Gok the Giant

After Gok the giant was dead they were still mighty afraid of him, so they didn't bury him but instead left him stretched across the potters' field. The jackals wouldn't come, and the vultures wouldn't come, and finally the flies wouldn't come with their maggots, so the whole place stunk terribly; a great mountain of raw flesh. So a brave old mama fly couldn't take it anymore, and she flew all, all, all the way up to the point of Gok's nose, and she laid just one egg there, and zoomed away with a prayer in her heart.

The egg hatched and the maggot stumbled down to the right nostril. He squeak-squeaked, "Big old Gok! How big are you, anyway?"

"Not so big," the dead giant said. "I couldn't put a saddle on the mountains and ride them by myself. I could do it, yes, but I would need my father's help."

"Are you ready for me to eat you, Gok?"

"Not yet. Why don't you take a little walk and ask me later?"

So the maggot took a walk around the world. Now, the world is quite big, and maggots are quite slow, so it took him a hundred years to do it. He saw the country where people's appetites are so big they have to eat out of boats, but their seas are so shallow they have to cross them on plates, and he saw the country where there's only one star at night but there's hundreds of suns during the day, and he saw Mexico, and then he came back to the potters' field.

He climbed up to Gok's right nostril and he squeak-squeaked, "Big old Gok, how big are you anyway?"

"Not so big," the dead giant said. "I couldn't gather all the forest into bundles between my toes all by myself. I could do it, yes, but I would need my father's help."

"Are you ready for me to eat you, Gok?"

"Not yet. Why don't you take another little walk and ask me later?"

So the maggot took another walk around the world. He saw countries where there were tall towers used to observe birds from above, and other countries where there were tall towers used to observe clouds from above, and still other countries where there were tall towers used to observe stars from above, and he saw Mexico, and then he came back to the potters' field.

He climbed up to Gok's right nostril and squeak-squeaked, "Big old Gok, how big are you, anyway?"

"Not so big," the dead giant said. "I couldn't leap over two oceans all by myself. I could do it, but I would need my father's help."

"Are you ready for me to eat you, Gok?"

"Not yet. Why don't you take another little walk and ask me later?"

So the maggot took another walk around the world. He saw countries where there were cows and countries where there were bats and countries where there were railroad tracks. He saw blue countries and orange countries and gray countries. He saw people who wore hats and shoes and people who wore scarves and eyeglasses. And he saw Mexico. And along the way he saw in a mirror that he had grown from a maggot into a fine handsome fly. Then he came to the potters's field.

He climbed up to Gok's right nostril and he squeak-squeaked, "Big old Gok, how big are you anyway?"

"Not so big," said the giant. "I couldn't swat a fly all by myself."

A hand, an enormous hand, bigger than a stormcloud, bigger than anything, came down from above and crushed the fly, smashed him into nothingness in the dirt. The littlest fingernail of the hand could have served as banquet table for a hundred Goks and all their friends. The hand was attached to an arm that rose far, far into the sky, further than anyone could see. Then it rose until it disappeared in the clouds.

Gok stood up. "Thanks Dad!" he shouted.

He cracked his back. "I shouldn't like to be dead again anytime soon. People are always bothering you with questions." Then he left to find something else to do.




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