Long, long ago, when there were giants to be seen, as they might be
seen now if we only looked in the right place, there lived a young
giant who was very strong and very willing, but who found it hard to
get work to do.
The name of the giant was Energy, and he was so great and clumsy that
people were afraid to trust their work to him.
If he were asked to put a bell in the church steeple, he would knock
the steeple down before he finished the work. If he were sent to reach
a broken weather vane, he would tear off part of the roof in his zeal.
So, at last, people would not employ him and he went away to the
mountains to sleep; but he could not rest, even though other giants
were sleeping as still as great rocks under the shade of the trees.
Young Giant Energy could not sleep for he was too anxious to help in
the world's work; and he went down into the valley, and begged so
piteously for something to do that a good woman gave him a basket of
china to carry home for her.
"This is child's play for me," said the giant as he set the basket
down so hard that every bit of the china was broken.
"I wish a child had brought it for me," answered the woman, and the
young giant went away sorrowful. He climbed the mountain and lay down
to rest; but he could not stay there and do nothing, so he went back
to the valley to look for work.
There he met the good woman. She had forgiven him for breaking her
china, and had made up her mind to trust him again; so she gave him a
pitcher of milk to carry home.
"Be quick in bringing it," she said, "lest it sour on the way."
The giant took the pitcher and made haste to run to the house; and he
ran so fast that the milk was spilled and not a drop was left when he
reached the good woman's house.
The good woman was sorry to see this, although she did not scold; and
the giant went back to his mountain with a heavy heart.
Soon, however, he was back again, asking at every house:
"Isn't there something for me to do?" and again he met the good woman,
who was here, there, and everywhere, carrying soup to the sick and
food to the hungry.
When she met the young Giant Energy, her heart was full of love for
him; and she told him to make haste to her house and fill her tubs
with water, for the next day was wash day.
Then the giant made haste with mighty strides towards the good woman's
house, where he found her great tubs; and, lifting them with ease, he
carried them to the cistern and began to pump.
He pumped with such force and with so much delight, that the tubs were
soon filled so full that they ran over, and when the good woman came
home she found her yard as well as her tubs full of water.
The young giant had such a downcast look, that the good woman could
not be angry with him; she only felt sorry for him.
"Go to the Fairy Skill, and learn," said the good woman, as she sat on
the doorstep. "She will teach you, and you will be a help in the world
after all."
"Oh! how can I go?" cried the giant, giving a jump that sent him over
the tree tops, where he could see the little birds in their nests.
"Don't go so fast," said the good woman. "Stand still and listen! Go
through the meadow, and count a hundred daffodils; then turn to your
right, and walk until you find a mullein stalk that is bent. Notice
the way it bends, and walk in that direction till you see a willow
tree. Behind this willow runs a little stream. Cross the water by the
way of the shining pebbles, and when you hear a strange bird singing
you will see the fairy palace and the workmen where the Fairy Skill
teaches her school. Go to her with my love and she will receive you."
The young giant thanked the good woman, stepped over the meadow fence,
and counted the daffodils, "One, two, three," until he had counted a
hundred. Then he turned to the right, and walked through the long
grass to the bent mullein stalk, which pointed to the right, and after
he had found the brook and crossed by way of the shining pebbles, he
heard a strange bird singing, and saw among the trees the fairy
palace.
He never could tell how it looked; but he thought it was made of
sunshine, with the glimmer of green leaves reflected on it, and that
it had the blue sky for a roof.
That was the palace; and at one side of it was the workshop, built of
strong pines and oaks; and the giant heard the hum of wheels, and the
noise of the fairy looms, where the fairies wove carpets of rainbow
threads.
When the giant came to the door, the doorway stretched itself for him
to pass through. He found Fairy Skill standing in the midst of the
workers; and when he had given her the good woman's love, she received
him kindly. Then she set him to work, bidding him sort a heap of
tangled threads that lay in a corner like a great bunch of
bright-colored flowers.
This was hard work for the giant's clumsy fingers, but he was very
patient about it. The threads would break, and he got some of them
into knots; but when Fairy Skill saw his work, she said:
"Very good for to-day;" and touching the threads with her wand, she
changed them into a tangled heap again. The next day the giant tried
again, and after that again, until every thread lay unbroken and
untangled.
Then Fairy Skill said, "Well done," and led him to a loom and showed
him how to weave.
This was harder work than the other had been; but Giant Energy was
patient, although many times before his strip of carpet was woven the
fairy touched it with her wand, and he had to begin over.
At last it was finished, and the giant thought it was the most
beautiful carpet in the world.
Fairy Skill took him next to the potter's wheel, where cups and
saucers were made out of clay; and the giant learned to be steady, to
shape the cup as the wheel whirled round, and to take heed of his
thumb, lest it slip.
The cups and saucers that were broken before he could make beautiful
ones would have been enough to set the Queen's tea table!
Fairy Skill then took him to the goldsmith, and there he was taught to
make chains and bracelets and necklaces; and after he had learned all
these things, the fairy told him that she had three trials for him.
Three pieces of work he must do; and if he did them well, he could go
again into the world, for he would then be ready to be a helper there.
"The first task is to make a carpet," said Fairy Skill, "a carpet fit
for a palace floor."
Giant Energy sprang to his loom, and made his silver shuttle glance
under and over, under and over, weaving a most beautiful pattern.
As he wove, he thought of the way by which he had come; and his carpet
became as green as the meadow grass, and lovely daffodils grew on it.
When it was finished, it was almost as beautiful as a meadow full of
flowers!
Then the fairy said that he must turn a cup fine enough for a king to
use. And the giant made a cup in the shape of a flower; and when it
was finished, he painted birds upon it with wings of gold. When she
saw it, the fairy cried out with delight.
"One more trial before you go," she said. "Make me a chain that a
queen might be glad to wear."
So Giant Energy worked by day and by night and made a chain of golden
links; and in every link was a pearl as white as the shining pebbles
in the brook. A queen might well have been proud to wear this chain.
After he had finished, Fairy Skill kissed him and blessed him, and
sent him away to be a helper in the world, and she made him take with
him the beautiful things which he had made, so that he might give them
to the one he loved best.
The young giant crossed the brook, passed the willow, found the
mullein stalk, and counted the daffodils.
When he had counted a hundred, he stepped over the meadow fence and
came to the good woman's house.
The good woman was at home, so he went in at the door and spread the
carpet on the floor, and the floor looked like the floor of a palace.
He set the cup on the table, and the table looked like the table of a
king; and he hung the chain around the good woman's neck, and she was
more beautiful than a queen.
And this is the way that young Giant Energy learned to be a helper in
the world.