Hugo and The Magic Flower
By: Carolyn Chen
Once upon a time, there lived a poor female giant and her son, Hugo. Since Jack the giant-killer had taken everything the giants held dear, all the giants had a very hard life.
Hugo and his mother lived in a small cottage. The roof had holes in it, one of the windows had been shattered, and the door had been painted a very ugly purple. Behind the house was a murky swamp, and the grass was dead.
One terribly rainy day, Hugo’s mother told Hugo to sell their last cow for some food. Hugo quickly went to the barn to get the cow, and then trudged off towards the town square. On the way, Hugo met an old, feeble giant.” Magic flowers for sale, magic flowers for sale!” the old giant croaked. Hugo was instantly interested. Joyfully, he exchanged the cow for a magic flower seed. Whistling a delightful tune, he went home.
However, when he showed his mother the magic flower seed, she was so furious that her face turned as red as a tomato, and Hugo could almost see steam pouring from her ears. “ Idiot boy”, she shouted, “we cannot eat a flower seed!” With that being said, she tossed the flower seed out the shattered window and sent Hugo off to bed without his supper. Ashamed of himself, Hugo slowly, sadly slid off to bed and gradually fell into a restless sleep.
However, as the whole giant village slumbered, a miracle was happening. The giant flower seed that Hugo’s mother had tossed out the window began to burrow deep into the ground. It burrowed deeper and deeper, deeper and deeper, until it suddenly fell from the giant world into our world with a faint “plop”. And as people slept soundly in their beds on earth, the magic flower seed burrowed into the earth’s soil. It grew and grew and grew, and if you were to happen to look out your window at that very moment, you would have seen what appeared to be a giant flower, which was gaining height rapidly.
The enormous flower kept right on growing until it reached the clouds. Then, as quickly as it had started, the flower came to a great stop. The night was still once more.
* * *
The next morning, Hugo woke up from bed and sleepily looked out the window. He received a huge shock when he saw what appeared to be a pistil of a flower right next to the murky swamp. Surrounding the center of the flower were beautiful, delicate, pink petals, gleaming in the pale sunlight. “Mom”, roared Hugo, tearing his gaze from the window. There’s a giant flower in our backyard!”
Hugo’s mother, who had been preparing breakfast, peered through the downstairs window and let out a gasp of delight. “Why, it’s a magic flower, a portal from the small world to our world, just like the beanstalk that brought terrible Jack here!” she cried with disbelief. “Hurry now son, this could be our chance to be rich again! Go down that flower before any humans come up it, and get some valuable things for your poor mother”. Hugo did not like the idea of stealing, but he quickly went through the back door and ran up the giant flower. He swiftly realized that there was a hole in the ground of the giant’s world where the flower had poked through, just big enough for Hugo to get into the humans world by. Using the strong, sturdy flower stem as a pole, he slid down into the human’s world.
Hugo was surprised of what he saw when he looked down. The land that he stood on was like a quilt, mostly with patches of lime green, but sometimes also had earthy, brown patches with small green dots. There were a few small human houses, though all were the size of dollhouses to Hugo. A human that had been outside took one look at Hugo, and let out a shrill, screeching shriek that Hugo could not hear.
The young giant slowly studied the landscape and gradually found a house that looked terribly familiar. He remembered the book that his mother had read to him when he had been very young. The story about a sneaky, sly, scary man named Jack, who lived in a small red-bricked cottage. The same small, red-bricked cottage he was staring at, minus a few changes. The swimming pool in the backyard had obviously just been added, and the cottage had an extension to it.
Hugo felt boiling anger inside him. Without even bothering to knock, he tore the roof off of Jack’s house. A small note was on the floor of Jack’s living room. Hugo picked it up and squinted at the writing. Going on a three-day vacation, “be back by Monday” was written in tiny handwriting. With a grunt, Hugo tossed the note aside and searched Jack’s house. To his surprise and delight, he found a small leather bag that seemed oddly familiar. Hugo hastily opened it, and was amazed to find a large amount of gold coins inside. When they caught the sunlight, the coins seemed to sparkle, as if magic was in them.
“The gold coins that Jack stole!”, Hugo whispered. Cradling the treasure in his arms, Hugo climbed back up the giant flower, leaving the police wondering if they were dreaming as they looked at the crime scene at Jack’s house.
As soon as Hugo returned home, he was greeted by his eager mother. She was so shocked that she was speechless when she saw the bag of coins.” You’re amazing, Hugo”, She shrieked, “we’ll be swimming in a bath full of money soon!” Hugo was delighted that he had pleased his mother. He promised her that he would go back to the human’s world and get more riches for her.
That night, in order to not frighten the humans too much, Hugo quickly went down the giant flower, cloaked by the darkness of night. He spotted Jack’s house, looking as eye-catching as ever, even in the night. The roof of the house was still off, so Hugo quietly looked to see if there was anything worth taking, He was shocked when he saw what seemed to be a beautiful gold harp next to a human-sized chair. With trembling fingers, Hugo picked up the harp. In the moonlight it gleamed silver, and the strings looked like a delicate spiderwebs. Clutching his prize and smiling gleefully, Hugo quickly climbed back up into the giant’s world.
Hugo’s mother ran out of the house to greet him. When she saw the harp, she smiled. “We have finally gotten back the magic harp!”, she cried,” play it and our land shall be green and beautiful forever!” Hugo eagerly plucked the strings. A wonderful, delicate, twinkling music came from the harp. Hugo’s eyes were wide with wonder. Suddenly, the grass began to change color. They turned a fresh, beautiful, healthy green. The murky swamp suddenly cleared, and turned the clearest blue. The dead trees were suddenly alive with lush green leaves, and flowers of every color dotted the grass. Hugo’s mother squealed with delight. Taking the harp from Hugo’s hands, she ordered him to get a good night’s sleep, and go to Jack’s house he next day. Hugo shuffled up the stairs and slept a good sleep.
The next morning, Hugo woke up early and ran back to the giant flower. He climbed down in high sprits. The humans didn’t seem to have awoken yet, which was good news to Hugo. He scanned his eyes over the house. Seeing that it was deserted, Hugo ran up to the house and began searching for anything valuable. He suddenly remembered that Jack had stolen a golden goose from the giant world, and began searching for the creature, straining his ears to hear it. Hugo heard a faint sound from the house. He tore off the second floor, and then the first. At last, he found the golden goose in the dark, damp basement, tied to a thick rope. Hugo eagerly broke the rope and grabbed the panicky goose. He gently lifted the golden goose from the dirty basement and began to walk back to the flower. He suddenly heard an angry voice behind him.” Hey giant, what are you doing with MY goose?”, a young man shouted. Hugo let out a gasp of shock when he saw it was the legendary giant slayer, Jack. Running with enormous steps, Hugo rushed back to the giant flower. Jack, whom had gotten back from vacation, rushed out of his car in sunglasses and sandals. Even with Hugo’s large steps, Jack kept up really well. Hugo hurriedly got up the flower, with Jack not far behind.
As soon as Hugo reached the top flower, he ran into his house. Putting the goose on the ground, he snatched up an ax that was by the door and hurried back outside. Jack was almost at the top of the flower.
Hugo frantically hacked at the flower using his ax. Jack grinned confidently and continued ascending at a rapid pace as Hugo hacked away in desperation. Hugo continued chopping at the flower stem until suddenly, with a ripping sound, the stem broke. Almost as if in slow motion, the flower stem began to fall to the ground. Jack, clinging onto dear life, no longer looked smug anymore. The last thing Hugo saw was Jack’s terrified face before the flower stem fell to the ground of the human’s world with a thunderous crash.
* * *
A few days later, Hugo was told that Jack had been killed by the fatal fall. All the giants feasted for days. Hugo’s mother had gotten what she’d wished for. She and Hugo now lived in a beautiful white mansion.
As for Hugo, he was probably the happiest of them all. He spent most of his time in the garden, planting flowers of every color, shape, and size. Tulips, roses, bluebells, daises, petunias, daffodils, violets, and irises grew abundant and strong. And, of course, everyone, well everyone except Jack, lived happily ever after.