Once upon a time, very high up on a mountain and far beyond the clouds, there lived a Giant and his daughter the Giantess. They had a few neighboring Giants whom they often visited. All their faces had become so familiar to the Giantess that she was tired of seeing them. They had exhausted every possible topic of conversation to the point of being disgusted with them. The Giantess did not know what to do next. She tried filling her days with dressing up, playing music and drawing, but nothing she did seemed to interest or cheer her up. Her heart remained empty and cold.

      In the valleys, far below at her feet, the Giantess saw little people moving to and fro as they went about their daily lives. Sometimes she would watch them from the mountain, but she could not understand their activities, and soon her boredom returned. To her they looked like little ants at an ant hill, crawling back and forth without rhyme or reason to their movements.

      She was bored by herself high up on the mountain and bored by watching the little people in the valleys, bler life seemed to be passing by in boredom, until one day she spotted a man clinging desperately to the jagged edges of the mountainside. A disaster was befalling him: An avalanche of snow roared down the mountain and covered the man completely. The Giantess came up to the man and began digging him out from the pile of snow. She lifted the man from the huge pile of snow and drew him close to her heart to warm him. Slowly the man came to life. Then the Giantess lifted him closer and inclined her ear towards him. The man thanked the Giantess for saving him and told her that he had been on the mountainside in search of a goat to feed his family. His sick wife and children were at home without ,so much as a piece of bread to eat.

      The Giantess listened to the man with great interest and asked him to tell more about how the little people lived down in the valley. The man told about the joys and sorrows, fortunes and misfortunes of his life and that of his family. The Giantess was afraid to utter a word. She remembered as a child, the nannies had told her endless stories, but never anything as interesting as what the man was saying. Even the books that she and her father had found together did not compare to the fascinating stories that the man was now telling her.

      The Giantess grew very fond of the man and her heart warmed. She fell like helping these people and examining thoroughly their sorrows and needs. She became so interested in these little people that she was no longer bored. She spent long days collecting herbs to make medicine for them. She kept a watchful eye on the snow slides and threatening cliffs and guided these people from danger with a strong hand.

      The people were grateful to her, and the Giantess blessed the day that fate had brought her and the little people together. From then on, her heart was always full of joy and happiness. 

Translated by Paula Lahdemaki, from The Divine Spark.