The Selfish Giant

"The Selfish Giant" is a short fantasy story for children by the Irish author Oscar Wilde. The story's plot revolves around a giant who builds a wall to keep children out of his garden, but learns compassion from the innocence of the children. The short story contains significant religious imagery. The Selfish Giant owns a beautiful garden which has 12 peach trees and lovely fragrant flowers, in which children love to play after returning from the school. The Giant put a notice board "TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED". The garden falls into perpetual winter. One day, the giant is awakened by a linnet, and discovers that spring has returned to the garden, as the children have found a way in through a gap in the wall… It was first published in 1888 in the anthology The Happy Prince and Other Tales, which, in addition to its title story, also includes "The Nightingale and the Rose", “The Happy Prince”, "The Devoted Friend" and "The Remarkable Rocket".

When the Selfish Giant decides to build a wall around his garden to prevent the children from playing in it, it becomes barren and stuck in perpetual winter. It takes a wonderful event and the heart of a young boy for him to realize the error of his ways. A classic tale for children, ‘The Selfish Giant’ is presented here with all of Oscar Wilde’s other fairy stories – ‘The Happy Prince’, ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’, ‘The Devoted Friend’, ‘The Remarkable Rocket’, ‘The Young King’, ‘The Birthday of the Infanta’, ‘The Fisherman and His Soul’ and ‘The Star-Child’ – brought to life by Philip Waechter’s bright and imaginative illustrations.

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

The Selfish Giant Before you is one of the most beloved Children's Classics of all time - The Selfish Giant. The children love to play in the Selfish Giant's beautiful garden. After building a wall to keep them out, Snow, Frost, the North Wind, and Hail come to take over the garden. The Selfish Giant eventually realizes he was wrong to keep the children away, and he resolves to break down the wall he has built. One of the children that melt the giant's heart is a young child. We learn the young boy is actually the Christ child, who later takes the joyful giant to His home in Paradise.

Inspiring two films (the latest featuring ‘Emmerdale’s’ Conner Chapman, and ‘Shameless’ star, Sean Gilder), ‘The Selfish Giant’ is a classic children’s fairytale from the pen of Oscar Wilde. While he might be better known for his biting wit and cynical observations, this story is both beautiful and timeless. It centres around a giant, who builds a wall around his garden in order to keep children out. As a result, his garden is frozen in perpetual winter. However, a young boy has hidden himself away there and gives the giant a chance to redeem himself. Touching and wonderfully written, this is an ideal read for children and the young at heart. Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) was an Irish novelist, poet, playwright, and wit. He was an advocate of the Aesthetic movement, which extolled the virtues of art for the sake of art. During his career, Wilde wrote nine plays, including ‘The Importance of Being Earnest,’ ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan,’ and ‘A Woman of No Importance,’ many of which are still performed today. His only novel, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ was adapted for the silver screen, in the film, ‘Dorian Gray,’ starring Ben Barnes and Colin Firth. In addition, Wilde wrote 43 poems, and seven essays. His life was the subject of a film, starring Stephen Fry.

Retellings of six of Wilde's children's tales of love, loss, riches, poverty, hope, and happiness.