Giants

19th March, 2010
The stormy winds and the pelting rain lashed out at the sails. The sky was pitch-black and there was an occasional roll of thunder. But me and my comrades were safe and snug under deck in our cabins.
The storm went as quickly as it had come. In a moment, the skies cleared and all that was left were our battered sails. In order to survive the storm, we had tossed all of our sandbags and water supply overboard in order to lighten the load and to lessen the risk of sinking. Now we were stranded on board without any water.
“Land ahoy!” the sailor hollered. We saw faint outlines of smoke, so we assumed that there were living men on the distant coastline.
As we neared the coast, we saw a clear little river but no people, so we each took buckets and filled them with water. I had just finished my work, so I decided to have a look around.
Suddenly there was a boom! Boom! BOOM! BOOM! I flinched as I heard each boom, and figured out something was wrong. I was right. As I raced to the shore, my heart thumping, my fellow comrades were rowing as quickly as they could away from me. I soon saw what the cause of the commotion was. There in front of me was a towering giant, at least eleven or twelve metres tall. He was just standing there, looking curiously at them. When he caught sight of me, he slowly stretched out a finger, as wide as a tree trunk and as bumpy as sandpaper. I wasn’t particularly frightened, as I knew they wouldn’t be much harm to me. I climbed onto the huge pink finger and bit it slightly to tell him I was ready. Then he lifted me up-I wasn’t afraid-I don’t have acrophobia-so I looked around. It was exactly the same as England- there were gold fields and beautiful streams. Never had I felt so happy.
The giant took me home, where I met a nice girl named Frances, so I told her I was Nadia. She took great care of me, and built me a box complete with furniture. Once, her father, Jerome, brought me to King Arthur and Queen Morgana. Frances told me to do something simple, so I took a bow first. King Arthur was delighted. Then I took out my sword and slashed it a few times for good measure, and Queen Morgana pretended to be frightened. Afterwards, she requested if she might keep me in her palace, so I agreed. But there was to be one condition: Frances had to stay with me. This was because by this time, I had already developed a deep need for Frances. But there were still dangers.
Before I came, Goblin Shlinka was the smallest creature in the whole castle, so he got the most attention. Now, he was very jealous of all the attention I was receiving, and he put me into great danger. Once, he dumped me into a bowl of cream, and when I was about to drown, Frances grabbed my leg in the nick of time. Animals were also very dangerous to me, as they were so big. Another time, Frances put me in the garden, and 8 fierce wasps came in through the window. They were the size of birds in England! I took out my sword and killed a few. Luckily, the others flew away.
In a fine August, Frances brought me to the beach. Frances was still a child, so she left me in my box and went off to play. Suddenly, the tide rose, and my box along with me drifted off into the ocean.
Two days later, I had sailed into South Africa’s main port, Good Hope. I met a ship setting off for England, and how surprised the captain was to see a house on the sea! When I told him my story, he exclaimed,” I’m not a child! Giants don’t exist.” I showed him the sting of the wasps and said,” If giants don’t exist, where did this came from?” Now he believed me!