THE SELFISH GIANT --- Oscar Wilde ABOUT THE AUTHOR Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet and critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of the Victorian Era. In his lifetime he wrote nine plays, one novel, and numerous poems, short stories, and essays. His notable works are The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Happy Prince and Other Stories and The Ballad of Reading Gaol. ABOUT THE STORY The Selfish Giant, written by Oscar Wilde, is a famous short story. It is one of the many beautiful stories penned by the author. A nice work of imagination, it is mainly for children with magical creatures like the Giant and the Ogre. It teaches the importance of sharing the good things in life and how it brings happiness to not just the one it is being shared with but also the one who is sharing. A kind heart is always a blessing and is amply blessed by the Almighty. It also teaches that one gets what he gives. If you spread happiness, you will get happiness in return and if you give sadness to others, it also comes back to you many folds. SUMMARY There was a lovely garden in a city. Kids used to play there after school time. There were numerous grass flowers and twelve peach trees there. They used to cheer the kids and birds used to sing mesmerising songs. In spring the trees broke out into delicate flowers while in autumn they bore sweet fruits. The kids were very happy like never before. But this happiness did not survive long. The garden belonged to a selfish giant. The selfish giant was at his friend’s home for seven years, but now he had returned. The children’s happy voices as they played there infuriated the giant. Very angry at the children, he scolded the children playing in the garden and drove them out of his garden and built a tall wall around it and put up a notice board, “TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED’. The children could not return to the garden and they became very sad. Now the trees, grasses and birds were sad as there was no one to hang around their twigs and listen to the bird’s song. Trees stopped blooming and fruiting while the bird stopped singing. Now the spring came in the whole country, but it did not enter the giant’s garden. As a result, there was still winter. Once a flower raised his head. It saw the notice board by the giant and retracted back. Now the giant was restless. He did not understand the cause of such a long winter. The snow had covered the grasses with white sheet and frost had painted all the trees with silver colour. Frost and snow invited North Wind. Winds from the North roared throughout the garden. Next they brought Hail to the garden. North Wind and Hail broke all the chimneypots and roof slates. One day the children made a hole in the wall and entered the garden. Now the spring came, birds started singing. The giant woke up. He had not heard songs for a long time. Birds chirping felt like king’s musicians to him. The giant woke up and looked out. He saw children playing in the garden and trees welcoming the kids by lowering their twigs. The giant understood his mistake and why Spring came so late. He saw a kid in the garden alone, trying to climb the tree. Frost and Snow were still there on that tree. The tree had already lowered his branches, but the kid was still too small to climb. The giant
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THE SELFISH GIANT
--- Oscar Wilde
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Anglo-Irish
playwright, novelist, poet and critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of the
Victorian Era. In his lifetime he wrote nine plays, one novel, and numerous poems, short stories,
and essays. His notable works are The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest,
The Happy Prince and Other Stories and The Ballad of Reading Gaol.
ABOUT THE STORY
The Selfish Giant, written by Oscar Wilde, is a famous short story. It is one of the many beautiful
stories penned by the author. A nice work of imagination, it is mainly for children with magical
creatures like the Giant and the Ogre. It teaches the importance of sharing the good things in life
and how it brings happiness to not just the one it is being shared with but also the one who is
sharing.
A kind heart is always a blessing and is amply blessed by the Almighty. It also teaches that one
gets what he gives. If you spread happiness, you will get happiness in return and if you give
sadness to others, it also comes back to you many folds.
SUMMARY
There was a lovely garden in a city. Kids used to play there after school time. There were
numerous grass flowers and twelve peach trees there. They used to cheer the kids and birds used
to sing mesmerising songs. In spring the trees broke out into delicate flowers while in autumn they
bore sweet fruits. The kids were very happy like never before. But this happiness did not survive
long.
The garden belonged to a selfish giant. The selfish giant was at his friend’s home for seven years,
but now he had returned. The children’s happy voices as they played there infuriated the giant.
Very angry at the children, he scolded the children playing in the garden and drove them out of his
garden and built a tall wall around it and put up a notice board, “TRESPASSERS WILL BE
PROSECUTED’. The children could not return to the garden and they became very sad.
Now the trees, grasses and birds were sad as there was no one to hang around their twigs and
listen to the bird’s song. Trees stopped blooming and fruiting while the bird stopped singing. Now
the spring came in the whole country, but it did not enter the giant’s garden. As a result, there was
still winter. Once a flower raised his head. It saw the notice board by the giant and retracted back.
Now the giant was restless. He did not understand the cause of such a long winter. The snow had
covered the grasses with white sheet and frost had painted all the trees with silver colour. Frost
and snow invited North Wind. Winds from the North roared throughout the garden. Next they
brought Hail to the garden. North Wind and Hail broke all the chimneypots and roof slates.
One day the children made a hole in the wall and entered the garden. Now the spring came, birds
started singing. The giant woke up. He had not heard songs for a long time. Birds chirping felt like
king’s musicians to him. The giant woke up and looked out. He saw children playing in the garden
and trees welcoming the kids by lowering their twigs. The giant understood his mistake and why
Spring came so late.
He saw a kid in the garden alone, trying to climb the tree. Frost and Snow were still there on that
tree. The tree had already lowered his branches, but the kid was still too small to climb. The giant
approached secretly from the behind and helped the kid to climb. The kid was happy, and he
kissed the giant’s cheek. Other children were frightened by the giant and were running. But when
they saw the giant helping the boy, they also become happy. The giant asked the all the children to
stay in the garden and play. Then he took his axe and knocked down the wall.
THE STORY
WORKSHEET
1. Describe the Giant’s garden.
2. What did the Giant do when he saw the children playing in his garden?
3. Why did Spring not come to the Giant’s garden?
4. What did Frost and Snow do in the Giant’s garden?
5. What made the Spring finally visit the Giant’s garden?
6. What was the Giant’s mistake? What made him realize his mistake?
7. What is the message of the story?
8. What did North Wind and Hail do in the Giant’s Garden?
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