swallowed nearly all the water, going back to the village. He sprayed water over the blazing houses, buildings and forest. The town was soaked in water but there was no more fire. Suddenly someone clapped near Gerald’s ear, it was Mary, standing on the ledge and clapping for him. The rest of the villages began to clap too for Gerald the Friendly Giant, their saviour. Gerald lifted Mary onto his palm and set her down next to her family. Everyone was still clapping for him.

From that day no one was afraid of Gerald. The villagers built a house for him in a very large paddock on the other side of the mountain. He helped them repair their own houses and Gerald also helped them with their everyday tasks like collecting firewood and water. Mary and Gerald were best of friends and she came to visit him everyday with his very tasty and nutrional breakfast, lunch and dinner. Gerald was finally happy because he had friends and was not lonely anymore.


The End