Slain by a Giant????

Giants are apparently large spirit beings who like to live in certain trees, especially large trees with heavy shade. They are said to be able to cause mischief if you inadvertantly disturb them.

A friend’s brother recently became sick. He was 50 years old. Last week there were rumors that a “friend” of his whose father was a renowned practitioner of black magic had put “poison” in his food. But, this week they said it was a giant.

There was an old mango tree on his property which had been there since he was a boy. It’s a tree that bears the smelly mangoes, they are very sweet but have an unusually pungent odor and not everyone likes them. Some neighbors recently asked if they could cut the tree down and use it to make charcoal, a common way for rural folk to make a bit of cash. Since not many people are interested in buying the fruit, he agreed and it was done. But, soon afterward he became ill. According to the quack doctor, there had been a giant living in that tree and he was angry because it was cut down. The quack doctor recommended that they do a certain ceremony with a white chicken and 8 eggs. They did do the ceremony but it didn't do any good.

From what I could tell, the man had lived a hard life. His wife died soon after their third child was born, nearly 20 years ago. He left the kids with his parents to raise and he went to the city and spent many years as a pedicab driver. His meager earnings were spent mostly on drinking. He often just slept in his pedicab rather than rent a room. He smoked and drank for years and didn’t eat well. After his father died 5 years ago, he moved back home with his mother and worked some on the family farm but continued smoking and drinking heavily with his friends. When I heard that he was complaining of lack of appetite, weight loss, difficulty breathing, swelling, I assumed that he was probably starting to have problems with liver failure.

But, what do I know? Whatever it was, he died this morning. His entire family was present as he had requested. But I do wonder what they will put on the death certificate.....