Giant’s Bread · Book I · I · Chapter 1 1 2

II

And then there was Mr. Green. Mr. Green was like God in that you couldn’t see him, but to Vernon he was very real. He knew, for instance, exactly what Mr. Green looked like⁠—of middle height, rather stout, a faint resemblance to the village grocer who sang an uncertain baritone in the village choir, bright red cheeks and mutton chop whiskers. His eyes were blue, a very bright blue. The great thing about Mr. Green was that he played⁠—he loved playing. Whatever game Vernon thought of, that was just the game that Mr. Green loved to play. There were other points about him. He had, for instance, a hundred children. And three others. The hundred, in Vernon’s mind, were kept intact, a joyous mob that raced down the yew alleys behind Vernon and Mr. Green. But the three others were different. They were called by the three most beautiful names that Vernon knew: Poodle, Squirrel and Tree.

Vernon was, perhaps, a lonely little boy, but he never knew it. Because, you see, he had Mr. Green and Poodle, Squirrel and Tree to play with.