Coal Black
Once upon a time there was a girl called Coal Black. Coal Black had dark eyes dark and dark hair and her skin was as Black as coal. Coal Black lived with her stepmother and father who loved her very much in a small town with a few tiny cottages with a small lake in the centre. There was also a large stone house where the chief lived.

Surrounding the town was a dense forest with many animals large and small who lived peacefully. Coal Black lived in the large stone house. She lived there as a servant with her stepmother and father and many other servants. All of the servants had skin as Black as coal.

The chief who lived there too had many servants with skin as Black as coal. He bought and sold the servants as if they were livestock who could be sold or bought to do various jobs. Coal Black had been born in the chief’s house and was being as the chief said “raised to be sold”. She was approaching her sixteenth birthday when she would be sold to some wealthy man to become his wife.

The day before Coal Black’s sixteenth birthday her stepmother came to her and said
“Coal Black tomorrow is your sixteenth birthday and on that day you will be eligible for marriage. I have overheard the chief saying that he is to sell you to a rich prince who will have you as his wife”.

“No! Exclaimed Coal Black in surprise.

“The prince lives in a faraway land and his servants are arriving tomorrow to take you away to the prince’s kingdom,” continued her stepmother.

Coal Black’s stepmother was then called off by the chief to serve him dinner. Coal Black , who did not know what to do, continued with her chores throughout the day while feeling miserable. When night came Coal Black went to the small room that she shared with her parents she was greeted by a short, portly man wearing red and gold robes and a long moustache which he was twirling around his finger. In a loud pompous voice he said:

“Are you Coal Black the most beautiful woman in this house?”
Coal Black was astounded she had never been called beautiful before so all she could muster was a quiet mumble of agreement.
The portly man continued seemingly oblivious to Coal Black’s surprise and continued by saying
“I am here by order of his majesty the prince of the land far away. He wants you as his wife.”
“I refuse to be his wife!” exclaimed Coal Black.
“You have no choice!” retorted the man and left.

Coal Black stayed up all night trying to figure out what to do to escape the future with the princes hand in marriage. Then when morning came the portly man came to get her. The portly man told Coal black to follow him. Coal Black followed him to a caravan of carriages that she was to be transported in to the to the princes castle. The chief appeared from the entrance of the large stone house walked up to the portly man and said in a gruff voice, “ The payment?”
“Oh, yes of course.” answered the portly man and held up a small sack and shook it. Coal Black heard the jingle of coins.
“Five hundred gold coins.” said the portly man and the chief got a greedy glimt in his eyes. The chief snatched the bag and took a glance inside.
“Seems correct.”

Then Coal Black was whisked into one of the carriages and she felt the carriage starting to move and bump over the uneven ridges in the road. Coal Black looked around the carriage. It was bland and dull with a wooden floor, wooden walls and small windows in the sides which let in a few slim beams of light. The carriage ride was monotonous and empty and continued that way. It was only punctuated by the occasional meals that were pushed in through a small flap in the door.

Suddenly at midday during the second day of travel, there was a mighty lurch and the carriage turned over onto its side. In the force of the fall the door had been broken. Coal Black crawled out and took in the scene: seven giants had attacked the caravan and the people in the caravan were trying to defend their supplies which the giants were hoping to snatch. The giants were five meter high creatures with rugged faces who looked like they had been hewn out of stone. They also had olive green skin. Coal Black saw this as an opportunity to escape and snuck into the forest while nobody was looking.

After a few hours of walking through the forest, Coal Black came across a large clearing with beautiful green grass and a large garden with blooming flowers. In the centre of the garden there was a massive house made out of wood. It looked like whoever had built it had used entire tree trunks and placed them in rows to support the roof which was made out of tree bark with windows the size of doorways. Coal Black gasped in awe at this beautiful building and went closer towards it, to investigate. She walked up to the door and knocked on the door, wondering who could live in such a large and beautiful house , wondering if they could help her.

After she had knocked on the door there was silence and no one answered the door. Coal Black knocked on the door once more. Once again there was no answer from inside.
“What should I do?” Coal Black said to herself. Her imagination running wild.
Suddenly there was an almighty crash from the forest behind her. The giants who had attacked the caravan emerged from the forest carrying their spoils over their shoulder in large, brown leather sacks. Coal Black hurriedly scurried under one of the bushes beside the door.
The giants strolled purposefully up to the house. One of the giants who had a very flat nose said in his gruff voice, “Home sweet home.”
Coal Black was appalled. How could such filthy creatures own such a beautiful house. Then a second giant who had very small ears said, “Who has the keys?”
A giant with thick eyebrows announced “Big Feet has them I think?”, gesturing to a giant with feet double the size of the others.
“No, Small Feet has the keys”, answered Big Feet.
Coal Black’s eyes travelled towards the giant who had feet the size of a humans which looked strange on his giant body. He had emptied his pockets and answered, “I don’t have them, Big Ears has them.”
Shortly afterwards, a giant with ears the size of saucepans said indignantly. “ I do not! Pointy Nose has them!”
The last giant who had a very pointy nose said,
“ I don’t have the keys. ,I hid them in the bushes next to the door.”
Coal Black froze. They were going to find her. She tried to scurry further into the depths of the bush but she felt a massive hand grab her by the back and suddenly she was hoisted up high into the air and found herself staring at a pair of green eyes with very bushy eyebrows.

“What do we have here?” , boomed seven different deep voices.
Coal Black answered “Please spare me. I am only a slave girl.”
“Spare you? From what?” asked Flat Nose.
Coal Black looked up in surprise.
“What? Did you think we were going to eat you?”, said small feet.
“But you attacked the caravan, ” Coal black said now extremely confused.
“ Ah… yes… that.”Big Feet, replied.
“We only attack the evil princes men.”, explained Big Ears.
“But then what will you do with me?”, asked Coal black.
“That depends on what you were doing in our bush!” Bushy Brows responded sharply Although, he did set her down gently.
“ I was only hiding from you in case you were evil.” said Coal Black.
“ Well in that case we will let you go, ” said Bushy brows.
“I do not know where to go.” Said Coal Black miserably.
Small ears taking pity on her said “Why. Surely you have family that you can go back to?”
“The chief will not accept me because of the colour of my skin”, aid Coal Black glumly.
“Well that is not a good enough reason, exclaimed Pointy Nose. “In that case you can live here with us if you wish?”
“I can?” asked Coal Black suddenly overcome with joy.
“Of course you can.”, answered all of the giants at the same time.

And Coal Black lived happily in the giant house with the seven friendly giants Big Feet,Small Feet, Flat Nose ,Pointy Nose,Bushy Brows, Big Ears and Small Ears for the rest of her life.