not a kind giant at all. It
was he that had shut up the passage through which the poor forest people
used to pass to their bright cottages on the other side, for in those
days they didn't _live_ in the forest, they only went there for their
work, and on Sundays and holidays they were all happy and merry
together, and the little children grew up rosy and bright, quite
different from the poor little wan-faced creatures that now hung sadly
about at the hut doors in the forest, looking as if they didn't know how
to laugh or play."

"Why did the naughty diant shut up the way?" asked Ted.

"Because he had a quarrel with the forest people. He wanted them to let
their little boys and girls, or some of them, come to him to be his
servants, but they wouldn't, and so he was so angry that he shut up the
door. But that was so long ago now that the people had almost forgotten
about it--the children that the giant had wanted to be his servants were
old grandfathers and grandmothers now, and some of them were dead, I
daresay, so that the real history of their troubles was forgotten by
them but not by the giant, for whenever he came out at the top of the
mountain to take some air, he used to look down at the forest and think
how dull and miserable they must be there."

"Nasty diant," said Ted.

"Yes, he was very unkind, but still I think you would have been rather
sorry for him too. He was old and all alone, and of course nobody loved
him. The people in the forest hardly ever spoke of him. They knew he
was there, or that he used to be there, and now and then some of the
children who had heard about him used to feel afraid of him and whisper
to each other that he would eat them up if he could catch them, but that
was about all the notice they took of him. They seemed to have forgotten
that he was the cause of their sad, gloomy lives, and indeed I am not
sure that any except some very old people really knew. Among these very
old people there were a man and his wife who were almost the poorest of
all in the forest. They were so poor because they were almost past work,
and they had no children to work for them. All that they had was a
little granddaughter, who lived with them because her father and mother
were dead. And it was a queer thing that she was quite different from
the other poor children in the forest. They were all pale and sad and
crushed-looking like their parents. This little girl was bright-haired
and bright-eyed and ros