Once there was a big, ugly giant, named Giant. He was so big and so ugly that he ate everybody's share of everything.

In return for taking almost everything they had, he gave them his ugly little paintings. The paintings were not worth anything, but the giant persuaded everyone that they were valuable, so he was able to keep on taking almost all that they had in exchange for them.

Giant was very vain, too. Ugly as he was, he was also coarse, brash, clumsy and unread. None of this worried Giant, for he convinced others that his coarseness, brashness, clumsiness and ignorance were attributes that were okay, even charming in some ways. And, of course, they all accepted his ugly paintings as purchase for nearly all they had.

Giant had a little buddy, a small body that thought he longed to be a giant, too. Well, sometimes he thought so and sometimes, he was sort-of sure he didn't want to. Then the little buddy got a new hat and the hat convinced him once and for all that he really wanted to be a giant.

So, the little buddy started to train. He started to lift weights, he started to save all his Giant ugly paintings to spend on all the Giant-approved toys he could afford. And what were the Giant-approved toys? They were the toys that Giant made for everybody to buy from him and he convinced everybody to buy lots and lots. They were hitting toys and hurting toys and toys for punishing and toys for pretend magic.

There were all useless and harmful.

Nevertheless, the little buddy, having now decided that he wanted to be a giant, bought as many as he could. He stopped worrying about buying food and clothes and shelter. He only concerned himself with buying Giantapproved toys.

One day, though, one of the everybodies noticed that his ugly Giant paintings were melting. This was because the Giant had started using cheaper paper for his paintings, without telling anyone.

The everybody thought it was just a mistake.

But then, it happened again and, everywhere, the ugly Giant paintings began to melt. Everybody started to panic. They had all been using the ugly Giant paintings for exchange on everything. If the paintings melted, then what?

There was, for the first time ever, such a hue and cry amongst everybody that Giant thought he would hold a meeting to calm everybody down.

He invited them all to his cave where he had organized a big display of his newly designed toys that could hit, hurt and punish from a distance. Everyone was so dazzled by these amazing toys that they all but forgot about the melting paintings.

Giant's little buddy had melting paintings too, but he didn't care because he was Giant's best friend now and Giant gave him special discounts on his toys. The little buddy had even made suggestions about the new toy designs and Giant was very impressed by his smartness.

But the Giant ugly paintings continued to melt because he kept using the cheaper paper and he really didn't care.

One day, the little buddy got sick because, he had nothing to eat or wear and there was a hole in his roof and he had spent everything on the toys. And suddenly, the little buddy realised that he could never be a giant because of his weaknesses of needing nourishment, garments and shelter.

He didn't know what to do because being the special friend to Giant was more important to him than being well.

One day, at last, all the paintings everywhere melted, all on the same day. And on that day, everyone realized that they had given nearly all they had to Giant for nothing in return. And Giant had consumed everything he had had from everyone.

So, there was nothing, everywhere.

When Giant called on them to bring him more things, they had nothing left.

Deep in the far-away lands, a little girl and boy had a garden. Their mother had two sheep and a few cows. So the children grew food in their garden and the mother made clothes from the sheep's wool and cheese from the cows' milk. There was an old lady living nearby who helped with the knitting.

They offered to give a sweater and some vegetables to a strong man who helped them fix the roof on their house.

Then, another neighbour realised that, if he took the Giant-approved toys apart, he could use them as tools. So, he offered to make beds for the little girl and boy with the garden in exchange for vegetables.

They made their garden bigger. And so it went, with common folk exchanging goods for labour and food. And the man who converted the Giant-approved toys into tools was kept very busy.

Meanwhile, Giant thundered and stormed with nothing to consume; the little buddy ran away to the far-away land; and everybody else sat on endless meetings and committees to try to figure out what went wrong.