I spent a wet sleepless night in the jungle, starting at every noise. Finally the “rosy fingers of dawn” began to creep across the sky. I was hungry, wet, and tired (though I entertained no hope of falling asleep today anymore than I did last night.) My spirits had sunk to the lowest possible depths of despair that it is possible for a human to experience. With just one other person with me and I could have stood my situation. With a comrade, one could at least don the façade of bravery.  There was, of course, no one but the surrounding noises of the jungle about me and I confess to sitting down and crying like a child. Finally, in the attempt to pull myself together I resolved to find any comrades of mine that may have escaped the giant woman of yesterday. With a goal in mind, I set off in somewhat improved spirits.

It was two days later, with no sign of friend or enemy but my constant companion; Despair. All of a sudden, I came across what appeared to be a campsite. The fire pit was lined with fresh coals and I found human tracks leading away from the camp. I followed these tracks as quickly as possible, without loosing the trail, and eventually came to three men.

I was overjoyed and had to suppress the emotion welling up within me. I swiftly introduced myself to the three men. They for their part, were quite pleased if not a bit surprised to see me. I politely introduced that I was a whaler from New Bedford and my entire crew had been lost in the duel traditions of a storm and a giantess.

‘My dear man, my name is Professor Carter from the University of Oxford. My esteemed associate is Professor Blake from your countries Harvard University. This gentlemen to the right of us is Major John Weatherford, retired but explorer of New South Wales (Australia). We are on an expedition of Science to study the great giantesses of this as of yet unexplored island of which I have reason to believe acutally exist! This news of yours is quite distressing. If such is the case we must make haste to the campsite of the giantess. We know where she resides and were in truth making our way there at this very moment! Let us hurry before it is too late!”

Professor Blake scoffed loudly.

We had made our way through the underbrush and just reached a peak of a large hill which we had been scaling for the better part of an hour. Being the only sailor present, I was chosen to shimmy up a tree to see if I could spy traces of the woman anywhere. 

Upon breaking through the canopy I was afforded a view of the surrounding area. We seemed to be on the transition zone of two distinctly different sections of the island. At a distance that I made to be about two miles, I could observe a forest trees that surely must have reached Heaven itself. They made the one on which I was so precariously swaying look like a blade of grass. This humungous spectacle rose from the normal sized forest in which I and my companions were now in. I had to steady myself before I could face the climb back down and tell my new friends of the news.

“-completely incorrect in thinking that I might believe tomfoolery! It is not within the spectrum of scientific minds to simply accept a statement without physical evidence to support such declarations!” Professor Blake’s voice reached me as I was nearing the end of my decent of the tree.

“Is that so sir?” came the voice of Professor Carter. “We have heard a first hand account of a young gentlemen of whom none of us have prier acquaintance! He attributes his misfortune at being lost in the jungle to the barbarous acts of a crazed female human chose to consume his shipmates alive! His very presence in this jungle is physical proof of the woman’s existence.”

“Fiddlesticks! He is a sailor! If we are to believe sailors then the ocean is full of giant snakes with wings and woman with the tails of fish! He is unknown to the three of us, this I grant you Professor Carter, but that does not mean he or his story is trustworthy.”

I landed next to the three men a moment later.

“My dear boy,” said Professor Blake turning to me with the air of an educator rounding upon a particularly disruptive pupil. “I do not believe your story of Giantesses any more than I do Professor Carter’s. I hope you can understand that my doubts stem from a carefully trained scientific suspicion which has nothing to do with my underscoring feeling towards you as a person. No doubt you could have believed that you saw a giant woman when what actually occurred was an uncommon although highly explainable circumstance. It is towards Professor Carter’s unyielding display of unprofessional behavior that my antipathy is directed.”

Right then the ground began to rumble and not five seconds later, a giantess, different to the one I had encountered before, walked by us. In the way of garments, she was wearing as little as the first giantess I had seen, and her body moved with a beautiful rhythm that is either not present or not visible in the heavily clothed woman of New Bedford. In her hands was a wicker box which looked full of sailors. She did not look down or indicate her awareness of us but maintained her present course and soon the impact of her footprints melted into the distance.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Finally Professor Blake spoke.

“Professor Blake, I owe you an apology sir. I have acted and spoken as an amateur and without the proper open mind that is the mark of a true scientist. I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me.”

The two men shook hands and began discussing feelings of mutual respect and understanding of each others positions up to this moment.

“Yes, yes. This is all very well and good gentlemen but did you not see that basket she had with her?” Interjected Weatherford, breaking the spell of congeniality that had entered into the atmosphere. “She’s captured people and if she is like the one that our friend Mr. Sharpp here saw she is fixing them for her evening meal as we speak!”

“Our friend Major Weatherford is correct!” stated Professor Carter. “While Professor Blake and I were busy dribbling about our reputations we had wrongly lost sight of the more important task at hand. This being the rescue of those poor men. We shall make haste at once!”

We reached the site of the giantess at twilight. It seemed much darker as the giant trees above us blocked out so much light. We were now amid the huge flora that made even flowers loom over us.

We hid behind gargantuan blades of grass as we looked out onto the campsite.  The basket of men was beside her. We watched as she brought a man forth from it and spoke to him quietly before devouring him. There was a stunned silence between the four of us.

“Gentlemen we must make a resume of our resources,” Said Professor Carter purposefully.

“We have a sense of purpose; to help our fellow man. We have two renowned minds from the most prestigious Universities on either side of the Atlantic. We have the unshakable courage of the United States Navy and the bravery of the Australian Outback. We are also, of yet, undetected by our foe. Now gentlemen, our objective is to release those captives as stealthily as possible. Here is my scheme.  

 He outlined a plan to which Major Weatherford and I made several adjustments but otherwise it was short and simple.

“Look Professor Carter,” interrupted Professor Blake. “She is indeed consuming the unfortunate souls she possesses in captivity.

We looked. She was raising them to her gigantic mouth and purring to them, saying words that we could not overhear before dropping them down her gullet and swallowing. All of us were engrossed at the sight.

“Observe, Professor Carter, how she swallows her victims live. Her origins are deeply embedded in a violent culture no doubt. Perhaps also she possesses in her mind the reverse situation of a vorephillia,” said Professor Blake as if they were in a laboratory looking at a particularly interesting specimen.

“A violent culture certainly!” whispered Professor Carter. “The vorephillia theory I regard with deep suspicion.” (He almost chuckled here.) “She is more likely utilizing a food source that would be unavailable to most creatures. Thus, this is her niche in this environment.”

The two of them argued a few moments more before Major Weatherford insisted that they remain silent out of respect for her victims, to which the learned men begrudgingly agreed.

 Finally she stopped eating and, appeared to settle down for a nap.

“Our time to strike must be now!” I insisted. “Before she eats any more people!”

“I agree with our friend Mr. Sharpp,” said Professor Blake. “With a full and satisfied belly the giantess has been lulled into a deep comatose state which so often overcomes one after gestation.” 

The other gentlemen were in agreement so we hurriedly set about our plan. We snuck forward, keeping to the undergrowth for natural cover. Fortunately this was easy as blades of grass overshadowed us with ease. Swiftly and silently we made our way to the basket that imprisoned our objective.

As I was by far the strongest of the group I was given the job of moving the wicker latticework so its occupants could escape. The professors would assist me while Major Weatherford, who was unquestionably the best shot and bravest of all of us, would cover us with a long range rifle.

 I ran forward with the pickax that Major Weatherford had given me and inserted it into the gap between the wicker weavings that were so thick they might have been made of steel. I then braced myself and heaved for all it was worth while the two learned men secured ropes in the gap held open by my handy work. Then they made haste to secure the ropes to another part of the wicker with a knot that I had shown them and made them practice before hand. Unfortunately, Professor Carter was somewhat sluggish in tying the knot and, unable to bear the strain any longer, the wooden handle of my pickax broke in my hand. The metal head of the ax cut through the rope Professor Blake had secured and just like that, our plan was thwarted.

“Quick,” hissed Major Weatherford, his bearing of one who has seen death bearing down on him. “She has awoken. It was that loud crack of the pickax that did it. Make for the brush!”

It was far too late. I looked back at the faces of the men I had intended to rescue.

“Don’t leave,” pleaded a boy no older than twelve from within.” I quickly tried to pull on Professor Carter’s untied line but with little affect. I noticed that two of my three companions were sprinting for the undergrowth. The scrawny Professor Blake held a commanding lead with the hefty Professor Carter bringing up the rear, his great huffs and puffs audible  to me even from the great distance that separated us.

“Quick lad,” shouted the Major, “Run for it. You can’t help them now. All you can do is escape yourself.”

He himself was taking aim with his rifle as the giantess eyed us and began to stir. Even when she bore down upon him he did not move to escape. I do not know if this was because he thought he could discourage her with a shot but I think it more probable that he assumed escape impossible and was simply making a stand.

His gunshots echoed throughout the camp but the giantess didn’t even blink. They clearly didn’t harm her in the least. She raised her foot high and brought it down on Major Weatherford. Then with a glance at me she pursued the two fleeing scientists.

Quickly making them, with her back turned to me she ate them. I think Professor Carter was first. Then with a swallowing motion she loaded Professor Blake into her mouth and another gulping sound was heard.   

Returning to the campsite, her eyes fell on me again. I was frozen in mid tug as I was still trying to open the latticework of wicker bars that held the trapped sailors. She quickly swept me up and I suddenly had a good idea of what it would be like to be a bug in someone’s hand.

I saw her reach out and break the line I had been pulling like a bit of string. It was very disconcerting to have seen all three of my comrades killed so quickly and brutally and now I suspected that I would be added to the basket or the belly of this woman.   

“You speak English?” she said looking at me squirming in her palm.

“Err… err...”

“You are English?”

“Err… Yes. That is to say no. I am American. I am from the United States.”

“Do you have a name?”

“Edward Sharpp is my name.”

“Well Edward Sharpp, do you know why I have not eaten or crushed you?”

“Uh… no.” I was worried that she might suddenly change her mind or that she might be leading up to something even more baleful.

“Because you did not flee like the other two and you did not fire upon me like the first man. I really shouldn’t have crushed him. He seemed quite a bit fitter than those two I ate. My friends would have loved him.” She glanced somewhat regretfully at the crushed body of Major Weatherford. “You were the only one who kept trying to save the people in the basket. That is why you are still alive.”

“But Major Weatherford stayed to cover our retreat!” I spluttered. 

“He shot at me!” she said looking furious and for a moment I think she contemplated ending my life but then her expression softened.

“I admired your steadfast will that kept you pulling on that tiny bit of yarn trying to open up a gap for my food to escape. It was daring and I admire audacious spirit. Perhaps we could become better acquainted.”

I wasn’t sure about this. After all she had just crushed one of my friends and eaten two others. But what choice did I have?

“Err… Are you going to eat me?”

“I don’t think so. I bet that we get along and become great friends.”

So there it stood. My survival now relied upon maintaining cordial relations with a giant woman who ate people for lunch. Of all the possible situations to find oneself in I must admit I never would have conceived of such a bizarre happenstance.