The Tale of the Little Giant

Synopsis of yesterday's episode: George Junior talks about his life and his experiences and how he decided to become a cook.

From Sweet Suzie Bear's Journal: We have arrived at the Land of the Giants. George Junior and I hopped off the ship together. We spent a lot of time chatting during the voyage and have become good friends. My dad said that he was happy about that because he needed to attend to Beartrand. My dad didn't want me to be alone and I'm not alone because I have my friend. Beartrand has not been well. He is the most seasick bear that I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of seasick bears, including my dad, so that's saying a lot.
Anyway, George Junior and I were both excited about being in the Land of the Giants. I brought a camera so that I could take pictures of everything being large. We went to a tea house so that we could have some tea and scones before the evening's welcome and story telling session... and the tea cups and pots were so big! We were served our tea in a child's tea party set. It really was funny. Of course, we had to be photographed with the giant tea things. I'll share another funny tea picture tomorrow.
And so, the giants served us a delicious dinner, with soup and stew and salad and something very chocolatey. George Junior knew what it was. He said that it was a moose. I am sure that I have never seen a chocolate moose but he insisted that it was a moose. Hmm. He is a silly goose... I mean human.
Then, it was time for story telling. The Giants are well known for their ability to spin a yarn and it is hard to tell if it is a true story or just fiction. Here is the story that I heard, as best as I can recall.

My name is Jack, and I am a Little Giant. Everyone thinks that all giants are big but that is not true. Some giants are bigger than others and others are littler than others. I am one of the littler giants.
When I was a very little giant, I climbed a beanstalk. I always loved beans and the very best beans were on the top of the beanstalk. My mom read to me a story about Jack, who climbed a beanstalk and found all sorts of magical things when he climbed the beanstalk. Well, I decided that I was Jack, so I could climb the beanstalk, too. There was only one problem. The other Jack must have been very, very tiny, and he must have been cousins with Tom Thumb because he really did climb the beanstalk. I was just too big. I climbed the beanstalk, and it broke and I fell on the ground with a big THUD! Oh, that hurt. My sister, Claire, watched me, and she chuckled but she didn't laugh too hard.
Claire and I decided that, since I couldn't climb a beanstalk, I should draw a picture and jump into it. So I got my set of watercolor paints and I drew a picture of someplace that I would really like to go. It was a beach. I drew the high tide, which was coming in, and sailboats, and lots of sand and lots and lots of seashells. And I jumped into the picture. I don't know how I did it but I was in the picture. Claire landed on top of me. We giggled and rolled on the ground for a while before we got up.
Claire and I walked on the beach and we tripped over the seashells because there were so many. They were every color of the rainbow. I had never seen so many colorful seashells but, then again, I painted the seashells so that's how they got to look like that.
My picture was too small for Claire and me because, even though we are little giants, the sky was too low and we had to bend over so that our heads would not hit the sky too hard.
We walked and walked and walked. We found a place where we could have ice cream and we had 20 scoops each because the cones were very tiny so each scoop was finished in half a bite. That meant that we could have 20 flavors of ice cream. It was the most delicious ice cream that I ever ate.
All of a sudden, it started to rain! The colors in our beautiful little world began to run because I made the world with watercolor paint and watercolor runs when it rains too hard.
So we fell out of our little beach back to our own world, where it was dinner time.
We walked home, feeling very happy. When we got to the house, we saw a very big giant standing there. He was taller than the house. He was the biggest giant that I'd ever seen. He had huge foot prints. I walked up to him and asked him if he was coming to visit us. He said, yes, and that he had a story that he wanted me to tell."

Tomorrow: The Little Giant shares the story of the Big Giant.

Personal Note: When I was a little girl, my father used to tell stories of a little giant to my sisters and to me. Apparently, he made them up as he went along. None of the stories were written, so we don't have any record of the stories. I was very young when he told the stories so I don't remember them. But, in the spirit of inventing stories, as my dad did, I am making up new Little Giant stories.
I dedicate this and all other stories about giants, large or small, to the memory of my father, Roy Gerard (1920-2012). Thank you, Pop, for giving me the love of storytelling. I will love you forever.