Robert Louis Stevenson reader

Part 2 — THE GIANT OF PILLOW-HILL

Reading edition

Sometimes Louis was sick and had to stay in bed all day.

Then nurse would put two pillows under his head.

All his toys were put on the bed beside him.

He had a large box of leaden soldiers, a box of tiny ships, and a box of toy houses and trees.

“Now, Nursie, I shall play that my pillows are a big hill.

I am the great giant that lives on Pillow-Hill.

My bed is the Land of Counterpane.

Everyone in the Land of Counterpane must obey the great giant of Pillow-Hill.

Watch my leaden soldiers!

See their fine uniforms!

I will show you how well they can drill.”

The soldiers stood in fine rows.

Their uniforms looked bright and new.

They looked like real soldiers drilling.

Sometimes Louis made hills of the bedclothes and made his soldiers march among them.

When he grew tired of his soldiers, he would call his nurse.

“Come, Nurse, come and see how strong the giant of Pillow-Hill is.

See all these soldiers!

Do you think I am afraid of them?

Watch them run when they see the great giant of Pillow-Hill coming after them.”

Then he would throw them all into their box.

“See, Nurse, how the giant frightened them all away!

They have gone from the Land of Counterpane.”

Next, he would take his tiny ships from their box.

“Now, Nurse, I shall make believe there is a big sea in the Land of Counterpane.

See my ships sail over the sea!

Have I not a fine fleet?

These ships are great and strong.

They sail miles and miles through the land of Counterpane.

I shall send them to you, Nurse.

Then you must send them sailing back to me.”

So the ships were sent sailing up and down among the sheets.

When Louis grew tired of this, he had a different play.

“These ships are great and strong, but they are not as great and strong as the giant of Pillow-Hill.

I can blow them all over into the sea.

Watch me, Nursie; I can blow like a strong wind.”

He blew and blew till every ship was blown over.

Then nurse put them all away in their box.

This color illustration features a young child playing with toys while sitting up in bed, supported against pillows. The child has short dark hair and wears a simple, light long-sleeve shirt. They hold a toy in their left hand. The white blanket forms small hills and valleys. It turns the bed into a landscape for toys like blue and red toy soldiers, a small sailboat with white sails, toy houses, green trees, and a toy cannon.

There were no more ships in the Land of Counterpane.

“It’s time for another play, Nurse.

Let us open the other box.

Now we will build a city.

Put the houses up and down in streets.

I will plant the trees in rows before the houses.

Now, Nursie, is not that a fine city?

See what long, straight streets we have.

How tall the trees look.

It is as fine as a real city.

I shall call it Counterpane Town.

It all belongs to me, the great giant of Pillow-Hill.

What good times we have, Nursie, in my pleasant Land of Counterpane!”

So the dear child would play all day in bed.

He forgot it was a bed. It was his dear Land of Counterpane.

The illustration shows three identical toy trees in a row. Each tree has a solid black, cone-shaped top like a pine tree, a thick black trunk, and a flat oval tree stand at the base.

The image shows a child standing at a window, facing outside with their back to us. The child has short brown hair and wears a plain, light or white short-sleeve shirt. The window has a thick light wooden frame with several glass panes. It is dark outside. A green shutter with horizontal slats is visible on the right. Inside, the room is brightly lit.