Lesson 11: The Selfish Giant (4)

Key words: frightened, stretch out, knock down, fling

A

Continue reading the story.

The Giant felt sorry as he looked out. “How selfish I have been!” he said to himself. “Now I know why the spring would not come here.” So he quickly went out into the garden. But when the children saw him, they were so frightened that they all ran away, and the garden became winter again. Only the little boy did not run, for his eyes were so full of tears that he did not see the Giant coming. The Giant quietly came behind him, took him gently in his hands, and put him up into the tree. And the tree at once broke into blossom, and the birds came and sang on it. The little boy stretched out his two arms, flung them around the Giant’s neck.

The other children saw this. They saw that the Giant was not wicked anymore. So they came running back. And with them came the spring.

“It’s your garden now, little children,” said the Giant. Then he took a huge axe and knocked the wall down. And the people passing by found the Giant playing with the children in the most beautiful garden in the country.

[adapted from Oscar Wilde]

Answer these questions.

1. Why did the Giant feel sorry?
2. When did the garden become winter again?
3. Why didn’t the little boy run away?
4. What happened when the Giant put the little boy up into the tree?
5. Why did the other children think that the Giant was no longer wicked?
6. What happened when the children came back into the garden?
7. Why was the Giant’s garden the most beautiful garden in the country?

B

Fill in the blanks with the right form of the verbs given in the box.

• fling, smile, sit, stretch out, frighten, feel sorry

Yesterday, I met a six-foot man in the lift of our office. I was a little ______. But he ______ a hand and said hello. I too ______ mine, and we shook hands. Then he ______ and went towards the manager’s office, ______ open the door, and ______ on the manager’s chair. He was our new manager. I went inside and said, “Forgive me, Sir. I didn’t know. I really ______.”

C

Work in groups. Tell the story.

D

Discuss in groups and write the moral of the story.