There once lived a giant who was very proud. He saw people who were not giants as inferior. He refused to behave well with them. He was most proud of his big and beautiful garden, which he would not let anyone visit.
One morning, the giant felt so ill that he found it nearly impossible to walk. So, he was unable to take care of his plants that day. He chose not to contact the local doctor who was not a giant, simply due to his arrogance and prejudice. Instead, he brought his cooking utensils to his own room to prepare for the coming days as he worried that his condition would worsen with time.
A few days later, the giant's fear came true; he found himself unable to even walk out of his own room and he could barely move within his room. With this having taken place before the invention of modern communication systems, the giant was now unable to contact the doctor even if he wanted to.
He then decided to stock up on food for himself by cooking all day and night, fearing that the condition may further worsen. This made him even weaker and as a result, within a few more days, he was no longer ambulatory at all and could only get up to take food he had prepared earlier.
Another week passed.
He chose not to contact the local doctor who was not a giant, simply due to his arrogance and prejudice
The giant could not see the point of staying alive anymore at this stage. He wondered why God, as he thought, was making a fool of him by keeping him alive in this feeble condition. In his opinion, even death would have been preferable to this.
By this time, the children the giant used to keep away from his garden started to think that he no longer lived there. So, they mustered enough courage to enter his garden and started playing there regularly. A few days later, one of the children decided that he wanted to explore the giant's house. His friends agreed to go with him as they no longer feared the giant.
Upon entering the giant's house, the children gradually entered every room they found. Continuing on in this way, they reached the room where the giant was and found him unconscious. Realizing that the giant was still alive, they decided to try and save him.
They split up. While a group of them went to the town to get a doctor, the other group stayed there to nurse the giant as best as they could. The doctor was able to save the giant and informed him that he was very much on his way out when the children found him, and it was only due to their help that he survived.
The giant felt extremely remorseful about this. Not only was he grateful to the children, he was also grateful to the non-giant doctor. He started to treat everyone with equal respect from then on. Not only did he apologize to all the people he had treated harshly in the past, and the children in particular, he also began to cook delicious meals for all the kids. Now, they were allowed to enter his garden to play whenever they wished.
Radman Siddiki is a student at Residential Model College, Dhaka.