4 The Gentle Giant

The Gentle Giant written by Pam Holden illustrated by Samer Hatam

Once there was a huge man who was much taller and stronger than most other men. People called him the Gentle Giant because he was kind to everybody. He liked to help when there was any kind of trouble. One morning, a baby bird fell out of its nest high up in a tree. Mother Bird flapped and squawked, because her baby bird hadn't learned to fly yet. The Gentle Giant was tall enough to reach up and put it safely back into the nest.

When two dolphins swam too close to a fishing boat, they got caught in the fishing net. The fishermen on the boat didn't know what to do. Along came the Gentle Giant to help them. He walked into the water to set them free. He talked kindly to the dolphins while he untangled the net. He was strong enough to lift them both up. Then he pushed them gently back out to deep water.

Later a young boy's kite got stuck on a branch of a high tree. He tried hard, but he couldn't get it down. As soon as the Gentle Giant saw him pulling and tugging at the string, he kindly went to help. It was easy for him to reach the kite and lift it right out of the tree. He handed it back to the young boy so that he could make it fly again.

In the afternoon, the Gentle Giant saw three climbers stuck on a cliff on an enormous mountain. They were too frightened to climb further up, and it was too dangerous to climb back down. When they waved for help, the Gentle Giant was brave enough to climb up the mountain onto the cliff. He held their rope in his strong hands while they climbed carefully back to the safe ground.

Before long, the Gentle Giant noticed a family picking delicious apples from a tall tree. They didn't know how to reach the apples on the highest branches, because they couldn't climb right up to the top. It was easy for the Gentle Giant to reach out and pick the rest of the apples from the top branches. The family had enough fruit to share with their friends.