The Giant and the Dog

One day there was a great big giant named McMuffin. He was so huge that he could not fit into a house, and he could not us a bathtub, or a shower. So when he needed to get clean he would go into the ocean.

That is what he was doing on this one particular day. He was washing under his arms, and on his chest, and his back, and just as he got the the spot behind his ears he heard a commotion.

A house had caught on fire, and people were standing around it saying, "Oh no, the nearest fire station is twenty minutes away! The house will be burned up before the firemen can arrive."

You see, this town was a very small town, and not many people lived there because of the fear of giants. All the people in those parts thought that giants were mean, and clumsy, and bad tempered, and so very few people were willing to live in Giant Country.

Well, the people were looking at the house burning, and they saw the giant taking his bath in the ocean. They said to each other, "Perhaps that giant can help!" but they did not call him Mc Muffin, because nobody had ever bothered to learn his name. So the people ran over saying, "Please Mr. Giant, can you please help up put out this fire? The nearest fire station is twenty minutes away and that is too far to save this house!"

And McMuffin said, "No. I will not help you put out the fire. Humans have never been very nice to me, and I have not been treated with respect, so I will not help. I bet you do not even know my name."

Then the people were all very sad, and they said, "The house will be destroyed for certain."

Just then they heard a noise from the roof. "Woof woof woof woof."

There was a dog trapped up on the roof. When the fire had first started the dog had tried to escape, but the fire had blocked the door. So she ran up to the second floor. But soon the smoke had gotten to that floor, so she ran onto the roof.

When the giant saw this he thought about it. He thought, "If a house is destroyed, that is just a house. But if a dog loses its life when I could have prevented it, I would not feel right. A life is precious."

So McMuffin went over to a dock where there were many boats moored. He was so big that he picked up a whole rowboat that could hold six people. Using it like a bucket he dipped it into the water and filled the entire rowboat full of water. Then he held it over his head and went, stomp stomp stomp, over to the house carrying the heavy water-filled rowboat.

Then he dumped it right on the house! All the water went rushing down and Whoosh! the fire went out and steam went everywhere.

Then the huge giant gently picked up the dog, because the dog was so small he had to be careful, and he carefully placed the dog on the ground. The dog ran away barking happily.

The people went up to McMuffin and said, "Thank you for saving the house!"

And the giant said, "I did not do it for you. I did it to save the life of that dog."

Then he went back to the ocean to finish his bath. And that is how the giant saved the dog from a fire.

The End
(c) 2007 Ken Demarest