The Giant Heart

Once upon a time there was a poor farmer who lived with his daughter, Elizabeth, on a small farm outside a village. They worked hard day and night, and the farmer saved every penny he could until he had enough money to send Elizabeth off to study medicine. For years Elizabeth trained to be a family doctor; then she returned and asked the villagers for a job. The villagers laughed at the idea that the farmer's daughter could be a doctor and mocked her when she showed them her medical license. After receiving the same treatment at other villages, she returned to the farm disheartened.

Elizabeth worked on the farm still dreaming about becoming a doctor, and with any spare money she had, she sent away for medical books to study. Unfortunately, her father became ill and could no longer work. For months Elizabeth worked all day and took care of her father at night. One evening, after eating blueberry pie for dessert, the farmer died in his sleep. Elizabeth buried her father's body, but she saved his organs in glass jars and stored them in the cellar.

After a period of mourning, Elizabeth began to study her father's organs. She studied and studied, learning everything she could about the human body, until one day, she knocked over the jar that contained her father's heart. When the heart hit the floor, it doubled in size. Then it rolled and hit the cellar wall- making it triple in size. Elizabeth picked up the heart and examined it; the heart then expanded until it filled the entire cellar.

Elizabeth worried for days; she feared the heart would grow if she touched it again. Eventually, the heart began to beat. At first it beat slowly, and then it beat so fast the sound was unbearable. Elizabeth went down to the cellar and poked the heart with a rod. The heart shook violently, making Elizabeth run outside. As she stood in the pasture and watched, the heart grew until it destroyed the entire house.

Then the giant heart embraced the rays of the sun and stopped beating.

Elizabeth had no choice but to move into the chambers of the heart and continue farming. She lived in the heart for weeks, but the labor was very difficult. One day she broke down in the field and cried.

"What's the matter?" a voice asked.

Elizabeth looked up and saw an elderly man carrying a gun. "I've lost my house and I no longer wish to farm," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "I have nothing left but a giant heart."

"Well, you can go a long way in this world with a giant heart!" the man exclaimed. The man sat down next to Elizabeth and looked around the farm. "Wow! Where did you get that humungous tomato?" he asked.

"It's a heart. It's not a toma...." Elizabeth replied.

"You should take this to the village," the man interrupted. "It will make you famous."

Elizabeth put her head in her lap and sat quietly for a minute. Then she asked, "What are you doing with the gun?"

"Oh, I almost forgot. I'm tracking a giant that looted the village last night," the man replied. "The villagers plan to kill him with poison arrows, but I volunteered to find him first."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and shook her head as the man went on about the giant; she didn't believe in giants and wished the man would go away. Eventually, the man looked to the sky and said, "I have to go. There's not much daylight left. Don't worry. With the talent you have for growing tomatoes, you will become rich some day."

Elizabeth spent the next few days isolated in the heart. One morning she woke up and went for a walk. While climbing over a small hill, she saw a giant with two arrows in his heart. "Please help me," the giant said. "The villagers have shot me."

Elizabeth felt sympathy for the giant and pulled the two arrows out of his heart. She realized the giant was going to die, so she went home and found the largest knife she could find. Then she rolled her father's heart back to the giant. With all her might, she cut open the giant's chest and replaced his heart with her father's heart. For several days Elizabeth nursed the giant back to health. She offered him different types of food, but the giant only craved blueberry pie.

After the giant recovered, he gathered food from the countryside and carried Elizabeth back to the village. When the villagers saw the giant coming, they hid and took up arms. However, the giant fixed the damage he caused and left tons of food by the village hall. "What's going on?" a villager asked Elizabeth. "Tell the giant to leave or we will shoot him again."

"I gave the giant a new heart," Elizabeth replied. "He won't give you any more trouble."

The villagers didn't believe her and were still afraid of the giant. That night a violent storm blew through the area. Heavy rain and strong winds ravaged the countryside, but the giant protected the village from any harm. The villagers saw this, and they went into the public square to thank the giant.

"It's all because of Elizabeth," the giant said. "She replaced my bad heart with a good one."

The villagers were confused and didn't understand how a farmer's daughter could replace a giant's heart. Then the elderly man recognized Elizabeth and shouted, "There's the woman I was telling you about! She must have fed the giant her tomato and made him healthy and good!"

The villagers were delighted with the story and took turns thanking Elizabeth. The giant and Elizabeth tried telling everyone the truth, but nobody would listen.

The giant lived for many more years, protecting the village from harm in exchange for tons of blueberry pies. The villagers hired Elizabeth to grow tomatoes for them, but they soon realized her talent for treating their illnesses. She lived happily the rest of her life, working as a doctor and teaching the village children the wonders of medicine.

 

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