There was once a land, a beautiful land with never ending lush green grass and deep blue

skies. It
was ruled over by a jealous giant, so jealous that he had lost the love of his beautiful giantess as she
had left for another land of giant love.

In her absence, the beauty of the land remained, as the giant’s grief was his own to counsel. The
flowers still grew tall and strong, their petals heavy with scent. The bees continued to buzz busily
and butterflies skittered here and there, happy in their daily life.

The giant was furious that Nature bloomed despite his despair. You see, his darkness was
emphasized by the colour surrounding him. His anger was highlighted as he heard the trees gently
whisper their sweet nothings. His bitterness was only enhanced as he heard birdsong as sweet as
honey.

At first, the giant ignored the beauty until he could bear it no more. Then he isolated himself in his
cold, stone castle, until he could bear it no more. After some shadowy time alone, he decided he
had to do something about it. He stormed out into the sunshine and punched the sun so she
shrieked in pain and hid amongst the clouds who turned grey and purple like her bruises and cried at
her plight. The clouds cried for days until their tears turned into frozen rocks and now the land was
hailed with ice and snow.

As the cruel weather continued, the flowers withered and the trees waned, bending over to seek the
sunlight. They were dark skeletons, crippled by the harshness. The land was hard and no longer did
the green grass grow underneath deep blue skies.

But the giant was satisfied. As he looked out across his kingdom, he crossed his arms smugly and
muttered to himself, ‘That’s better.’

The grey world, kept his heart cold and frozen in time. People moved away. No one could live in
such a barren land for long except for the giant. The giant was happy to have banished all the love
and beauty from the world because it meant that he did not have to feel. And he went one step
further. He plucked out each of his emotions one by one and placed them in jars and stored them in
the castle’s cellar. His heart was no longer just cold. It was empty. Even the food he loved no
longer brought him pleasure. Even counting his hoards of golden coins no longer brought him any
joy. Even the power he had as a giant no longer thrilled him. So numb and empty hearted he had
become. And the giant lived like this for several years.

One night, it was pelting down with hail. The sky was starless and the surface of the earth winced in
pain as the hail hit the ground. Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the wooden door of the castle.
The giant had not heard this sound for so long and at first he did not know what it was. As the iron
knocker banged once more, he remembered and slowly unlatched the bolts and turned the stiff key
that had remained in the keyhole since the day the sun was punched. The door opened with a loud,
sorrowful creak.

Outside, stood a tall mirror, its glass covered in a black sheet. The giant could only see the frame
which was made from gold and silver that had been shaped like interlocking pathways. He pulled
the mirror indoors, confusion written all over his face. There was nobody around and there wasn’t
any label or card to explain why it was outside his door on such a terrible night.
As he looked at the mirror frame more closely, the interlocking paths of gold and silver moved and
shifted opening up to show episodes of his life with his precious giantess. Gold for him, silver for
her, and they were mapping out the pathways they had trodden together since the moment they
had met as children through the many years they had been friends then loved ones right up to the
moment she had left. At this point, the frame looked like it was weeping inky black tears and the
pathways stopped entwining. The metal was now tarnished and broken.

He began to peel away the black sheet from the actual glass and as he did so he recoiled back in
revulsion. His reflection revealed what he had become. His face was shrivelled and wrinkled into an
expression of hate. His shoulders were hunched with the weight of his anger. His skin was the
colour of bruises where he had been so hard on himself throughout the years. His hair was the
colour of loneliness as he had been isolated from love for so long.

He sat down and wept. The salty tears ran down his cheeks and he shuddered with grief as it filled
his body until he felt so full of it that it spilled out in more tears and wretched gasps. Such wasted
years. And he wept and wept at the thought of his loveless life. Banishing love and beauty from his
life had been a mistake. He could see that now. He couldn’t even remember why he had done that
in the first place and he did not know what to do to put things right again.

He sat for a while, contemplating his fate. Contemplating the pathways he wished to tread and
thoughts of his future life. He wanted to live free from the constraints of loneliness and hate and
jealousy and fear. He wanted a life of love and beauty and happiness and hope. As he considered his
feelings, he recalled the jars of emotions he had stored in the cellar. He knew just what to do. He
rushed down the stone steps to reach them. Somehow he thought he might be too late and they
would have gone, siphoned up to the clouds of misery that had hung over the castle for so long now.
But he was lucky. They were still there, all sparkling with different colours reminding him what
pleasure it was to feel alive.

He took each emotion carefully. One by one, he examined, identified and accepted them before
restoring them to their rightful place in his heart. Even jealousy was restored after promising to be
brave and realistic in his imaginings.

As the last emotion snuggled down deep into the giant’s now softer heart, there was a change
outside. Hail no longer banged like a drum on the castle roof and it felt suddenly calm and bright.
The giant ran to the window, pulled down the drab curtain, and saw the flowers return to the
garden, growing strong, waving in the gentle breeze, the colour of pure happiness. Leaves sprung
waxy green on the the trees, unfurling as if they had been asleep for a hundred years. Some trees
spread their branches to receive a cloak of white blossom and all stood proudly looking up to the
sunlight. The dark clouds dispersed, pleased with the giant’s sincerity and the sun, sheepishly at first,
and then more confidently peeped out from behind them for she had a forgiving soul.

The Giant rushed to open all of his curtains and the sunlight breezed in, warming each room with a
blanket of syrupy joy. The shadows escaped to where they had come from before they could be
blamed for the misery that had reigned for so long in this gloomy castle. But they need not have
feared, for the giant felt the joy and knew that there was no one to blame. Not even himself, for
forgiveness was at the root of his heart and he forgave himself for the hurt he had caused.

As his heart beat with a passionate pulse, he turned to the mirror and looked at himself. He was the
man he once was and even more. He was shining, connected with Nature once more. He was
golden like the pathways he once trod and as he thought these joyous thoughts, he saw the
interlocking paths on the frame shift and move. The tarnished metal of his past solitary years began
to sparkle and the gold reached out for the silver. The Giant touched the paths gently and love filled
his heart for it was open, no longer closed. And as it pumped through his veins, his giantess love
stepped out of the mirror, held out her hand and said,

“Welcome home, my love. Welcome home.”