Summary & Question-answers of The Chapter: 3- The Selfish Giant with the concerned video

The Selfish Giant- Summary

 The Selfish Giant owns a garden where every afternoon after the school, children would come and play. It was a large garden with soft green grass, twelve peach trees that bore fruit in autumn and flowers that came out of the grass. The birds would sing in the garden and children would stop their games in order to listen to them. Suddenly, the Giant came back one day, and scared all the children away. He had been on a visit to his friend, the Cornish Ogre for seven years. As he saw the children playing, he told them that no one except him can play in the garden and built huge walls around it. He put up a notice board saying “TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED”. Poor children had nowhere to play. They tried playing on the road but it was too dusty and filled with hard rocks. The children began to remember how happy they were, when they played in the  garden.

Then came the spring season, all across the country but in the Giant’s garden, it was still winter. The only residents in his garden were Frost and the Snow that covered the trees and grass. They invited the North Wind over who came wrapped in fur and roared all day about the garden. They thought it was a delightful place and invited the Hail who came dressed in grey. The Giant wondered when the Spring would come in his garden while the Frost, the Snow, the North Wind and the Hail stayed happily. Even Autumn refused to come as he thought that the Giant was too selfish.

One morning, as the Giant laid awake in his bed, he heard some mesmerising music. He thought that the King’s musicians were passing by but in actuality, it was the linnet’s song that sounded so sweet.  As the Giant woke up to see, he saw the most wonderful sight. The children had crept in through a small hole in the wall. With them in the garden, the trees were happy, the birds had come back, the flowers grew out of the ground and the Spring finally came. But in the farthest corner of the garden, there was still winter. As he tried to look, he saw a little boy who was so short that he couldn’t reach till one of the branches of the tree. The Giant ran to help him but instead, scared all the kids away. Only the boy in the farthest corner had stayed because he could not see the approaching Giant because his eyes were filled with tears. The Giant helped him climb the tree and the little boy hugged and kissed him in return. Upon seeing the transformed behaviour of the Giant, the rest of the kids returned back and with them.

The Giant broke down the wall and opened the garden for kids. Every afternoon, children would come to play with him after school. The Giant kept looking for that boy he once helped but unfortunately, he never came and no one knew about him.

Years passed by, and the Giant grew old and weak. He now only watched the children play. One winter morning, as he looked out of his window, he saw a marvellous sight. In the farthest corner of the garden, the tree was covered with white blossoms. Its branches were golden and it bore silver fruit. Underneath the tree, he saw the little boy that he once helped. Joyously, he went downstairs and into the garden to meet him but as soon as he went near him, the Giant grew angry. The child had imprints of two nails on his hands and two on his little feet. The Giant asked the kid the name of the person who wounded him. The child told him that those were the Wounds of Love. Instantly, the Giant was struck with awe and he knelt before the child. The little child told him that once he allowed him to play in his garden, now it was time for the Giant to come in his garden, which is paradise. In the afternoon, when the children came to play in the Giant’s garden, they found the Giant lying lifeless on the ground with white blossoms all over him.

Comprehension Check (Page 20)

Question 1:

Why is the Giant called selfish?

Answer:

The Giant is called selfish because he prohibited the children from playing in his garden. He built a high wall all around it and put up a notice-board in it stating that all trespassers will be prosecuted.

Question 2:

On one occasion the children said: “How happy we are here!”

Later they said: “How happy we were there!”

What are they referring to in both the cases?

Answer:

In the first case, the children expressed their happiness while playing in the Giant’s garden. They would go to play in the garden after returning from school and had a wonderful time playing around the garden.

In the second instance, the children were referring to the Giant’s garden where they would go and play after returning from school. They talked with one other how they would enjoy playing around the garden where trees bore beautiful flowers and fruits and birds sang sweet songs. However, after the Giant stopped them by building a high wall around the garden, they could no longer enter it.

The children were referring to the Giant’s beautiful garden in both the cases.

Question 3:

(i) When spring came, it was still winter in the garden. What does winter stand for or indicate here?

(ii) Winter has been presented like a story with its own characters and their activities. Describe the story in your own words.

Answer:

(i) When Spring came, it was still Winter in the garden. In the story, Winter denotes desolate and negative atmosphere where the trees and flowers never blossom. Winter is also used to indicate a gloomy and depressing environment which brings in sadness and laziness. In such cold weather, there is snow everywhere and cold winds blow all around where trees tend to droop and birds do not chirp. As the children were not playing in the Giant’s garden, Spring did not enter it. As a result, even the trees did not blossom and the birds did not sing sweet songs in the garden.

(ii) When Spring came all over the country, the trees started to blossom and the birds started to sing except the Giant’s garden, where winter had still prevailed. The birds did not sing and the trees forgot to blossom as the children did not come to play in the garden. One day, a beautiful flower blossomed from the grass but when it saw the notice-board, it felt sorry for the children and slipped back into the ground again. Seeing all this, Winter was pleased as there was Snow and Frost everywhere. Snow covered the entire garden with her huge white cloak and Frost painted all the trees in silver. They then invited the North Wind that was wrapped in furs and he blew strongly across the garden. Along with him, came Hail that rattled the roof of the castle for three hours every day until most of the slates were broken. He ran all around the garden as fast as he could. He was dressed in grey attire and his breath also felt like ice.

Question 4:

Was the Giant happy or sad over the state of the garden?

Answer:

The Giant was extremely saddened to see the condition of the garden. Neither Spring nor Summer or Autumn came to visit it. It was in a miserable state as Snow, Frost, North Wind and Hail did not seem to leave his garden. He often wondered why Spring was so late in arriving at his garden.

Question 5:

What effect did the linnet’s song have over Hail and the North Wind?

Answer:

Hearing the linnet sing, the Hail stopped dancing over his head and the North Wind stopped roaring. Soon, the Giant could hear a delicious perfume come to him through the open casement and he jumped out of his bed in excitement.

Comprehension Check (Page 24)

Question 1:

(i) The Giant saw a most wonderful sight. What did he see?

(ii) What did he realise on seeing it?

Answer:

(i) The Giant saw that the children had crept into his garden through a little hole in the wall and sat on the branches of the trees. As the children filled the garden, the trees were delighted to see them and they blossomed in full swing. The Giant was mesmerized seeing this wonderful sight as he saw the birds were also twittering around in joy and the flowers bloomed in happiness.

(ii) The Giant realised soon enough that Spring was late in visiting his garden because he did not allow the children to play in it. He realised that he had been very selfish in prohibiting the children from playing in his garden by building a high wall all around it.

Question 2:

Why was it still winter in one corner of the garden?

Answer:

As the children played in the garden, the Giant noticed that in one corner of it, there was a tree that was still covered with Snow and Frost. The North Wind blew strongly and was roaring over it. The Giant came closer and noticed a small boy was standing in front of it, who was so tiny that he could not climb the branches of the tree. As the tree remained untouched by the child, Winter still prevailed in that corner of the garden.

Question 3:

Describe the first meeting of the little boy and the Giant.

Answer:

The Giant met the little boy in front of the tree that was covered with Snow and Frost. Winter still prevailed in that corner of the garden. Seeing the little boy’s inability to reach the branches of the tree, the Giant gently took him in his arms and put him up on the tree. Soon the tree blossomed with joy and the birds came to sing on it. The little boy stretched his tiny arms around the Giant’s neck and kissed him gently to express his gratitude towards him.

Question 4:

Describe their second meeting after a long interval.

Answer:

One winter morning, the Giant looked out of the window as he knew that Spring was sleeping and the flowers were taking rest. He wondered if he would ever meet the little boy again whom he loved so dearly. Suddenly while rubbing his eyes, he noticed a wonderful sight. In the farthest corner of the garden, there was a tree that was covered with lovely white blossoms. Its branches were golden and silver fruit hung down from them. Just underneath the tree, there stood the little boy whom he had loved so dearly and was eagerly waiting for him. The Giant quickly ran down the stairs of his house in great joy and hastened towards the garden to reach out to the child. But when he noticed the nail imprints on the little boy’s hands and feet, he got angry and asked him who caused him such injury. He said that he would avenge and slay the person whoever caused the little one so much pain and injury. Hearing this, the child told the Giant that these were the wounds of love. The little boy further added that as the Giant was kind enough to allow him to play in his garden, he had come to take the Giant along with him to his garden in Paradise.

Question 5:

The Giant lay dead, all covered with white blossoms. What does this sentence indicate about the once selfish Giant?

Answer:

“The Giant lay dead, all covered with white blossoms.” The sentence indicates that the Giant was blessed to live in Paradise after his death. As he was no longer selfish and cruel, he was covered with white blossoms in his garden. The white blossoms indicated that the Giant had a peaceful death.