The Giant's Spoon

[Marianne Mathiasen]

For a few days, I have been listening to the beautiful symphonic music of cracking ice and snow. I can hear the tinkling of ice tapes melting, and forming swirling streams of melting water. Lovebirds have returned from the south, singing their romantic ballads, and the Spring Maiden has covered my garden with a carpet of white Snowdrops and yellow Eranthis. She is casting her spells on all nature’s creatures to arouse them from the long winter, by playing her harp to lure out the sun, in the hope it will stay on the sky for a little longer every day.

We haven’t seen the hideous bird monster, since the day I rescued Ebbe from the tree house on the opposite side of the road. Mama Kauppa and I paid the Whispering Library a visit, to try to find some facts about the bird monster. We searched for a whole day, but we had no luck. However, I did find a whispering leaf about tree juice brewing that I borrowed. The next day I had some information about the bird monster from a very surprising source. A whispering leaf had been hung upon my clothesline among my laundry. It turned out to be a letter from Ebbe’s flying instructor Sir Treebreaker.

The content of this letter was regarding the terrifying bird monster. Sir Treebreaker apologised that he had left so suddenly in the autumn, and that he hadn’t contacted us until now. I was relived to know that he is still alive! Sir Treebreaker told that he had been hunting the bird monster most of the autumn and winter. According to his letter, the bird monster is an evil shaman called Lord Net Binder, living on the border to the Mist.

From the first time, I met Sir Treebreaker, I thought he was a strange butterfly. Of cause, I have never heard what other butterflies' sounds like when they speak, but sir Treebreaker’s voice is so deep that you should think it belonged to a bear, rather than a butterfly. His letter gave me an exploration of why he has such a dark voice, and I think you will be just as surprised to learn why as I did! Sir Treebreaker is more or less the opposite of a butterfly, and his name actually suggests his real identity, he is a giant in the body of a butterfly. A spell was cast on him by the bird monster, which turned him into a butterfly as an action of revenge. As most giants, he had been wandering around the world minding his own business, trying to avoid getting into trouble with anyone. He had found himself a quiet corner of the world, on a small island in the human's part of the world called Als. He had created a comfortable bed on a field next to the beach, so that the sound of waves could make him go to sleep every night. He had been staying there for some time, when he decided that he needed a new spoon for eating his soup. Early in the morning he went into the Mist to find a nice tree, he could carve the spoon from, but all the trees he found were too small. At last he came to the boarder of the Mist, where he saw a very nice tree with a good straight tree trunk. He carefully looked around, but saw no one nearby the tree, so he pulled the tree up by its roots. He started to pull of the branches, when he noticed a bird flying around his nose. The bird landed on the tip of his nose, and he could see that it was quit angry. Much to his surprise it started to grow in size, until it was tall enough to be able to look straight into his eyes.

The bird reached out one of its pale white hands, showing him a mirror where he saw himself pulling the tree out of the ground. The next things he saw the bird inside a nest castle trembling out of bed. Much to Sir Trebreaker’s dismay he saw how he ripped the bird’s nest castle of the branch it was built on. Sir Treebreaker got so ashamed that he apologised to the bird, and volunteered to place the nest castle in another tree. The bird laughed at him, and pointed at him with a pale crooked finger. “You are a daft giant, you have ruined my castle, you shall pay dearly, you shall become so small that I can crush you with one hand, and like this you shall remain until the day you have finished carving your spoon. The next thing Sir Treebreaker remembered was seeing the bird turning the mirror, then lighting struck him right between his eyes, and he turned into a butterfly.

Sir Treebreaker ended the letter by asking for our help. It is impossible for me to carve out my spoon from the tree, having the size of a butterfly, so I was wondering if you possible could help me. The tree is located to the north of the island where I dropped it when I turned into a butterfly. I will visit you soon, and if you agree to help me, I promise you a giant reward!

As soon as I had finished listening to the leaf I called for Ebbe, and gave him the letter. He was so excited that he by accident grabbed one of the flowers in my kitchen window, and by his healing touch it stated to grow with the speed of the light, and it reached the sealing in the time of a few heart beats. Ebbe talked and talked about Sir Treebreaker over the dinner, and I had to scold him repeatedly to make him go to sleep that night.

Now we look forward to Sir Treebreaker’s visit with a great deal of excitement. I am wondering how we are going to carve the whole tree into a spoon, I think a chainsaw might be the answer to Sir Trebreaker's problem. Sir Trebreaker will be the first giant I have made acquaintance with, and I am very anxiously of how big he will become when the spell is broken. It makes me a bit sad that he will be unable to visit us inside our house; he will properly become much too tall. Giants do have a disreputable reputation among humans, and I am also worried that he will be chased of the island if he is discovered by some of the island residents.

If any of you have done you some experience with giants I would love to hear from you!

Happy Easter

Marianne

This story begins with. http://nidlongdir.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ebbes-disappearing

[Tara]

Wow!

[Robert Denham]

wonderful :)