The Giant and the Cathedral

By Carl Olsen

Hundreds of years ago, when Christianity was still new to the Northern lands, there was a Pastor who lived in a town in Sweden. This Pastor cared very much for the people in the Town, but was sad as well, for the people had no cathedral to worship in. He thought for a long time about what he could do, but it seemed that there was no way he could find the help to complete such a great project.

One day, as he was walking in the forest outside the village just after sundown, he passed by a great hill, which the villagers said was the home of an enormous giant. "A giant!" he thought. "Perhaps that is what I need! I must look for him." For you see, in those days, especially in the North, men were not so skeptical about such things as giants and trolls.

So the Pastor walked around the hill, wondering if the Giant were about. Sure enough, atop a splintered stump and gnawing the haunch of a large cow, sat a great hairy giant. He was many times taller than the tallest man, with skin tough and pitted like an old mountain. The Pastor nearly gave up and went home then, but, thinking about the the cathedral, he prayed a hasty prayer and shouted up to the Giant. "Hey! You up there!"

The Giant started and nearly choked. Coughing, he spat a piece of bone which smashed through a small tree, narrowly missing the Pastor. "Hey yourself! I nearly choked on that. What does a churchman want with an old Pagan like me?"

The Pastor now wanted nothing to do with the Giant, but there was nothing for it but to continue. "The people in the Town have no cathedral to worship in. I want to build them one, but I cannot do it on my own, and there are not enough people to help me. What price do you ask to build it for us?"

The Giant thought a moment, then shrugged. "Do you have any treasure?"

"No."

"Perhaps a charm of prosperity or good hunting?"

"Heavens, no! No magic!"

The Giant smirked. "No, I suppose not. Well then, how about this? I will build the cathedral for you. If, by the time I am done, you have not guessed my name, then you shall give me your eyes."

The Pastor started. "My eyes! What would you want with them?"

"That is none of your business. Do we have a deal?"

The Pastor hesitated. It was a risky venture to be sure, but was it not for a good cause? And certainly, a holy man such as himself could discover the Giant's name, given enough prayer and fasting. So they shook on the deal, the Giant nearly pulling the Pastor's arm off despite his care, and the Pastor returned to town.

When the Pastor told the people about the project, they were skeptical. "Nothing good can come from hiring a giant, Pastor," one old woman said. "God will not reward your pride."

Still flushed with excitement from meeting the Giant, the Pastor said, "Oh, don't pout. If I am doing it for God, how can it be pride?" Still, the people hid in their houses the next evening when the Giant began to work.

He came after sundown, hauling a pile of rocks nearly as high as himself on a sled of long trees. He dumped the rocks on the ground and left with the sled. Half and hour later he was back with another load. This went on until about midnight, by which time a mountain of rock had been assembled on the edge of Town. He then sat down and took out a great hammer. Picking up rock after rock he gave each a few sharp blows, and then tossed down a roughly shaped block. By morning the mountain had been replaced with an enormous stack of blocks. The Giant went home before dawn, for if giants stay out in the sunlight they turn to stone.

The next night the Giant came again and began laying a great foundation which covered more ground than ten of the largest houses in the Town. The Pastor saw how swiftly the work was going and became very afraid. It had been his second day of fasting and praying, yet he had been given no clue as to the Giant's name. He asked around the whole Town, but no one knew--they had always just called him "The Giant," as there were no other giants in the area. Worried and hungry, the Pastor prayed all day, hoping for a revelation by nightfall.

Nothing came that night except the Giant, who set to building the enormous walls and roof of the Cathedral. Then the Pastor repented of his rash deal and said to himself, "Why did I ever want a cathedral so badly? Surely it will be the grandest site for miles around, but a site I may never look upon." And so he went to the woods one more time to walk around and give his eyes one last feast by moonlight before he lost them.

As he went he came upon the great hill where he had first met the Giant. Tired and sad, he lay down for a moment. "That's funny," he thought, "the Giant is away from home, working on the Cathedral, and yet I hear something." Lowering his head to the ground, he could make out the words to a song. This is how it went:

Hush, hush, my giant child,
Papa Finn's out in the wild
Bringing back for you a prize,
Tonight you play with Pastor's Eyes!

When the Pastor heard this he leapt up and ran for Town as fast as he could, fearful that he would be too late. Just as the Giant was about to place the last stone, the Pastor arrived and shouted, "Put that last stone in, Finn!"

The Giant became very angry. He shrunk himself with his giant magic and ran down into the deepest crypt of the Cathedral. There he grabbed hold of a great pillar, thinking that he would tear the entire Cathedral apart, but just then dawn came, and a sliver of sunlight came through a tiny window at the top of the crypt and struck Finn and he became stone himself. The final block was never put in, and to this day it is said that the Cathedral may never be completed. Some say that if the last block is put in another block will fall out in some other part of the Cathedral, and others say that if it is ever completed Finn will wake up and tear the Cathedral down.

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