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The Little Folks and Grandy the Giant

All the little folks hated Grandy the Giant. He never wished them, he never smiled at them, he never even gave them a nod as he passed by.

Oh ! He stopped and talked to the other giants alright but never to the little people who lived in the fairy half of the village. Why, he never even seemed to notice them! "Just because he's so big and strong, he thinks we are all too far below him, er... literally, I mean ... figuratively, I mean... oh you know what I mean...." said Confusy the old fairy.

Poor Grandy! It actually wasn't all his fault. You see, Grandy couldn't bend his neck and the other giants, the ones who could, had led him to believe that he wasn't missing anything much because their world after all, was the only world worth knowing. Grandy had sometimes glimpsed the fairy folk flying by his nose as they went about their errands but since they thought he was stuck up, they never stopped to talk to him and he never got a chance to get to know them. Grandy's friends never told him about all the beautiful things of the earth - the flowers, the grass and the loving little people and he sadly, never thought to ask!

Living on the fairy side of the village was Shyone the little fairy. Now Shyone was a most unfortunate fairy. She hadn't grown any wings! When all the others of her age got off the ground, her wings were still two tiny buds - hardly instruments of flight! Poor Shyone, she wanted so much to see how things looked from way up there in the blue sky. How she longed for just a peek....

One day, Grandy felt a great restlessness. Something nagged inside his head telling him that he was definitely missing something in life. He couldn't for the life of him imagine what! He had friends, he got plenty to eat and the fruits and the berries off the tops of the trees were simply delicious! What could be wrong in his life? Grandy decided that he needed to go for a long walk all by himself to clear his head. So off he strode. He knew there was a vast stretch of open land that lay beyond the fairy side of the village and right up to the blue hills in the distance so he decided to head that way. He strode along the huge giant highway and soon came to the place where it became a tiny track as it passed through Fairyside.

But Grandy was so very new to that part of town. And of course, he couldn't bend his neck to look down. So, just as he reached the edge of the town, C R A S H !!!!. He tripped over the border post - which he hadn't seen - and there he was sprawled out on the ground, his feet still inside the town and his head out on the moors!

Imagine the dreadful noise he made!! All the fairies were out on their various fairy duties except one - Shyone was at home sadly looking at her wing buds in the mirror, when the ground shook beneath her feet and the most awful sound she had ever heard came through the air. That was actually Grandy, making, what was for him, a small cry of pain and surprise as he hit the ground.

Shyone trembled. Summoning up all her courage, she ventured out to investigate. Just outside her door lay a huge foot. Uh oh, it looked like one of the giants. But what was one doing in that part of the town?

And did they have to be so clumsy? Couldn't they look where they were going? Why another foot or so to the side and this one might well have squashed her house! Indignant and angry now, thinking of what might so nearly have been, Shyone stood and glared at the foot. Just then, Grandy gave another grunt as he tried to get up. With another "Aaaaaaah", he fell back.

He couldn't seem to move his foot without it causing him the most agonizing pain. Shyone jumped. But this time she recognized the sound for what it actually was and realized that the Big, Clumsy Giant was in pain. With a shrug and a sigh she started to walk the length of the huge body. When she did get to the face, she found Grandy lying there with a surprised, rather silly expression on his face.

You see, when he fell back the second time, Grandy's head had fallen into a clump of sweet scented wild flowers. He had never smelled anything like it ! It was wonderful ! And now what was that tiny creature coming up? It was one of the fairies and Grandy of course had never properly seen one before. She looked so fragile and so..... so lovely! Why had no one told him that they were so beautiful ?

In all the wonder of the moment Grandy forgot all about the pain in his foot and continued to stare rudely at Shyone.

Shyone on her part, had never seen a giant up close before. Fear, curiosity and irritation about the damage so nearly done to her house mingled inside her.

"If you've quite finished staring and squashing ordinary folks' houses, I think you should get up and go back where you belong. If you want, I can fetch you some cloth to tie up your leg ."

Grandy blinked and came back to his senses. " Oh, er, yes! Thank you! I could actually do with some help. I seem to have sprained my foot. I need a shoulder to lean on - not yours of course!"
He hastily added and began to laugh at the thought. Shyone was not amused. She looked at him crossly.

"And how do you expect me to get you a giant shoulder to lean on?" Grandy stopped laughing.
"I am sorry! It just did seem so very funny - the thought of me leaning on your shoulder. Seriously though, I'd be very grateful if you could just fly over to the giant side of the town and ask someone there to come and help me."

Shyone hesitated.

"I suppose I could do that but it will take me some time. I don't have long legs like yours and I don't ...... have ....... wings."

As she said this a little lump of unhappiness came into her throat and tears glistened in her eyes. Grandy was immediately sorry. He didn't want to see this delicate little creature cry and he hadn't noticed until that minute that she didn't have wings.

"Itıs okay," he told her. "We can wait until someone comes along. It isn't so very uncomfortable and it is all so very interesting. These flowers for instance, they smell so delightful!"

"Haven't you smelled flowers before?" Shyone asked. "There are many that smell even sweeter than those. Wait there a minute.....".

She stopped and the two began to laugh. Grandy wasn't going anywhere for some time! Shyone picked all kinds of flowers for Grandy to smell. She told him all about the little things of the earth and he in turn told her all about life among the tree tops. And he told her all about his neck and how he had never known that there were such wonderful things down on the ground. By evening when the other fairies started to get back, these two were fast friends.

One of the fairies fetched Grandy's neighbor to help him get home and the two bade each other an affectionate good night.

Once Grandy's foot was alright again, it became a common enough sight for the town to see Grandy squatting on the field near Fairyside talking happily to Shyone who would be sitting on his hand or shoulder. So too did they get used to the sight of Grandy striding around the trees in the forest or even up the hills with a tiny fairy sitting way up there on his head.