Storytelling

"Lunetta and the Little Giant" - mixed media on two cradled boards.  Ready to hang.  

For the month of March at Ciel Gallery's "Little:Big" show, another collaborative piece with contemporary folktale writer Robert Webb.  This was the first collaborative piece for Robert and me, and it is the first public showing for this work.  Ready to be enchanted?  Read on:

Lunetta and the Little Giant

By Robert Webb

    In a time that is all but almost forgotten, there lived a young boy in a village.  In the beginning he seemed quite as ordinary as any of the other children.  As he aged he grew very tall.  He continued to grow until his twenty-fifth birthday.  By then he had reached a height three times as tall as any man in the village.
    At first, all the villagers marveled at the statute of this young man.  However, as time went by, they became weary of his size.  He was constantly crushing carts, breaking barrels and squishing any poor soul that found themselves beneath his behemoth feet.
    Each day the giant became more aware and concerned about his effect on the village.  He eventually decided to move away.  He said his goodbyes and departed.  He lumbered across the land and came to rest on a secluded patch of sand on the coast.  It was there that he built a cottage and made it his home.
    From time to time, visitors journeyed close to the giant’s home, but at first glimpse of the huge man, they scurried away and never returned.  It was rare that anyone would venture close enough to even speak with him.  This made him very lonely.
    He spent the isolated days skipping large stones into the ocean.  Each stone carried with it a wish of friendship.  He hoped the sea would take that stone into its depths where the currents would whisk the wish around the world.  Maybe then someone would come to visit.
    One special day, when the giant was most lonely, he found the largest boulder on the beach.  And with the greatest strength ever mustered by anyone in history, he lifted it and hurled it across the ocean.  It skipped until it soared completely off the face of the world.  There, in the heavens, it came to rest.  As we all know, the heavens are a magical place.  The boulder began to glow and take on a life of its own.
    It opened its large eyes and looked down at the little giant on the coast.  With an angelic voice, it said to the giant, “I know why you are sad.  I have sat near your cottage and watched you cast the same wish into the sea every day.  Do not be sad anymore.  I will stay with you if you will just give me a name.”
    The giant gave it much thought while the boulder floated patiently in the sky.  After a long while he decided on Lunetta.  She must have thought this name was very splendid because she glowed even brighter than before.  As she promised, she stayed with the giant night and day.  It was a wonderful friendship they both enjoyed.
    Within a few weeks she noticed the giant was becoming a little thin and weak.  She asked him if he was ill.  He explained that when he hunted at night all the creatures could see him coming.  Her bright glow made it difficult for him to sneak up on all the rabbits and goats that he loved to eat.
    Lunetta quickly created a solution.  She agreed to slowly fall asleep every month.  She allowed the night to once again be covered with darkness.  Once the giant had his fill and his belly was as round as he was tall, she would slowly wake up again.
    This happened each month until the giant grew so old that he had a long white beard that reached the sand beneath his feet.  He lived each day with as much happiness as the first day he met Lunette.  Much like all things, the giant faded into time.  But Lunetta continues to this day to slowly fall asleep and wake up each month hoping to see her little giant waiting there for her by the sea.