Part 11: MAZJIMATA AND THE PEACEFUL GIANT

Mazjimata, Hiriki sent to the north, to the place where the giant, Kwashoom lived, to enlist his help. Kwashoom was the tallest giant who had ever lived and had once been a great terror to the people of his land but had taken a vow of peace and meditation and had sat in still and silent contemplation for a hundred years without blinking an eye.

Mazjimata found Kwashoom sitting down upon the mountain of Odom which was the only thing large and strong enough to take his weight and, in order to speak to him, he flew inside the giants ear which was as large as a cave. “Great and mighty Kwashoom”, he said, “I have been sent to enlist you in a noble cause. To step upon the armies of the evil tyrant Samegusha and thus set free all of the lands that he has enslaved through his violence”.

Kwashoom did not move but Mazjimata was so close to the Giants enormous brain that he could hear Kwashoom thinking, “Go away!”, thought the giant, “I have sat still for one hundred years without blinking an eye, I have devoted my life to quiet meditation and discovering the meaning of my existence and I do not want you to jeopardize that”.

“But, mighty and noble giant. This could be the meaning of your existence. To put an end to Samegushas evil reign. Think of all the good that will come of it”, pleaded Mazjimata.

“Go away!”, thought the giant, “Stepping on Samegushas armies would involve killing a lot of people, would it not? For 100 years I have vowed never to kill any living creature. Once I was a terror who would crush whole towns and villages
beneath my feet but one day I sat down to think about the purpose of life and I thought of all the people whose lives I had stolen and decided, from that day, that I would never kill another living thing and now I will not even spill the blood of the smallest fly”.

“I am sorry”, said Mazjimata, “But I have been sent to bring you and I will bring you wether willingly or not” and so Mazjimata flew down onto the giants nose and began
firing arrows into it.

Then the giant spoke and it was like the sound that the sky would make if it fell. “Go away!”, said the giant, “You have made me break my vow of silence. That is bad enough. Your arrows cannot hurt me but if you do not stop bothering me I may get angry and have to swat you”.

“You’ll never swat me”, said Mazjimata, boastfully, “I am far too quick for you
to catch”.

But Kwashoom just ignored Mazjimata, who’s voice sounded no louder than the buzzing of a fly to the giant’s ears and so Mazjimata flew into the right ear of the giant and he lit a fire using arrows from his quiver and then he flew into the giants other ear and did the same and soon there were big clouds of smoke rising from the ears of the giant.

“You had better move and put out the fires, Giant”, said Mazjimata, “Or you will have an awful earache”.

This was too much for the Giant to ignore and, as the fires within the giants ears grew into an inferno it gave out a roar of pain that could be heard all around the world and, after dousing the fire in its ears with the water of two lakes, it rose to its feet and it was so tall that Mazjimata had to fly up above the clouds just to look the giant in the eyes.

“I warned you!” said Kwashoom, “Three times I warned you but you would not listen! Now I will have to swat you and then you will be sorry”.

“You can try to swat me but I’m far to fast for you, you lumbering big oaf”, said Mazjimata firing a volley of arrows into the giants nose.
Suddenly Mazjimata could feel a gale blowing to the left to him and when he turned to look he saw that it was air being fanned by the movement of the giants right palm moving swiftly towards him and the hand was so large that, as it came closer, it looked like a field looks to anyone falling from great height but Mazjimata had become very adept at flying, studying the movement of every bird from the mountain eagle to the humble sparrow and he easily avoided the giants blow, slipping through a mile wide gap between Kwashooms index and forefinger.

“You’ll have to do better than that if you want to swat me”, said Mazjimata, firing another volley of arrows, this time at the giants right cheek.

Again and again, the giant Kwashoom tried to swat Mazjimata but each time Mazjimata would be too swift for him and, each time the giant failed, Mazjimata would taunt him and fire more arrows at him flying a little further away each time so that the Giant was forced to chase him. The giant didn’t have to run because each of his strides was 5 miles wide and within less than an hour the giant had chased Mazjimata to the great road of Silk and Spice and had trampled one hundred
Thousand of the evil Samegushas screaming troops into the ground, “Look down! Look down!”, cried Mazjimata, “Look down, giant and see what you have
done”.

Kwashoom looked down at his feet and saw all the men that he had squashed into the road and was very sad and a tear from his right eye fell and drowned twenty more men and then he couldn’t stop crying and was causing a terrible flood that he thought might wash away Samegusha’s whole army so, scraping the bodies off the soles of his enormous feet, he walked off to find a nice deserted place away from men and killing and, when he could find no place in the world to be alone, leapt to the moon and fell asleep inside a large crater where his face can still be seen.