The Cloud-Eating Giant. Short audio story narrated in American English.

Soppo was an enormous giant, the biggest there had ever been. He could drink a river dry, or eat a whole forest as if it were a salad. And, without doubt, his favourite delicacy was the clouds in the sky; fresh, spongy, the kind he ate so many of that he’d almost always end up with an upset stomach. He’d have such pains in his belly that he’d end up crying, and the flow of his tears created great floods and torrents.

Soppo lived quietly and just how he liked, fearing nothing and no one, coming and going as he pleased. However, despite all that he wasn’t happy: he didn’t have even one single friend. What’s more, every time he visited a country, there was nothing but problems: with him eating so many clouds the rains for the crops would disappear and, what with his stomach aches and crying, everything would then get flooded, not to mention all the woods and farms he would eat his way through... In the end, whenever he was spotted, everyone would flee in terror, and Soppo never got to spend any time with anyone at all.

One night, seeing him crying, various stars came down and asked him why he was so sad. On hearing his story they commented:

-“Poor giant. He doesn’t know how to make friends. Yet the Earth is the most special planet of all, and it’s full of all kinds of friends.”

-”But, where can I find friends? How do I do that?”

replied the giant.

-”By giving people a hand or doing something for them. That is what makes friendship. You didn’t know that?”

replied the stars, amused.

-”Gee,”

sighed Soppo

-“that never occurred to me. What did you guys do to make friends?”

-”Well, we learned to show people the way at night time, and serve as guides to many sailors. They’re great friends. They tell us stories and keep us company every night.”

So the giant and the stars kept chatting a while, and over the following days Soppo thought about nothing else but ways to find friends. But he couldn’t think of any way to manage it. Several days later he went to ask for help from the moon. Being old and wise the moon answered:

-“You won’t know how to help someone until you know them well. What do you know about these people you want to become your friends?"

Soppo thought for a while, because really he knew hardly anything about human beings. They were so small that he’d never worried much about them.
So he thought to himself he would find out about them, and he spent long days observing their little lives. This is how he discovered why everyone ran off when seeing him, and he realised he was causing droughts by eating all the clouds, and that his weeping flooded them out, and he learned a thousand other things that filled him pity and joy.

That night the giant ran to greet the stars.

-“Now I know how I’m going to make friends.... by eating and crying!!”

And so it was. From that day on, Soppo watched the skies, and when the clouds were preparing enormous storms he would feast himself on some of them. Then, when he spotted some place where there was a shortage of water, he would cry above it. Before long, Soppo changed from being the worse that could happen to a country, to being a blessing for everyone, and he was never short of a good friend to spend a while with, to listen to, or to offer a helping hand.