The big giant was so sad and lonely … no – one ever really knew why … but he was often seen sobbing and boo – hooing. When the sad and lonely giant was in a bad mood, a dark cloud fell over the whole town and his raindrop tears fell in a teary, sad and lonely downpour, leaving big wet puddles on the town’s pavements. His cries sounded just like thunder, which left the leaves falling from the trees. What was it that made the sad and lonely giant so sad and lonely ? It was perhaps that he thought nobody liked him much … because he was such a gigantic giant, as tall as a sky scraper, whose head was always in the clouds. It was true that his enormous feet had trod down three trees in the forest last week whilst he was out picking mushrooms and his big boots left holes in the sides of mountains … If he sneezed, it caused a hurricaine on the other side of the world … and when he sang – it woke up the whole town (including the people living in the neighbouring country). When he drank a cup of tea, the handle fell off the cup and he was always hungry. It took a whole supermarket of food to keep his cupboards full and even a simple shopping trip had left a set of traffic lights smashed when the giant dropped one of his shopping bags. When his socks fell down, it took a bus load of people on ladders to pick them back up again … and even more when the seams burst on his trousers and they needed stitching back together (the needle they used was the size of a telegraph pole and the cotton thread was, in fact, a telephone wire). Wherever he sat, things got broke. When he went for a quiet walk – it woke up the whole neighbourhood. Not even if he went to get forty winks sleep, did the townsfolk get any peace … his snores caused an earthquake and the light bulb flashing on and off was just the same as lightening flashes.
He actually was a good, kind – hearted soul deep down inside. But being a giant wasn’t much fun at all. So the sad and lonely giant tried to make tea for his neighbours, who he invited around for a party to celebrate the building of his new shed … (actually the size of a house). It was a great occasion – with flags and balloons that the townsfolk were able to sail over the town in just like hot air balloons (though when the giant sneezed, the hot air balloon had to sail through clouds of his hot air). The giant waved goodbye to the passengers in the hot air balloon … and the hot air balloon shot off in a force seven gale. The picnic tea was scrumptious … the tablecloth covered an entire car park, though there were too many sandwiches … so many, in fact that even the giant couldn’t eat them all. The sad and lonely giant sat at the top of the table, on an enormous deckchair as big as a boeing seven four seven, under which all the picnickers could take shelter. Of course, the giant was so gigantic that when he laughed, and rolled off his deckchair, it took two hundred townsfolk to pick him back up again. When the giant spilt his drink, it caused a tidal wave so big that it splashed all the townsfolk for miles around. Suddenly, the sad and lonely giant realised that he was smiling and that his smile was so happy it lit up the sky like the midday sun. The sad and lonely giant was never sad and lonely again.
GIANT Activity
Can you fill in the rainy weather words from the story ?
R * * * DR * *
D * * * P * * R
W * * * H E R
P * * D * * S
T * * * D E *
C L O * * S
H U R * I * * I * E
* * R T H Q * * K E
L * G * * E N I N G FL* * H
© Jacqueline Richards 2005
Answers
raindrops; downpour; weather; puddles;tadpoles; clouds; hurricaine; earthquake; lightening flash
Jack and The Beanstalk Tall and Short Stories 
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