The Giant and the Girl

The Giant and the Girl

Once upon a time in a land darkened by shadow, there lived a girl who was very special. Although every little girl is special, this girl was exceptionally special because she had met the giant beyond the shadow. The giant always knew how to make her laugh when she was sad and would listen patiently when the girl told him about the sorrows that were falling in her village.

The girl loved the giant. The giant was strong, but it was his kindness and love that drew her to him. She wanted to be like the giant and often would ask him what he would do in certain situations so she could better understand how to be like the giant. This was hard because sometimes the giant’s thoughts and advice ran so contrary to what everyone else told her.

One day, the giant told her he had to go away on business in the blue world. But before the giant left, he laid his hand on the girl’s shoulder and looked intently into her eyes.

“Even though I’m going away and you won’t see me for a bit, I am always with you,” the giant told the girl.

The girl frowned. She didn’t want the giant to go away. He was her only friend – the other kids were mean to her. “You’ll never be a good warrior,” they teased, for she often failed the tests that were given to determine strength and aptitude.

Everyone in her society grew up to become warriors. To not become a warrior was viewed as dishonoring family and society. Not being a warrior meant that you were lazy or just plain weak.

One day not too long ago she made the mistake of telling them about the giant. She had told them out of the need to defend herself against their taunts that she would grow up to be useless. The giant had told her that she was special no matter what she grew up to be and that she need only mimic him to remember that. The other kids had laughingly told her, “Giants don’t exist. That’s little kid stuff.”

Looking at the giant now, she knew the other kids were wrong. “Before I go, I want you to know a saying from where I come. Do you want to hear it?”

The girl nodded and looked curiously at the giant, waiting for him to continue. Suddenly, the giant began to sing in a low voice and the girl shivered. Although the song was in a different language, the meaning blazed as clearly as the sun on a cloudless day. The song spoke of beauty in the midst of what the girl thought was ugly and it showed her strength appearing in forms that had no might or force.

Mostly, the song spoke of love and as the girl listened, she felt a warmth wrap around her, reminding her of the soft blanket her gran gave her before she passed away. The girl felt as though the warmth would spread all the way down to her toes, which were often cold. When the giant left, the girl didn’t feel as sad as she might have before the song.

Days and months followed, and they were hard because all the giant said he would always be with her, she still missed him a lot – especially his laugh. The giant had a laugh that could make a storm seem cheery. As time passed, the kids in her village continued to taunt her, but the banshees were the worst. The banshees – the enemies of the giant – would whisper into her ears that the girl wasn’t special. When the girl failed to live up to the goodness the giant spoke into her, the banshees would all close in around her and remind her of all her failures and faults. They were the worst at night because the girl could hear their voices more clearly.

Yet sometimes, the girl would remember the song the giant sang and then she couldn’t hear the banshees as clearly. Once, when the banshees’ taunts were exceptionally cruel, she replayed the song over in her mind. Only this time, she thought she heard the giant saying that often the banshees told people that they were useless in the very areas that they had been gifted in. For instance, if a person was exceptionally kind, the banshees would tell that person that he or she was mean or not kind enough.

This was done to cause people to doubt the gifts they had been given and deter them from walking in what they were called to be. The giant told her that it was best to ignore the banshees and think of the song, which was just as the girl had been doing. The girl wondered at this, because often the giant had often given her advice of this kind and it felt as though the giant were with her in the room even though she couldn’t see him.

Years flew by on eagles wings and the girl grew up to become a great warrior. Everyone loved her, for she had the rare kind of qualities that people used to say had passed into legend. Qualities like valor, strength and beauty -- qualities that people claimed they saw in the girl who was now no longer a girl. But though the warrior woman listened to them, the words the people said never stuck. This was primarily the fault of the more cunning of the banshees.

Although she didn’t listen to the lesser banshees, the more cunning of the banshees continued to tell her that she wasn’t any of those things and that once people saw her fail on the field of battle, they would realize how weak, cowardly and ugly she really was. They would recognize that she was useless. And perhaps even the giant would be disappointed in her and recognize how useless she was.

For although the woman had stood true to the conviction that she must be good and mimic what the giant had told her, she had always imagined that should she ever fail to be a good warrior, she would dishonor all that the giant had taught her.

On a not so extraordinary day in the midst of what seemed to be a not so extraordinary battle, something rather extraordinary happened. The warrior woman, while fighting with all the customary strength and dedication she could muster, was cut down unexpectedly by an enemy. As she lay on the field bleeding, she immediately began to struggle to get up to continue fighting. Just then, her three warrior friends came and took her off the field, each of them carrying her back to their home.

Later, a doctor came, and, upon examining her, pronounced that she would have to rest for a long while and stay away from the field of battle, possibly indefinitely. The warrior woman was devastated. Almost everyone she knew was a warrior. Being a warrior was the only way she had ever known to demonstrate valor, courage and strength. She had always expected a high degree of valor from herself and believed that she showed others her worth through the great feats that she could do.

Now that she was incapable of contributing anything, the warrior woman wondered how she would be able to give her friends the kind of support they needed. She had met her three friends on the field of battle some time in the past and they all had bonded over a mutual admiration for the goodness and valor they each exemplified. Also, her three friends all had met the giant.

Although her three friends insisted the warrior woman continue to stay in their lodging and assured her of all her good qualities like her valor, strength and beauty, their words slipped from the warrior woman’s ears just as so many other compliments had. When night fell, she heard again the voice of the most cunning banshees reminding her how she had failed. And as the scenes from the day’s battle replayed endlessly in the warrior woman’s mind, she wondered in the sadness of her heart if she was even worthy of her friendship with the giant. For what could she contribute if she weren’t on the battlefield?

A few bitter days later, the warrior woman’s friends came and told her how the giant had returned and that the giant looked different now. Also, the giant was asking for her. But the warrior woman did not want to see the giant. She was too ashamed of her weakness and injury and said to tell the giant she was too busy.

The next day, a soft knock was heard on the door and the warrior woman went to open it, thinking that it sounded like the giant. Sure enough, when she opened the door, the giant’s gentle, loving eyes stared back at her. “Giant!” the warrior woman exclaimed in surprise.

For a large wound covered the giant’s chest where before there had been no wound. The giant spoke her name and asked to come in. The warrior woman nodded and stepped aside. When they were both sitting at the table, the giant looked at her, and the warrior woman knew the giant was waiting for her to speak.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come find you,” the warrior woman began and tried not to cry. The warrior woman prided herself on her ability to stay strong and not give in to weakness. “I…I’m sorry I failed you. I tried to be the kind of person you’d be proud of and I…I failed,” the warrior woman stammered out suddenly, for the giant had always had the knack for getting her to speak the most important matter directly.

The warrior woman was now looking at the ground, waiting for the giant to leave or tell her how worthless she really was.

Instead, the giant said, “I have come from the blue world and yet I remain in the blue world. My work there is not yet done.”

The warrior turned to look at the giant in surprise. It was hardly the response she expected. “I have found a people who love me. But they are still struggling to understand the nature of my love. And so, out of desire to please me, they cling to the identities they create for themselves – the parts of them that they think worthy. And so they present to one another and me only the parts that they consider worthy.”

The warrior frowned. “Don’t you desire people to act in a worthy manner?” she asked, looking fixedly at the giant with bewilderment.

“I do,” the giant responded. “But that is not all I want.” The giant stopped deliberately and gave the girl a keen glance. The warrior woman looked at the giant in silence, waiting for him to continue.

“I was on the field of battle with you today. I was the one who let your enemy strike the blow that has placed you here.”

The brows of the warrior woman rose in surprise. “But I must…I must…I must be strong and act with valor and courage. I must contribute to my friends on the field of battle. I must not bring shame to you!”

The giant looked at her with love. “I have seen how some of the banshees have lied to you over the years. They told you that your only worth was in being the best of the qualities that you think I would approve of, and that you could only demonstrate this by being a warrior. So first I thought to counteract their work by sending you some of my truth tellers to show you that these were all lies. But their lies were so ingrained in you that you could never hear the truth of who you are.”

The warrior woman stared at the giant, confused. “But I have to be useful. And if I’m not able to fight, what then shall I do? How could I help you if I’m injured?”

The giant touched the wound near his heart. “I have come from a world in which I have begun the work of nullifying the things that are and showing people there that even in the seemingly weakest situations, they are still accomplishing more by trusting me than through their own might. Even when they think by their low position that they are displeasing, still it is their love that pleases me.”

“You think that I can only be honored through you when you are strong. The banshees have terrified you for so long about the possibility that you might be weak. This,” and here the giant pointed to the warrior woman’s injury, “was the one way I thought to begin to show you that my love and honor are not dependent on your strength or example. So I must destroy for you this lie by making you realize that even in your weakness of circumstance, I am still with you and that you still honor me with your love. For only in the truth of my love is your freedom.”

The warrior woman sat, thinking about the giant’s words.

“Others must learn that my love is not dependent on their goodness, success or actions. I must continue to nullify the notion that they must cling to this notion that they must be paragons of goodness complete in themselves, for too often people believe the lie that they must always be pleasing to be loved. But the truth is that I love regardless of how well you do in trying to be like me. And that I do love you and am strong in you even when you are weakest.”

The giant reached out and touched the warrior woman’s forehead. “My love and friendship for you is not dependent on your being the most courageous or even most admirable person out there. It is not dependent on your being or not being a warrior.”

The warrior woman felt a stillness inside her mind then and the profundity of it was one she hadn’t known since the first day she had heard the giant’s song. “I have a question to ask you,” the giant said then.

The warrior woman sat and waited for the giant to continue. Then, very softly in an almost childlike voice, the giant sang, “Will you let me love you in your weakness, will you trust me in your failure, will you let me shine in your darkness, will you help me nullify the things that are?”

The giant continued to sing and the warrior woman listened, feeling again as though she were a child. And then a gentle shaking on her shoulders woke the warrior woman and, as she sat up and looked at one of her friends, she realized that her encounter with the giant had been just a dream.

In the days and weeks that followed as the warrior woman began to mend, she continued to think about the dream. A strange joy that was deeper than any she had yet known began to pour from her. She realized that strangely enough, she was still loved even though no reason existed for such love.

And she felt the growing thought that even if she wasn’t fighting on the field of battle and passersby gave her curious, pitying glances, that a strength unlike any she had ever known before now poured through her veins.

Though she didn’t know it, the three friends watching her began in part to understand that even should something happen to them, it would not invalidate their worth or standing with the giant. Their identity, after all, was not wrapped up in what they did or what people claimed of them but who they were loved by – and they were loved by the giant. Slowly, the power of the banshees began to diminish – for the warrior woman was not the only one who had heard their voices.

One night several months later, as the warrior woman was lying awake, she found herself thinking of the blue world and wondering what business the giant had had in it. And just about the time that she would normally begin listening to the banshees, she heard in her heart the voice of the giant singing to her, “Will you let me love you in your weakness, will you trust me in your failure, will you let me shine in your darkness, will you help me nullify the things that are?”

The warrior woman smiled as she looked at her injured body and knew that she would – even if it was hard. Even if she still didn’t completely understand it. Because she wanted to help the giant to nullify the things that are – even if it meant going against what she had grown up thinking she should be. Even if meant not being a warrior.