Welcome,
My name is Mark.
This evening,
I invite you to rest into stillness as we journey into a timeless story.
A story that opens the heart and gently reminds us of the beauty of kindness and the quiet power of love.
This is The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde.
Let your body soften and let your breath slow and allow this gentle tale to carry you like a leaf floating down a quiet stream.
Let's begin.
Every afternoon,
As they came home from school,
The children would run into the Giant's Garden to play.
It was a large,
Lovely garden with soft green grass that invited bare feet and trees that whispered gently in the breeze.
The trees bore blossoms of pink and pearl and later in the year,
They gave delicious golden fruit.
Birds sat in the branches and sang so sweetly that the children would stop their play just to listen to their beautiful song.
How happy we are here,
They would cry to each other.
But one day,
The Giant came back.
He had been away for seven long years and when he saw the children playing,
He was angry.
My garden is mine,
He shouted and then he built a high wall all around it with a sign that read,
Trespassers will be prosecuted.
The Giant was a selfish Giant.
The children had nowhere to play,
The road was dusty and full of stones.
They longed for the grass,
Wished for the trees,
But the garden was closed.
Spring came to the countryside,
Birds sang in fields,
Trees blossomed,
But not in the Giant's Garden.
In that garden,
It was always winter.
The birds did not sing,
The trees did not blossom and the snow and frost danced in silence.
Why is spring so late in coming,
Wondered the Giant aloud,
But spring never came,
Nor summer nor autumn.
Only winter lived in a selfish Giant's Garden.
Then one morning,
Something changed.
The Giant was awakened by a sound,
The sweetest he had heard in years.
It was not the King's musicians,
It was a little bird singing outside his window.
The north wind had stopped,
He looked out and saw something wonderful.
The children had found a way back in,
They were sitting in the trees and the trees,
So long asleep,
Had burst into beautiful blooms.
Birds flitted through the branches singing joyfully,
The flowers lifted their sleepy heads.
Spring had returned to the garden,
But in one corner stood a little boy,
And he was too small to climb the tree,
And he stood there,
Crying.
The Giant saw all this,
And his heart melted,
How selfish I have been,
He whispered.
Quietly he went out into the garden,
When the children saw him they all ran away in fear,
All except that one little boy,
His eyes were full of tears.
Gently the Giant lifted the child in his arms,
And placed him,
Aye,
In a tree.
And in that moment,
That tree blossomed,
Birds sang,
Flowers bloomed beneath,
And from that day on,
The Giant was no longer selfish.
He tore down the wall,
And every afternoon the children came to play in his garden.
Many years passed,
The Giant grew old and tired,
He could no longer play,
But he would sit by the window,
Watching the children with joy in his heart,
I have many beautiful flowers,
He would say,
But the children are the most beautiful of all.
One morning,
The Giant looked into the garden,
In the far corner,
Under the same tree,
Stood the same little boy as before,
The Giant's eyes lit up,
He hurried out,
Joy filling his old heart,
The child smiled and said,
You let me play once in your garden,
Today you shall come with me to mine.
Later that afternoon,
The children found the Giant,
Lying peacefully beneath the blossom covered tree,
And he was smiling.
And so the garden remained,
A place of welcome and laughter,
And of love,
Let your own heart become a garden,
Blossoming in stillness.
May your dreams tonight,
Be gentle and light,
And may you always find peace,
In the kindness of others,
And in yourself.
Good night,
Dream happy.
