Original subtitles

[Cawing]

[Storyteller] When people told themselves their past with stories,

explained their present with stories,

foretold the future with stories,

the best place by the fire was kept for...

[Clinking]

The storyteller.

On the whole,

there's absolutely no need to be frightened of giants.

Giants are gentle, perfectly harmless, very affectionate.

Unless, of course,

the giant has no heart in his body.

[Crackling]

Think of all kinds of unpleasant things

and add "giant" to them,

and that's what you get when a giant has no heart.

Such a giant once terrorized a country

in the far north of the world, near the very top.

He'd hidden his heart.

It gave him too much trouble, all those giant feelings.

In its place was a wasps' nest,

about to swarm.

This giant could crack a skull

with his fist like a walnut,

and frequently did.

Until, at last,

the old king of that country,

as good as the giant was bad,

trapped him in a giant trap

and locked him in a giant cell.

Good.

Very good.

And there he stayed for many a year.

And all would have been well but for a small problem.

A small problem called Leo,

youngest of the king's 3 sons.

He is so curious!

Now, there's a dark place he's forbidden to visit.

His brothers tell him a giant lives there with no heart,

but he doesn't believe it.

I don't believe it.

Hello!

Hello, down there!

[Chain rattling]

Who's that?

Are you a giant?

Rattle once if you're a giant,

and twice if you're not.

[Chain rattles once]

Do you have a heart, then? Once for yes, and twice for no.

[Chain rattles twice]

A giant with no heart in his body!

[Storyteller] The little prince runs off,

his imagination ablaze, he's so excited.

There's a giant with no heart living in the castle!

Next morning he's up at the crack

and running past his mother...

Leo, where are you off to?

Nowhere.

[Drumming]

[Chain rattles]

[Giant] Can you hear me?

Yes.

Why are you down there?

Because, long ago,

I did some bad things.

This is my punishment.

Oh!

I've been here for years and years.

Unless I'm let out soon,

I will surely die.

Oh, don't worry, I'll go and tell my father.

No! Don't tell anybody.

Please!

Would you like to be my friend?

Yes, please.

Good.

Good.

He's bad, that giant.

Oh, yes.

Day after day, the little prince comes visiting.

He wants to tell

the whole world about his friend.

But he can't,

so he mustn't,

so he won't.

And in the dark, dank, black of the dungeon,

the heartless giant plots and plans.

The keys to my locks,

do you know where they're kept?

I don't. No.

Long ago, a guard said

the king kept the keys by his bed.

Oh, those keys?

They're huge, they're massive.

I thought they must be for the crown jewels.

Oh, no, they're for me.

They're for my misery.

Do you know something?

I think if I got those old keys and let you out,

nobody would even realize.

No, that's not right.

This is my punishment.

I deserve it.

It's not fair that you're chained down there.

I bet that chain hurts your legs.

Only sometimes.

I don't care what you say.

I'm going to go and get those keys.

[Storyteller] And so, that very night,

Leo crept into the room where the king and queen were sleeping.

[Door creaking]

[Door creaking]

It's me. I've got the keys.

[Giant grunting]

[Keys rattling]

Who goes there?

Hurry, hurry!

They're too big.

They can't be! Push them.

I'm trying.

[Moans]

Don't forget to let me have them back.

[Roars]

What's happening?

[Grunts]

[Roars]

[Groaning]

[Bells tolling]

[Yelling]

What's happened? Are we attacked?

[Sentry] The giant, my lord, he's escaped!

[Prince #1] Father, what's happening?

The giant has escaped.

Leo! Go back to your room. It's not safe.

How could he have escaped

after all this time?

He had the keys, my lord.

Then someone helped him.

Someone betrayed us.

A madman.

Only a madman would help a giant with no heart.

[Woman screaming]

It's starting again.

Leo, I said get back to your room!

Poor boy.

That's right. "Someone betrayed us.

"Only a madman would help a giant

with no heart."

The boy's face swam with tears.

So let down, he felt.

So stupid.

And from that moment, the boy in him,

the innocent heart, the joy in him,

they were gone,

like his friend,

and they would never return.

[Leo] Brother,

where are you going?

I am going to get back the giant.

Now, wish me luck and get back to bed.

Good luck.

I'm sorry.

But his brother didn't hear.

He'd gone to find the giant

and he didn't come back.

Brother,

where are you going?

To find our brother and to kill the giant.

But he'll trick you!

Wish me luck.

[Storyteller] Terrible, our boy felt, as his brother rode off,

terrible.

And this brother didn't come back either.

[Sobbing]

Mother?

Your father says he intends to go off to fight the giant.

He can't! He mustn't!

I've lost 2 sons already. He's too old. He's too ill.

Don't cry.

Leo, promise me, promise me, you won't ever go.

[Storyteller] But he can't promise. How can he?

Were it not for him, the heartless giant

would still be chained and locked and safe in the dungeon.

No, he did the damage, he must repair it.

So, off, madness, off, folly,

off, for goodness' sake, to find the giant

and put an end to his cruelty!

And so the young prince, Leo, rides the land

in search of his once-friend, the heartless giant.

3 winters come and go, their bitter shiver,

until, one day, he comes to a place

and knows he's in the giant's cruel footsteps.

"Help me," cries a trampled bird.

"The giant broke me and now I cannot fly,

cannot eat. Help me."

And Leo tended the bird, fixed its wing,

fed it bread soaked in milk,

and soon all was well with it.

"Thank you," cried the bird.

"If you need me, I shan't forget."

Not long after, he stops at a stream,

and he hears a flapping,

hears a thrashing, hears a slapping.

"Help me," cries the choking fish.

"Help me back into the water.

"I'm stuck here, I'm stranded,

I'm beached-up and landed!"

Now, Leo's famished, and he loves a fish,

but he's suffered sufficient, this fellow.

Back he goes to where the salmon is king.

"Thank you," cries the fish.

I'd have scoffed him,

if he was so hungry. I like fish.

Would you? Well, listen,

he goes on a little further

and now his horse gives up the ghost.

His old horse who's carried the prince a 1,000 miles and more

sinks slowly to his knees

and rolls over on his side,

and dies.

[Gasps]

So did the prince eat his horse?

No, he didn't, he couldn't.

He lay down beside it, famished and forlorn.

He shuts his eyes, squeezing back tears,

drifting into dreams.

Ah, it's his mother nursing him.

Licking up his wet cheeks, hugging him.

Don't move! Terrible teeth glistening.

[Snarling]

I've not eaten since the winter came.

Help me, let me eat your horse.

I'll eat it and be strong again.

Trust me.

But how can Leo trust anyone?

He's trusted before and been betrayed.

That's right, that's right. Let the wolf starve.

Please,

please, or I must surely die.

No, don't do it!

Eat your fill.

And if you must,

then, afterwards, eat me.

And the wolf eats the horse

and sucks the bones

until there's not a scrap left, save the reins.

Master, come here.

Oh, no!

Am I to go now?

Yes, us both.

I'll help you.

On my back, sir.

Let's leave this place.

[Storyteller] And he does and they do.

And they go a gray dash,

a day and a night and a morning,

until they come at last

to a garden full with statues.

Stone men, stone women,

stone soldiers.

This is my brother.

This is the giant's work.

There is his house.

All who approach he turns to stone.

Oh, no, look! You, too.

You're so cold.

The giant was my friend. He really was.

He's no one's friend.

He has no heart in his body.

Then I must find his heart.

[Birds chirping]

[Drumming]

Where did you get that drum?

It's mine.

It's me, Leo.

Prince Leo?

Yes, it is you.

I can see now.

Well, are you the same as your brothers,

come to challenge me?

No, I come in guilt.

Either you will take me in,

or I must go into exile.

Guilty? About what?

That you set me free?

[Grunts]

You were a child.

I had to fool you to get the keys.

Otherwise, I'd still be there,

rotting.

But stay if you like.

No tricks though, no traps.

Else you'll end up the same as your brothers.

[Laughing]

[Storyteller] "No tricks, no traps,"

agreed the boy and went inside.

He's a servant now for the heartless giant.

For weeks he cleans, for weeks he scours,

until spick where speck was, and span where squalor.

Each evening, the giant returns from his wild outings

to find the fire lit, the hearth swept

and his trousers pressed.

He likes this. Very nice.

Very nice.

Thank you.

I should have had a servant before.

And I don't treat you bad, do I?

For a heartless giant?

[Laughing]

So what happened to your heart?

It's in safe keeping.

Can't feel without it, can I?

Can't get hurt,

can't die from the breaking of it.

Clever.

So where is it, then?

He who pries is prone to die.

Do you follow me?

Yes.

But I'll tell you if you want to know.

My heart's in that cupboard.

[Storyteller] In the cupboard!

His own heart pounds,

and he can hardly wait until the morning.

But no heart, oh, no!

The heart's not there at all.

[Grunting]

[Panting]

I'm back.

Evening, sir.

What's that smell?

Polish.

What are you polishing that old cupboard for?

It's the home of your heart,

it should be polished.

Ha! Did you really think

I kept my heart in a cupboard?

[Laughing]

What a dimble!

It's not there, then.

Of course, it's not.

I see.

It's under the step.

[Storyteller] So the next morning, off stomps the giant

and out goes our boy, digging out the steps.

Stone, dust, roots,

but no heart!

I'm back.

What's that?

Oh, you must have trodden on the step. I painted it.

What a dafflebox!

You thought my heart was under the step!

[Laughing]

Have these off, then.

Sir.

The fact is...

No one can find my heart.

I'll tell you exactly where it is

and you'll still not be able to find it.

Far away,

so far you cannot fathom it,

so high you cannot climb it,

is a mountain.

And in the mountain is a lake,

and in the lake is an island,

in the island is a church,

in the church is a well,

in the well is a duck,

in the duck is an egg,

and in the egg...

Is my heart.

I see.

No, not so easy, little thief, eh?

Not such a diddle and a doddle as you thought.

No. Your father tricked me once

and I shan't be tricked again!

[Storyteller] An egg in a duck, in a well,

in a church, in an island, in a lake,

in a mountain?

Impossible!

But that night Leo steals away

and calls for his friend, the wolf.

Up he gets, and tight he holds, and off they go.

Headlong, a breathless blur of world flashing by.

And they're at the mountain clambering, scrambling,

and then there's a lake,

and there's the church!

But the church is locked

and the door will not budge.

Look!

Said the wolf,

and there, impossibly high, dangled the key.

We'll never reach it.

[Bird cawing]

Thank you, my friend.

[Storyteller] And in they go, into the church,

where they find the well.

And sure enough, in the well swims a duck.

Come on. Come on.

[Quacking]

Oh, oh, no!

Now what?

[Sighs]

[Water gurgling]

What's that?It's the fish!

It's my fish!

Catch it!

I've got it! I've got the giant's heart!

Thank you, my friend. Thank you!

I've got it!

[Drumming]

Where have you been?

I've a good mind to crack your ears.

I've a good mind to set you there with your brothers.

[Breathing heavily]

Stop that!

Years ago, sir, you broke my heart.

Now I shall break yours.

No, be careful.

Please don't break that.

I will, I will break it.

I will squeeze it and squeeze it to bits,

unless you release my brothers

and all these poor people.

Yes!

I'll do anything you ask.

Look,

I'm doing it!

There!

Brother, you've rescued us!

Praise the lord, our little brother! Praise the lord!

Now, quick, smash the egg!

No. I'm going to give it back.

[Prince #2] Don't be stupid.

I've done as you bid.

Can I have my heart?

You can, sir, as I promised.

For I know that with your heart in place

you could not be as you are now.

No!

Now, villain,

for years I've stood here helpless,

and watched your cruelty.

The folk he's beaten! The vile murders!

Please, don't.

Please.

[Men] Kill him! Kill him!

Like with like, spite with spite.

Don't! I promised! Don't!

All the pain you've caused,

I now repay.

[Groaning]

[Moaning]

[Gasping]

You promised.

[Groans]

[Buzzing]

[Prince #2] What's happening?

There was a wasps' nest

where his heart should have been.

[All cheering]

[Storyteller] And where the giant fell, a hill grew.

And in time and when much was long forgot,

the place was still known as the hill of the heartless giant.

[Howling]

But he would have changed, that giant.

He would have reformed with his heart back.

Yes, I know.

Cruel.

But do you know

prince Leo lived to be a great age,

became king, had 42 grandchildren,

and he told them all that tale.

But in his story

the giant got back his heart

and made amends for all his wrongs.

Because, you see,

despite all that took place,

a little boy once met a giant

and they became friends.