Gerta stirred awake with Ansel sitting beside the bed in a too small chair.  Ansel knew that Gerta would be awake soon and decided to be there for when she arose.

Gerta blinked and wiped the sleep from her eyes.  Ansel took her hand and it felt right to him.  Exactly the size it once was to him.

“Have I been dreaming?” Gerta asked and yawned. 

“Nay my dear wife, this is not a dream,” Ansel quietly answered.

“You feel like you use to,” Gerta said as she let Ansel hold her hand.  Then as Gerta woke up, she felt that her head was up against the headboard and her feet hit the footboard despite her body being curled up.  Ansel feed her a blue liquid from a glass vile.  Gerta tasted the sweet and bitter on her tongue.

“You are as I am, Gerta,” Ansel said after giving his wife the potion.  “I have been working on the doorframes till I knew you would wake.”

“I am bigger,” Gerta muttered, afraid to leave the bed.

“Aye, but there is nothing to fear, you are through growing.  The elixir will keep you as I,” Ansel said with a gentle smile and kissed Gerta’s hand.

“But Ansel, if I am as you are.  I am bigger than even all the men in the village,” Gerta said with fear in her eyes.

“Not all, not your husband.  We are now both younger and stronger.  I would love it if my wife stood up,” Ansel said as he stroked Gerta’s hair.  Gerta did as her husband asked.  As she pulled the covers back, she noticed that her body seemed thinner under the lose nightgown.  She also noticed that the hem of her nightgown came well above her knees.  Gerta was a very modest woman and felt embarrassed.  As she sat up on the edge of the bed, her legs seem much, much longer than before her nap and the bed felt as if it was on the floor but it wasn’t.  Ansel then helped his wife stand.  Gerta only had to look slightly up at her husband.

“Oh Ansel,” Gerta said as she wrapped her arms around Ansel.  It felt like she had her husband back.  Then Gerta looked around the room and the small furnishings and the small dresses that she could have easily fit into at one time.  Gerta knew that her life is going to be different now.  The world had just gotten much smaller to her.

Gerta looked up and reached for a ceiling beam that she could now easily touch with her arm still cocked.  The chairs and table were now way too small for her new giantess frame.  She watched Ansel struggle in the past week to make himself comfortable in a chair or on the bed.  She picked up one of her dresses that she disregarded earlier and could see just how child size it was.

“I have nothing to wear,” Gerta said sadly as she picked up a small shoe.

“Aye, you do.  Our lovely daughter has made new garments for the both of us,” Ansel said and Gerta then noticed the fresh tunic and pants her husband wore.  Ansel then produced a simple cotton dress.  It was of a simple natural material that hadn’t been dipped in any dye.  “She guesses on the size so it may be a little loose,” Ansel said and Gerta kissed his cheek and took the dress from his hands, grateful to have at least one garment to wear.

Ansel made himself some wooden clogs to wear till he could get his boots.  He had made himself two pairs.  He let Gerta wear the other pair that were still a little too big on her feet but she didn’t mind so as long as she had shoes.

Gerta stood at the doorway of their bedroom for a moment.  She was only a few inches shorter than her husband now and she stood slightly taller than the frame.  Ansel let out a laugh.

“We have nearly outgrown our home my wife, I am fixing this problem.  The house is still good but the doors are a little too small for us now,” Ansel said with a smile.

“So are our furniture and our garments.  I think we should make all new and give our old belongings to the poor,” Gerta said as she looked around and remembered a time when her and Ansel had nothing but a small amount of food to feed their children.  Ansel and Gerta have lived a more prosperous life since Ansel started working with the old royal blacksmith.  “But we will require more now since we are almost twice our old sizes,” Gerta said with sad eyes.

“Aye my wife, but we are also much stronger and can work twice as hard as we could before.  We will still prosper.  Giving our old belongings to the poor is a wonderful idea,” Ansel said as he took Gerta’s hand and kissed it.  Gerta smiled.  She was curious of the world outside their small house.

“Come with me, Gerta.  To the cobbler where I shall buy you a new pair of shoes fit for a lady.  We must go before he closes shop.  My new boots should be ready,” Ansel said as he took Gerta’s hand and she follows ducking her way through the small doorframes.

Gerta felt eyes upon her as they walked through the village.  Some of the men barely stood to her shoulder in height and those were the big men of the village.  Woman talked and kids stared at the two small giants walking through the village.

“Enchantment, that is what I heard,” Gerta picked up on one woman telling another.

“They are so monstrous,” one told another.

“The carpenter and his wife?” others whispered.  Gerta tried to make herself look small but she couldn’t no matter how hard she tried.

“Ignore them, my wife.  Let them say what they like.  Stand tall and be proud of who you are,” Ansel whispered in Gerta’s ear.  Gerta did stand tall and the men of the village glared at the very tall woman but Gerta didn’t care, she had the love of her husband.

“Gerta?” said a familiar voice.  It was Erik.  Erik approached the carpenter and his wife.  Gerta looked down at the tall and proud blacksmith and smiled.  “Glad to see that you are well now,” Erik then said, returning the smile and giving her a playful wink.  Erik knew their secret unlike the rest of the village.

“Erik,” said a petite blond woman holding a three year old tot with curls. “Where on earth are you running off to,” the woman scolded.  She then looked up at Ansel and Gerta with her mouth agape.  Erik let out a laugh.

“I was just saying hello to our friends, Marie,” Erik said with a laugh.

“Ansel and Gerta?  Is that really you?  You look young and… bigger,” said Marie.

“It is us,” Ansel simply answered.

“I heard that a witch enchanted you but…I simply could not believe it,” Marie said in wide eyed shock.  Marie looked like a child standing near Ansel and Gerta.  She barely came as high as both their chest.

“Partially true, the witch cured me,” Gerta said looking down at her friend.  The tot smiled up at the two giants.

“Big people,” said the curly haired tot known as Elisa.  Gerta felt monstrous as the tot stared at her.  “Big people,” little Elisa repeated with glee.  Gerta looked down at her hands and back to little Elisa.  Her one hand probably covers half the tot’s body.  “Gerta pretty,” Elisa finally said and smiled up at the very tall woman.  Gerta smiled at the little girl.

“I am taking Gerta to the cobbler.  She is in need of some shoes,” Ansel said as he took Gerta’s hand.  Erik and Marie wished the carpenter and his wife a good day and went along their separate ways.

The cobbler was a small and gentle man named John.  John looked on in shock as Ansel the carpenter ducked through his door one day looking for new boots.  John the cobbler of course had no boots to fit the man and so he took Ansel’s measurements and crafted the finest pair of boots around.  He had just finished the last stitch when he heard the bell ring.  John looked up to see the large man enter his shop but nothing prepared him for the large woman following the carpenter.  She too had to duck before entering the cobbler’s shop.

The woman was fair and willowy.  Golden wavy locks trailed down her back and eyes that sparkled like emeralds.  John had never seen a creature quite like her.  She stood only a few inches shorter than the carpenter.  Both nearly took up John’s shop as they entered.

“A-A-Ansel, I have just finished your boots,” John managed to say, somewhat afraid of the two giants in his shop.  He watched as the woman picked up a shoe and frown.

“Good, I would also like to get some shoes made for Gerta,” Ansel said and John eyes immediately shot to the very tall woman.

“Gerta?” John managed to say as the woman looked down at him.  Just as with Maria, John barely stood as tall as both their chest.  Gerta gave him a smile.

“The finest shoes there are.  Money is no object,” Ansel said.

“Of course,” John answered.  He looked down at her feet in the big wooden clogs.  “I will have to make them just as did your boots, Ansel.  I am afraid I have never made shoes so big for a lady.  I will have to get your new measurements, Gerta,” John said, looking up at the small giantess.

Gerta sat down in a chair that was much too small for her lofty frame.  She removed the large wooden clogs to reveal that her feet were much smaller without the clogs.  John got down on his knees with his tape measure.

“I have not even made men’s shoes as large as your foot size, dear, except for Ansel’s boots.  Your feet fit your size, Gerta,” John said as he kept taking measurements admiring the perfect feet in front of him.

“How long will it take to make the shoes?” Gerta asked.

“Not as long as a pair of boots.  I’d say a couple of weeks.  I promise that they will be fit for a lady,” John said as Gerta stood up and put her clogs back on.

Ansel paid for his boots but noticed that John charged him less than what he did for an ordinary pair of shoes.  That was when Ansel realized that the village seemed afraid of him and his towering size.  Ansel gave John double and told him to keep it and took his lovely wife back home.  They both walked in strides that an ordinary man couldn’t keep up with as they tried to distance themselves from the village and back to their quiet home.  If the villagers reacted to Ansel and Gerta’s size in such a way, imagine if Marta and Jakob went into the village.