The Selfish Giant

Every afternoon after school, the neighborhood children loved to go and play in the Giant's garden. It was a large, lovely garden with soft green grass and colorful flowers that looked like bright stars. There were twelve peach trees that grew delicate pink blossoms in the spring and delicious sweet fruit in the autumn. Birds sat on the high branches and sang so sweetly that the children often stopped their games to listen. "How happy we are here!" they laughed together.

One day, the Giant returned home to his castle. He had been away visiting a friend for seven long years. When he arrived at his gate, he saw the children running and playing on the grass. "What are you doing here?" the Giant shouted in a very loud and angry voice. The frightened children dropped their toys and ran away in fear.

"My own garden is for me alone!" said the selfish Giant. "Nobody else is allowed to play here!" So he built a high stone wall all around the garden and put up a large notice board: NO ENTRANCE. TRESPASSERS WILL BE PUNISHED. He was a very selfish Giant, and he did not care about the lonely children.

The poor children had nowhere left to play. They tried to play on the dusty road outside, but the ground was full of sharp, hard stones. Every afternoon after school, they walked around the high wall and remembered the wonderful green garden inside. "We were so happy in there," they said sadly to each other.

Soon, spring arrived across the country. Trees turned green and sweet flowers bloomed everywhere. But inside the garden of the Selfish Giant, it was still cold, dark winter. Because there were no happy children, the birds refused to sing, and the trees forgot to grow blossoms. The only visitors who loved the garden were the freezing Snow and the icy Frost. "Spring has forgotten this place!" they laughed. "We can stay here all year long!"

The Giant sat alone by his window, looking out at his cold, white, frozen garden. "I cannot understand why spring is so late this year," the Giant said to himself. "I hope the warm weather will return soon." But spring never came, and summer never visited. Autumn gave delicious golden fruit to every other garden in the village, but to the Giant's garden she gave none. "He is too selfish," the season said. So the garden remained trapped in freezing wind and snow.

One morning, as the Giant was lying awake in bed, he heard a lovely sound. A little bird was singing a sweet song outside his window. It was so long since he had heard music in his garden that it sounded like the most wonderful song in the world. The cold wind stopped blowing, and a warm, sweet smell came through the open window. "I believe spring has finally arrived!" cried the Giant, and he jumped out of bed to look.

The Giant saw an amazing sight! Through a small hole in the stone wall, the children had climbed back inside. In every tree in the garden, a happy child was sitting on a branch! And the trees were so glad to see the children that they covered themselves with beautiful pink blossoms. Colorful butterflies danced over the green grass, and birds were singing joyfully in the morning sun.

However, in the farthest corner of the garden, it was still freezing winter. A tiny little boy was standing under a snowy tree, crying bitterly. He was too small to reach the lowest branches, and he could not climb up. The poor tree bent its branches down as low as possible, but the boy was still too small.

As the Giant watched, his hard heart melted with warmth and sorrow. "How selfish I have been!" he whispered. "Now I understand why spring would not visit my garden! I will help that poor little boy climb into the tree, and then I will knock down the high wall. My garden shall be a children's playground forever!"

The Giant walked downstairs and stepped into the garden quietly. When the children saw his huge body, they were frightened and ran away, and the garden immediately turned back to cold winter. Only the tiny boy did not run, because his eyes were so full of tears that he could not see the Giant coming. The Giant walked up behind him gently, picked him up in his big hands, and placed him safely on the top branch of the tree.

At that very moment, the tree burst into beautiful pink blossoms, and birds flew down to sing on the branch. The little boy smiled, stretched out his small arms, hugged the Giant around his neck, and gave him a sweet kiss. When the other children saw that the Giant was kind and friendly, they ran back into the garden, and spring returned with them.

"It is your playground now, little children," said the Giant with a big smile. He took a heavy hammer and knocked down the stone wall. That afternoon, the villagers walking to the market were surprised to see the Giant happily playing games with the laughing children in the most beautiful garden they had ever seen. The Giant learned that sharing love and joy brings true happiness and endless spring.