"How selfish I have been!" he said; "now I know why the Spring would not come here. I will put that poor little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children's playground forever and ever." He was s really very sorry for what he had done.

So he crept downstairs and opened the front door quite softly, and went out into the garden. But when the children saw him they were so frightened that they all ran away, and the garden became winter 1 again. Only the little boy did not run, for his eyes were so full of tears that he did not see the Giant coming. And the Giant strode up behind him and took him gently in his hand, and put him up into the tree. And the tree broke at once into blossom, and the birds 15 came and sang on it, and the little boy stretched out his two arms and flung them round the Giant's neck and kissed him. And the other children, when they

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saw that the Giant was not wicked any longer, came running back, and with them came the Spring. "It is your garden now, little children," said the Giant, and he took a great ax and knocked down the wall. s And when the people were going to market at twelve o'clock they found the Giant playing with the children in the most beautiful garden they had ever seen.

All day long they played, and in the evening they came to the Giant to bid him good-by.

"But where is your little companion-" he said, "the boy I put into the tree?" The Giant loved him the best, because he had kissed him.

"We don't know," answered the children.

"You must tell him to be sure and come here to15 morrow," said the Giant. But the children said they did not know where he lived and had never seen him before; and the Giant felt very sad.

Every afternoon when school was over, the children

S. H. R. FIFTH-22

came and played with the Giant. But the little boy whom the Giant loved was never seen again. The Giant was very kind to all the children, yet he longed for his first little friend, and often spoke of him. "How I would like to see him!" he used to say.

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Years went over, and the Giant grew very old and feeble. He could not play about any more, so he sat in a huge armchair, and watched the children at their games, and admired his garden. "I have many beautiful flowers," he said; "but the children are 10 the most beautiful flowers of all."

One winter morning he looked out of his window as he was dressing. He did not hate the Winter now, for he knew that it was merely Spring asleep.

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Suddenly he rubbed his eyes in wonder, and looked and looked. It certainly was a marvelous sight. In the farthest corner of the garden was a tree quite covered with lovely white blossoms. Its branches were all golden, and silver fruit hung down from them, and underneath it stood the little boy he had loved. 20 Downstairs ran the Giant in great joy, and out into the garden. He hastened across, and came near to the child. And when he came quite close his face grew red with anger, and he said, "Who hath dared to wound thee?" For on the palms of the child's 25 hands were the prints of two nails, and the prints of two nails on the little feet.

"Who hath dared to wound thee?" cried the Giant.

"Tell me, that I may take my big sword and slay him." "Nay!" answered the child; "but these are the wounds of Love."

"Who art thou?" said the Giant, and a strange sawe fell on him, and he knelt before the little child.

And the child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, "You let me play once in your garden; to-day you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise."

And when the children ran in that afternoon, they 10 found the Giant lying dead under the tree, all covered with white blossoms.

a good story to read espeWhy?

1. This is a thorough spring story · cially at Easter time, or spring vacation. 2. Why is it called "The Selfish Giant"? Get another title for it. 3. Why did winter remain in the Giant's garden so long? Describe his garden as it appeared in winter. Pick out the lines that give the best picture of it in winter.

4. What changed the garden from winter to spring? Read the lines that best describe the spring.

5. If the children in the story represent love and kindness and goodness, what does the Giant represent?

(From The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde. Courtesy of G. P. Putnam's Sons, Publishers, New York and London.)