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 in 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 round the giant's neck and kissed him.

The other children saw this. They saw that the giant was not wicked any longer. 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]

B 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 in 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?

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

Yesterday, I …………………… a really tall man in our office lift. He was almost seven feet tall the tallest man I had ever seen. I was …………………… to see such a tall man, and didn't say anything to him, but he looked at me and …………………… politely. Then he …………………… his hands and said hello. I also …………………… mine, and we shook hands. When the doors of the lift ……………………, he got out and went towards the manager's office. Later on, I ………………. him sitting on the manager's chair. That's when I ……………………, that he was our new manager. What a nice and humble man he is!

D Work in pairs to retell the story to each other.

E What do you think is the moral of the story "The Selfish Giant" Discuss in groups and write the moral in one or two sentences.