“The Iron Giant came to the top of the cliff. How far had he walked? Nobody knows. Where had he come from? Nobody knows. How was he made? Nobody knows.”
The Iron Giant by Ted Hughes is a five-act fable that echoes two familiar fable themes.
The first theme is generosity of spirit (https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/generosity-spirit-world-folktales-and-myths).
In this tale, the farm boy Hogarth (isn’t it always a child?) befriends the Iron Giant when everyone else wants to attack and kill the stranger.
The other theme is the trickster.
When earth is attacked by a terrible dragon…
“Terribly black, terribly scaly, terribly knobbly, terribly horned, terribly hairy, terribly clawed, terribly fanged…”
…the Iron Giant tricks it rather than fighting it.
If you’re looking for a fable about using kindness and cleverness instead of violence, this is your story.
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