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Once upon a time in a kingdom far away there lived a Gentle Giant who had dreamt all his life of becoming the greatest knight in the entire kingdom.
So for years the Gentle Giant trained and trained to master all the skills of a knight. He ran, and he practiced his sword fighting and he worked very hard on his shield work and yet year after year when the time came for the drafting of young knights to the King’s guild the Gentle Giant would be rejected by the King’s men, whom chose the knights from all over the kingdom and even from the kingdoms across the oceans
“We’re sorry John”, they would say, for the Gentle Giant bore the name John of Scott, “but you’re just not fast enough”.
And so John the Gentle Giant would train even harder, pushing himself to become the fastest he could possibly be but still when the time came for the draft the King’s men would deny him a place within the league of knights.
“We’re sorry John,” they would say, “but you’re just not a good enough swordsman.”
And so the Gentle Giant would practice his sword fighting day in and day out, never resting for a moment in his pursuit of a place in the King’s guild.
But still the King’s men would find a weakness in John the Gentle Giant’s abilities.
“We’re sorry John, but your shield work just isn’t good enough for the King’s guild.”
And so it would go, year after year and draft after draft until the Gentle Giant almost gave up hope. Being a knight was his dream but he began to doubt if he would ever be good enough. But the Gentle Giant’s wife would take him in her arms and say to him, “Do not listen to the King’s men, my love, for you have a pure heart and no matter what I will always be proud of you.” And so the Gentle Giant kept training, never giving up hope that one day he would become a knight.
And then an old man who had spent many a summers and winters attending to the knights of the King’s guild passed through the village in which the Gentle Giant was helping the villagers fight off a pack of thieves that had come from up the rivers, and he saw how the Gentle Giant fought with sword and shield and protected the villagers and so the old man said to him.
“John, if you want to become a knight this is what you must do – you must show the King’s men that you are a protector and you must always give all your strength to protect your fellow knights.”
The next summer, just as the June blossoms began to bloom, the draft was once again, and this time the Gentle Giant thought about what the old man had told him and he gave all his strength not to simply defeat the enemies, but also to protect the hopeful young men wishing to become knight and the King’s men said to him.
“We’re happy John,” they cheered, “for now you have found your strength and we will let you join the King’s guild. But remember,” they added in a cold voice, “you may be a knight now but your job is not to impress the ladies of the court or to excite the young men to enter the draft, that is for the real knights.”
But John the Gentle Giant did not care for impressing the ladies of the court or exciting the young men for the draft, he cared only about being the best knight he could possibly be and to make his wife and their two young daughters proud.
And so the Gentle Giant travelled all around the kingdom from the Wild Midwest, where they were really quite nice, to the Windy City that really was windy, to the Big Apple Range and the Buffalo fields in the east and to the shark lands in the west.
Everywhere the Gentle Giant went he impressed his fellow knights with his pure hear, his gentle smile and his willingness to protect them in and out of battle. He was truly most beloved by all who knew him.
The Gentle Giant never asked for more than he deserved and he was simply happy to be a knight and to make his wife and their children proud.
One day, while the Gentle Giant was staying in the land of the Coyotes, by the edge of the pacific corner of the kingdom, word came of the King’s proclamation: Each of the kingdom’s four corners was to choose a knight to represent them in a friendly battle between the knights in the King’s guild. The winning knights would be awarded a casket of gold and the greatest knight in the tournament a brand new carriage.
The Gentle Giant did not even imagine he would get to go to such a skilful battle, for he was an average swordsman at best and equally mediocre with a shield. But what the Gentle Giant did not know was that the people of the Pacific had noticed how he never asked for anything, how he was always willing to protect not only his fellow knights but the common people too and how his heart was as pure as glass.
And so it came to be that the people of the Pacific chose John the Gentle Giant to represent them in the King’s Game.
This infuriated the King who had intended the games to be a display of the best of all his knights, the most skilful and the most famous of them all from the whole of the kingdom. And so the King attempted to have the Gentle Giant sent into exile in the coldest and darkest corner of the kingdom, way up north on the most deserted island.
But people all over the kingdom were enraged and they rallied, protesting the King’s evil plan to keep the Gentle Giant out of the game and in protest they threatened to rebel against the King and not attend the game at all if John the Gentle Giant would not be permitted to participate.
And so the King agreed that the Gentle Giant could attend the game as leader of the Pacific, but he had it announced in all the papers that the Gentle Giant would be a great disadvantage to the Pacific knights, for John was too slow and too unskilled in sword fighting to ever stand his own in a fight against the greatest knights in the kingdom. That John attending would only bring shame to his wife and daughters.
But John did not care about the King’s ugly taunts and neither did the people for they travelled to the game and the festival held around it, all the way to the Music City. And when they got there they bought all of the armour bearing the Gentle Giant’s name, for they knew that the Gentle Giant had the purest heart and deserved their love and support more than any other knight at the festival.
And the Gentle Giant brought his wife and daughters to the Music City for the celebrations and they were all welcomed with cheers from the crowds and the other knights and no one questioned the Gentle Giant’s presence at the festival for they all knew he deserved to be there just as much – if not more – as all the other knights.
And John the Gentle Giant led the pacific team through the many trials at the games, from tests of precision and speed to tests of strength and creativity and all the while the crowds would cheer whenever John stepped into the arena.
On the day of the final game John the Gentle Giant did not expect much, even though his fellow knights from the Pacific and promised him they would help him to defeat at least one dragon, so when the Gentle Giant defeated not one but two dragons both he and the crowds were joyous, and the eyes of John’s wife and daughters were full of pride as they watched their beloved husband and father lifted on the shoulders of his fellow knights.
The Gentle Giant had led his fellow knights of the Pacific to victory and the people were cheering his name demanding the King acknowledge John, and as much as the King hated to do it he could not deny his people.
And so it came to be that John the Gentle Giant, with the purest heart of any knight to ever live, became John the Gentle Giant, the greatest knight in the entire kingdom.