✦An original hillside fantasy
The Sleeping Giant
A giant’s snores send the village hats sailing. Mina and her brother discover that a familiar tune may be more useful than the loudest shout.
A story to read together
The Sleeping Giant
Take your time. Let the story unfold.
The first hat landed in the baker’s flour. The second settled on the village clock. By midday, almost every hat in the square had made an unexpected journey. Up on the hill, a giant was sleeping with his head on his folded hands. Each enormous snore rolled down the slope like a warm gust of wind. Between the gusts, the village was perfectly peaceful.
The hill that snored
Mina watched a straw hat turn three slow circles above the well. “Someone should wake him,” she said. Her adult brother Arun went with her along the broad hillside path. From a safe distance, they called a greeting. The giant did not move. Arun rang a large dinner bell, but the next snore swallowed its sound. Mina noticed that the giant smiled whenever a soft ringing came from the old watch post nearby. He seemed to be hearing a very pleasant dream.
The bell in the wind
At the watch post, they found a small wind bell swinging against a broken wooden frame. It rang the same two notes over and over. Mina remembered a village welcome song that began with those notes. “Perhaps his dream keeps waiting for the rest of the tune,” she said. Arun tapped the bell gently while she hummed the next few notes. The giant’s fingers twitched, but he did not wake. They needed the tune to reach him through the warm gusts without simply making more noise.
A kite carries the song
Arun fixed the bell securely to the tail of Mina’s kite. They stayed on the flat path and let the giant’s next soft snore lift it into the air. As the kite swayed, the little bell rang. Mina sang the welcome tune from the ground, and Arun joined her. The giant’s smile widened. One great eye opened, then the other. He sat up slowly, careful not to shake the hillside. “I have been trying to remember that song for three days,” he said. “In my dream, it would never reach the end.”
The return of the hats
The giant listened when they explained the flying hats. He apologised and helped gather them from the clock, the trees, and one very surprised scarecrow. Then he repaired the watch-post frame so its bell could move freely again. When he needed his next rest, he chose a sheltered hollow facing away from the village. Mina’s kite returned to its ordinary job, though the little bell stayed on its tail for a while. On windy days, villagers heard its tune above the roofs and smiled. The smallest sound in the sky reminded them of the day a song had reached where shouting could not.
The end
After the final page
There is no single right answer. Invite young readers to notice, wonder and imagine.
What happened whenever the giant snored?
Why did Mina think a song might help?
What other small sound could become important in a magical adventure?
Make something: Create a short sound story using claps, taps, and a humming tune. Give each sound a character or event, then perform the story for someone.
