Erik wanted so much to flee but the look in the giantess’s clear blue eyes stopped him.  Sadness filled her fair face.  Erik forgot for a moment that the creature before him made him look the size of a newborn babe or that he barely came to her knees in height.  All Erik could see was a fair and beautiful maiden with sad and hurt eyes.

“I am sorry fair maiden for crossing your path,” Erik said nervously with a bow.  Marta blushed and shyly turned away.  She was tongue tied and shy.  She hadn’t spoken to a stranger before.  Erik smiled up at the shy creature.  He found it odd that the giantess seemed so shy but was also slightly amused by this at the same time.  “Does the lady not speak?”  Erik then said, looking up at the fair creature.

“I-I-It is quite alright, kind sir,” Marta said shyly, trying to avoid the man’s gaze.

“I must be on my way,” Erik said with a warm smile as he began to walk away.

“Wait,” Marta said quietly.

“So the lady has an extensive vocabulary,” Erik mused as he turned to the giantess.  Marta giggled.  “What is it you want, fair lady?”  Erik asked the giantess.

“Why are you not afraid?”

“Afraid of what?  A lady?”  Erik asked as he looked up into those sad eyes.

“I am not a lady.  I am not even as you are.  I am much too different,” Marta said as tears started to fill her eyes.

“I see a very tall and very fair lady, nothing more.  If you do not wish to be a lady then I guess that is your choice,” Erik said, giving her a kind smile.  “But I see a lady and no can tell me otherwise, not even the lady in question.”

Marta smiled for the first time in a long time.  The little man didn’t treat her like a monster but as another person.

“W-W-What is your name?” Marta shyly asked.  “I want to know the name of the man trying to get in my good graces.”

Erik let out a hearty laugh as the giantess blushes.  “Erik the Smith,” Erik said with a graceful bow.  “I can think no other graces to be in with a maiden such as yourself.  Do you have a name, fair one?”

“Marta,” was all she could manage to say.

“Marta, as in the carpenter’s daughter?” Erik asked with a stunned look upon his face.

“Aye,” was all she could say.

“I know the carpenter Ansel well, my fair one.  I befriended him a few years back when I moved to this fine place from the palace.  Ansel spoke of the children he lost so many years ago.  He used to search the woods.  It wasn’t until Gerta fell ill that he decided to take a journey.  He knew in his heart that you and your brother were still alive.  How did you grow to such great size?” Erik asked Marta with a kindness in his intense eyes.

Marta felt comfortable enough to put down her belongings on the ground and sit down next to the small man that had treated her so kindly.  Marta was still shy but she felt she could trust a friend of her father’s.  Even sitting Marta made Erik look small.  Her long blond braid that Erik could use as a rope coiled next to her.  Erik couldn’t believe that a being so large could look so delicate and fragile.

“Jakob and I ran away from home when food became scarce.  Momma and papa refused to eat until Jakob and I have eaten.  We couldn’t bear to see our parents struggle any longer.  We ran until we were lost in The Black Forest.  Of course momma had told Jakob and me the tales but we thought it was like any other forest.  We stayed there and built a cabin.  We were never fully aware of what was taking place until I found papa…” Marta couldn’t say anymore, a large tear fell from her crystal blue eyes.

“So the forest turned you and your brother into giants?  Can’t a wizard or a witch turn you back?” Erik asked the weeping giantess.

“Nay, Jakob and I have been spoiled by The Black Forest.  That is what the witch in the rainbow house told us.  She did save papa though but she couldn’t fully change him back,” Marta said to the little man standing before her.

“That is a shame, fair one.  If it’s all the same, you have grown into a beauty,” Erik said, trying his best to cheer the weeping giantess.

Marta looked at the little man with a sad small smile on her face.  Marta still couldn’t believe that this man would treat her so kindly.  Erik reached up and patted her large slender hand.  Marta took that same hand and touches him delicately with her long slender fingers.  Erik let her knowing the giantess’s curiosity of him.

“You are so small,” she whispered.  “I don’t ever remember being small.”

Erik smiled as she touched his face and hair.  Meeting a stranger was a new experience for Marta, let alone a stranger as kind and gentle as Erik.  Erik reached up and grabbed her index finger.

“You are so big.  I don’t think I’ll ever be as big as you,” Erik said with a warm smile.  Marta blushed and giggled.  There was something about Erik that made Marta’s stomach flutter.  Of course he was handsome but there was a sadness to him that made Marta wanted so much to pick him up and embrace him.  Marta restrained herself and let the little man hold her finger as if it were a hand.  He kissed her fingernail as if it were her hand.  Marta blushed again.

“I should be on my way, fair lady,” Erik said looking up at the sitting giantess.  Her eyes didn’t seem as sad anymore.  She gave him a smile that made his heart soar.  The giantess was like no other woman he had seen since the death of his wife.  “Will I see you again?” Erik then decided to ask.

“Y-Y-You want to see me again?” the giantess asked in a disbelieving tone.

“Only if you want me to, fair one,” Erik said with a warm smile.

“I am staying in my father’s old barn with my brother.  I can only come out at night.  Papa is afraid we will frighten people and he does not want giant killers after us,” Marta said.

“Understandable, fair one.  His heart would break if he were to lose you again,” Erik said as he looked up into the two pools of Marta’s eyes.

“Jakob and I cannot take the sunlight too well.  Living in the forest we have adapted to the dark shade of the trees.  Sunlight hurts our eyes and can blister our skin if we are out in it too long.  That is another reason I can only come out at night.  I guess we can meet here?” Marta said as she looked into his intense eyes.

“I guess we can, fair one.  I would like to get to know you and your secrets are safe with me,” Erik said warmly.  Marta and Erik said their farewells.  Marta watched as the small man walked away and sighed…

Ansel woke up that morning to the smell of the hearth and an empty bed.  Gerta had been well enough to stand on her own.  Ansel smiled when he saw the small blond woman busily stirring a pot. 

Ansel sneaked up from behind her and wrapped his longer than average arms around his wife and kissed her cheek.  Gerta squealed in delight as her very strong husband lifted her off the ground.

“Good morning my husband,” Gerta managed to say once Ansel put her back down.  Gerta weighed as light as a feather to Ansel.  Ansel studied his wife’s youthful face and golden locks.  Then Ansel realized just how much The Black Forest had changed him when he noticed Gerta stood lower than his chest.  Gerta didn’t seem to mind as she threw her arms around his narrow waist.  “I am well enough to see my children,” Gerta then said.

“So you are,” Ansel responded…