A dUeL bEtWeEn A oNe FoOt DwArF aNd A tHoUsAnD fEeT giAnT
There used to be around 500 dwarves living in a forest called Dwarf-land which was deep inside a jungle. They were about one foot each in their heights. They lived in Dwarf-land around a lake called Dwarf-lake which they loved very much.
This was a very dense forest and therefore nobody entered it for fear of getting hunted by wild animals which were none, except some herbivores there which the Dwarves knew and never told to anybody. It was a secret. In that forest they felt a sense of safety and happiness and enjoyed their life to the fullest. They used to drink home-made beers and hunt herbivores which were plenty as there was no hunter other than them to hunt them. They used to play games and love it there. It was like heaven for them. There never would be any quarrel amongst them because everything was available in plenty amongst them and if anybody loses something or other or it gets taken by and used by their friend dwarf mistakingly they could always make new of the same thing or better. They had no leader as they never needed one for they were never at war and always at peace.
Once, the dwarves were sitting and enjoying their life and thinking how they never have had any trouble at all in their lives ever.
Suddenly they heard ground shaking which was something new for them and they did not knew what to make of it. They thought that the shaking was a ride which was being given to them by the forest land and so they should sit calmly and just enjoy it. But suddenly they saw a huge giant measuring about 1000 feet come. He roared at them and said that he was the strongest person there is and that now he has decided to live on their property which they called the Dwarf-Land and that too near the lake. Thus they would have to vacate to the lake and forest area as it belonged to him now.
The dwarves were shocked to hear this. How could they leave their home and dreamland? They thought that they could move to other part of the forest and live there but the giant who was a threat now to them and their family wanted them to leave the entire forest completely. The Dwarves began to worry and thought where could they go and how would they survive at any other place.
But there was a dwarf named Bravo who was listening to all this and was not intimidated by the threats of the giant. After the giant had finished talking he came forward and asked him that was he really the mightiest of all? The giant replied in a heavy and loud voice and said “ Yes “. But he laughed at the giant and told him that that was impossible and told that he was only big in size and not the mightiest. The dwarf then told the giant he instead of him was the mightiest of all and can beat him any time.
Hearing that the thousand feet tall giant laughed to his hearts content. He told him that if he wanted to check who is the mightiest of all he can do it any time wherever he wanted and whenever he wanted.
So Bravo put a bet on it and told him that they will have a duel and whoever wins the duel will live in Dwarf-land and the other-kind will have to go. The giant without thinking much about it said “yes” right away.
Now Bravo told him “Give me 3 days time and I will tell you what kind of duel we’ll have and the one who wins all of the duel matches wins and will do as decided.
The giant said “Okay”. He said “we’ll meet at the end of the forest on its east side at dawn of the third day from now. That day you can tell me what kind of duel he wanted”. He also warned him that the dwarf should know that if he loses, he and all the dwarfs living in the Dwarf-land will have to leave the forest forever and could never return there ever”. Bravo confirmed it and said “ Yes ”.
The giant left shaking the earth and dwarfs who were there did not enjoy it this time.
As soon as the giant was out of sight all the dwarfs ran towards Bravo who had challenged the giant and asked “ How was he supposed to win over the 1000 feet giant? Bravo told them “ I don’t know that yet but we can’t leave this place so I have to defeat him with all means and might “ . But the dwarfs said how is it possible to beat somebody who is 1000 times their height and maybe 10000 times their weight. Bravo told them that he had faith in himself and he will defeat the giant somehow. Then he went near a tree which was besides the lake. After pondering around it he started moving in circles around the lake and the tree simultaneously. He circled the tree and the lake all night and the other elves who were sleeping did not know what the dwarf was doing and therefore slept all night long. ( They were sleepy and had nothing else to do ) (you know how dwarves are.)
Now while circling around the tree and lake the whole night he devised a plan. The morning when all the dwarves woke up he told them that there is nothing to worry about and they will not have to leave this place and that he/they will win definitely.
Bravo was calm too at that time so the remaining two days he slept too .
The third day came and since he had to reach the East end of forest and the forest was pretty big he started his journey the night before. At dawn of the next day he was at their meeting point and earlier than the giant’s arrival time. The giant was a bit late as he was sleeping with no worries and therefore the time he woke up delayed his arrival. So finally, when the giant came the dwarf felt the earth shaking again but he enjoyed it this time.
Now the giant came and in a loud voice asked “what is the challenge?”
Bravo told him that they will have 5 types of matches and the dwarf has to win all of them to stay at his current land and the giant agreed.
The challenges were :
-
RACE : This challenge was simple. In this challenge they had to begin from one point called the starting line and one who was the first to reach the finishing line which was common for both of them would win the first duel.
The giant agreed to it.
B) HURDLE RACE : In this challenge the giant and Bravo had to jump obstacles 1000 feet high without breaking them or making them fall. For this they had to begin from a common starting point and whoever reaches the finish line first after making the least of the hurdles or obstacles fall would be the winner for this race.
The giant agreed to it too.
C) FURTHEST THROW : In this duel the person who throws the ball weighing a kilo farthest will win the duel.
The giant agreed to it without any hesitation again.
D) FASTEST SWIMMER : The fourth of the challenge was a swimming race. So in this also they would begin from a single starting point and whoever reaches the finish line first by swimming would win.
This time also the giant agreed to the challenge.
E) TREE BREAKER : The fifth and last of them was tree breaker. In this challenges whoever breaks 50,000 trees first will win the competition.
The giant liked it and said okay to it too.
Now, the giant asked when to start.
Bravo told him “give me the time of one revolution of Earth and then we will meet at this point again and start our duel”.
The Giant said “ Won’t that be too long?”
Bravo told him that if he was brave and strong why does he worry?
The giant told him “ I don’t worry but am in a hurry and want to live in the Dwarf-land as soon as I can as I have no place to live “.
Bravo told him that time of one revolution of Earth should be not too long for him”.
Then he said in a loud voice “ OK”.
The dwarf then went back to Dwarf-Land and did not tell anybody anything as he did not wanted the dwarves to worry. Although the dwarves would still sleep quietly during their worry but he was cautious not to cause more despair to them.
Dwarf had already thought about how he will practice for the challenges, when he was circling the tree. So, he practiced as below,
RUNNING PRACTICE : Now the dwarfs are pretty fast, quick and agile creatures but he still had to be more fast than normal.
Why he had though that he could win this challenge was because he had seen that, an ant which is smaller than a human could beat him in walking. Then why can’t bravo who is also of similar height comparison to the giant can defeat the rude giant?
So he began his training keeping this in mind.
There was a steep mountain slope near his home and also there was a lake on top of it. What he did was, he went to the top of the mountain and dug a trench from river to the end of the slope of the mountain so that all water that was in the lake falls on the slope and makes the mud on the slope behave as quick sand. He then cut a tree and tied it to the back of his body by means of a rope which he would be dragging along with him on the ground when he moves forward.
Now he put a wrist sun dial on and daily sprinted to the top of mountain on the quicksand like puddle path with a tree tied to his back.
On the first day it was nearly impossible. It was tough, he could barely walk to top of the mountain with the tree being dragged by him but he kept on trying it and doing it as he did not wanted to loose the duel.
During the first days, his feet developed blisters out of excessive workout whilst climbing the slope and dragging a tree behind his back.
But after weeks of dragging and walking daily to the top of mountain his body started becoming used to it and became strong. His running pace started increasing. He monitored it daily on his sun-dial until he became so fast that instead of climbing the slope of mountain once a day he could do it 100 times a day which was satisfying. He then relaxed for a day and went to practice for the next duel.
HURDLES PRACTICE : Now to jump 1000 feet by himself it was nearly impossible for him, So he started working on his plan.
He built big water mills on a river nearby the hurdle race area( just to understand water mills are like wind mills except water mills run by flowing river). Then he choose obstacles, which were 1000 feet tall trees and dug mud in front of them. He then attached blower fans in them and put a soiled wooden grass mesh over them to cover them.
Now by means of shafts and gears he attached the water mills to the blower fans. He also attached a gear system to it. Now, with the help of gear system he was able to run the blower fans faster.
He then turned the system on by releasing a clutch that connected the gears. Then he jumped on the top of the meshes to check. The air blowing through the blower fans threw him high above. He was thrown to a height of more than 1000 feet. This much height was sufficient for him to clear the obstacles.
He was satisfied with the system that he had developed and his speed was already up to the mark. Now he could also clear the obstacles with that speed.
FURTHEST THROW PRACTICE : He already knew that it was impossible to throw further than the giant no matter what he did. So he made a machine to do that. He made a contraption that had a log of wood attached to it which was to function as a bat. The log of wood was attached to a high platform through a system of gears. The system was such that when the platform was lowered the log of wood which was parallel to the ground started moving back and forth at very high speeds. This system was capable of converting up and down motion of platform to high speed back and forth motion of the log of wood which was functioning as a bat.
SWIMMING PRACTICE : As far as swimming was concerned he did not practice much of it. He knew that he was a good swimmer and because he had already developed his speed on ground and had gained strength in his legs which was useful for swimming he was okay with it. Secondly he also had a trick up his sleeve.
TREE FALLING PRACTICE : Now the dwarf knew that making the tree falls faster than that of the giant was impossible howsoever fast he was. So he put his plan into action once again. He brought a big cauldron and put water and many other powerful ingredient to make a very powerful acid. The acid was so powerful that one drop of it was sufficient to soften any tree.
Now to handle the acid he made a steel sprinkler. He kept the acid and the sprinkler besides the area where the trees falling challenge was going to take place.
Now, the duel began.
RACE : The race was 500 km long. They began with the sound of first bird chirp after they had taken position at starting point.
The dwarf was confident for this challenge and ran like nobody has ever run before. Before the giant could complete half of the race the dwarf already finished it.
The giant was surprised to see the dwarf run so fast and beat him but he said to Bravo that this was only the first duel and the dwarf has to win all the duels to stay at Dwarf-land. Dwarf didn’t say anything at that moment but stayed strong.
HURDLES : Before the start of hurdle race the dwarf went behind a tree where he had attached the clutch. He released it so that the gears of water mill and blower fans get connected and the blower fans start blowing the air at high speeds which were sufficient to throw the dwarf up 1000 feet but were not good to even support the giant who was too heavy for airflow and only felt cold by the movement of air. Now, this did two things. One was that it threw the dwarf at a very high speed to a height of more than 1000 feet and secondly it acted as an air conditioner for the giant and made him sleepy and slow.
So they began the race. The dwarf was fast to finish the race and also he did not break any hurdles (trees). So he won.
FURTHEST THROW : First turn was the giant’s and he was asked to throw the kilo weighing ball. He threw a it to a distance of 5000 metres.
Now it was the dwarfs turn. As explained earlier he had already kept the back and forth moving wood machine which he had built at the site of the challenge.
The Dwarf requested if the giant could jump on the top of the platform with all his might as he wanted to see the performance of a machine while he throws. The giant agreed and jumped on the platform with full might. The platform was strongly made and caused a super high back and forth motion of the log of wood that acted as a bat. The dwarf was standing besides the machine and as soon as he saw that the log of wood has reached its maximum back and forth speed he threw the 1 kg ball towards the log so that it hits it in such a way that is thrown forward. And as he did he saw the ball fly and it crosses 5000m meters mark and landed at 50000 meters and the giant was dumb struck. But the giant said that there ate still more challenges left and the dwarf could not possibly win all of them whatever happens.
SWIMMING : In this challenge they had to swim across a lake 5000km long lake which the giant thought was not a big deal.
Now Bravo requested the giant to carry some food for him because it was a long swim for him and he does not want to starve to death while swimming and the giant asked the dwarf that why he could not carry it himself? The dwarf said that the race is too long and that if he carries food it will be heavy for his body to do swimming and he will drown so the giant foolishly agreed.
Bravo told the giant that whenever he would feel hungry he would call him by shouting and the giant should come and give food (which were all fruits) to him. Giant said okay.
Now the race began and every thousand kilometres Bravo yelled and asked for food. However far the giant was he came back and give him food. Bravo used to eat and then swim. This happened three more times and at fourth time when the giant was about to finish the race he shouted again and the giant came back but this time the dwarf went underwater and did not wait for food and swam for the remaining distance till he reached and crossed the finish line and the giant who had swam back kept on looking for the dwarf but he was nowhere to be found as he had already finished the race.
After the swimming race was over the dwarf went to the giant and told him that he had won this challenge also and the giant was quite upset.
TREE BREAKER : Now before the start of the competition Bravo told the giant to wait one day before they can start making the trees fall.
(To keep a track of 50,000 trees was difficult so to keep on counting them, one set of 50,000 trees were put an orange ribbon and the other set of 50,000 trees were put a purple ribbon. The trees with orange ribbon had to be broken by Bravo and the trees with purple ribbon had to be broken by the giant).
Now, during that one day Bravo picked up the sprinkler. He filled it with acid and sprayed on his set of 50,000 orange ribbon trees.
The other day they started the competition and since the dwarf was a faster runner he travelled distance at a faster pace. Until the giant smashed 50 trees the dwarf already had done breaking 150 because the acid he had sprayed on his portion of trees had taken affect. Bravo just had to pass his axe through them like passing through air and ultimately won.
The giant saw all this and started crying because he wanted to live in the Dwarf-land but could not now because the dwarf - Bravo had won the duel and there was no breaking of the deal.
The dwarf was astonished to see such a big giant cry. Bravo told the giant to stop crying and asked him his name. The giant told him that his name was “Caring”.
The dwarf laughed at what was going on and then he thought for a while and told him that if he really wanted he could live in the Dwarf-land with other dwarves. The giant hearing this stopped crying and asked “ Really? ”. The dwarf said “ Yes ” and the giant picked up Bravo and hugged him and thereafter
the giant made dwarves, his friends and stayed with them forever who enjoyed the shaking of the ground. The giant loved, cared and protected the dwarves forever and so did the dwarves.
The giant and the dwarves lived happily ever after.