The Evil Giant, retold (and illustrated) by J

Once upon a time there was a fisherman who couldn't catch any fish. A huge fish told him that he could catch all the fish he wanted if he turned over the first thing that ran to greet him when he got home.



Think of his dog, who was always the first to run and greet him when he got home, he agreed, and he caught so many fish he thought his boat would tip over.






When he got home, he was upset to see his oldest daughter running to greet him instead of the dog. But he had made a promise, so he turned over his oldest daughter to the King of Fish.





He made the same promise to the King of Birds,









and to the Kind of Beasts (a lion), and lost his 2nd oldest daughter and his 3rd oldest daughter as well.







That only left his youngest daughter, Elisa, and her brother Jose. One day Elisa was working in the garden. A Giant who ruled the land came and took her to be his bride.



Jose set out to save his sister from the Giant. Along the way, he met an old woman, who gave him magic clothes to make him invisible. She gave him instructions on how to find out how to kill the Giant.


At the Giant's castle, the invisible Jose found his sister and told her to agree to marry the Giant and ask him the secret of his long life.








Elisa did as Jose instructed, and the Giant told her that his life was tied to a candle's flame, but he was safe because the candle was hidden inside an egg, which was hidden inside a dove, which was hidden inside an ox, which was hidden inside a box, which was hidden at the bottom of the ocean.

Knowing the Giant's secret, Jose went to the ocean, but didn't know how to find the box. He called to his brother-in-law, the King of Fish, who told all of his fishes to search for the box until they found it.



As Jose pulled the box onto shore, the Giant fell ill. When the Ox ran off, Jose asked his brother-in-law, the King of Beasts, to bring him back. When he cut the Ox open, the Giant could no longer stand. The Dove flew away, so Jose asked his brother-in-law the King of Birds to bring it back. When he opened the Dove, the Giant took to his bed.

Jose took the egg to the Giant's castle and opened it in front of him. The giant saw the flame and knew that the end was upon him.






The Giant reached out with his hand to attack Jose, but before he could strike, Jose blew out the flame, and the Giant fell down dead.







The spells the Giant had cast all were broken when the Giant died, and the King of Fish, the King of Birds, and the Lion (the King of Beasts) all turned back into handsome princes. The horse that Jose road to the castle turned into a handsome prince too and asked Elisa to marry him. And the old woman who gave Jose the magic clothes turned into a Princess who Jose married.

And they all lived happily ever after!