Chapter 762: Grawp
The giantess, about twenty feet tall, was lying on Karkus, bouncing constantly up and down, all while eating like him.
She should be his wife, and the giants around seemed to be used to it, and did not feel any bad.
The scene in front of them was particularly shocking, and Evan tried to keep calm.
The giants around started shouting noisily, but Hagrid and Madame Maxime held their gift up high, kept their eyes on the Gurg, and ignored the others, and the other giants gradually went quiet.
The four of them walked over to the huge stone bed, and Karkus turned his head to look at them.
His expression was ugly and grim, his eyes were fierce, and his body was covered with precious stones. Hagrid bowed and put the presents down in front of him.
Karkus’s gaze skipped the goats, and he watched with interest the quietly-burning Gubraithian fire.
His wife also stopped, looked at it, and whispered a few words in Karkus’s ear.
Then, Karkus growled a few times. Evan couldn’t understand anything he said.
“The Gurg is asking you, what’s this flame?” said the old giant Herbert, who brought them to the top of the mountain.
Madame Maxime explained to him in detail how precious the Gubraithian fire was, the everlasting flame.
Herbert translated these words, the giants around him heard what he said, and there was a commotion on the platform.
The giants seemed very happy, watching the Gubraithian fire with excitement, and Karkus nodded with satisfaction.
“A gift to the Gurg of the giants from Albus Dumbledore, who sends his respectful greetings,” said Hagrid.
After understanding what he meant, Karkus nodded again, and he growled a few words in a terrible voice.
“The Gurg said he accepts the gift!” Herbert said.
“Albus Dumbledore asks the Gurg to speak with his messenger when he returns tomorrow with another gift,” said Hagrid.
Herbert translated again. Karkus ignored them and turned to continue fiddling with the giantess in his arms…
The four looked at each other and knew it was time to leave. They bowed again and followed Herbert out.
Giants, especially those who had not lived in human society, still maintained a fairly primitive wild nature, not developing the patience required to communicate with others. The four had to go step by step. Today’s progress was enough, for now, to leave a good impression on them.
Now that the gifts had been received, it meant that Karkus had agreed to talk to them.
The four followed the old giant down the platform and back to the lake below.
While no one was looking, Evan gave Herbert a well-made pocket watch, and the latter looked very pleased. This thing had no meaning to other giants, but a giant like Herbert who had been to human society knew the importance of time.
“Come back tomorrow morning. I’ll be waiting for you here,” said Herbert. “Karkus is different from his father, the previous Gurg of the giants. He is not too keen on fighting, but likes women, treasures and things made by humans. If your gifts continue to please him, I think he will agree to your request for alliance. What would be the specifics of our deal? “
“Dumbledore agrees to give you a batch of supplies every year to meet your various needs, but he hopes you will not participate in the human war,” said Sirius, looking up at Herbert.
“I see. That’s going to be hard to achieve. Giants like war. It’s in our nature,” said Herbert, looking concerned. “And not everyone in the tribe obeys Karkus. There are many powerful giants out there…”
“You mean Golgomath?” said Sirius. “We heard of his name before we came.”
“He is the strongest warrior in the tribe right now, and many people support him.” Herbert lowered his voice. “I heard a giant living on the mountain say that Golgomath had quarreled with Karkus many times and blatantly disobeyed his orders.”
“Well, we have some gifts for him to show our respect. Can you help us deliver them?”
“I can try,” said Herbert, looking around cautiously. “But don’t get your hopes up; Golgomath is different from Karkus. He is as… giant as a giant could be, and has strong hostility to human wizards. He thinks that we should rob humans of their wealth, rather than rely on equivalent exchange or alms as we do right now…”
Evan took out the presents for Golgomath, and Herbert hid them under his robes.
“I want to see my mother,” said Hagrid suddenly, looking at Herbert. “Where’s she now?”
“Come with me. I was going there as well. She is on the other side of the mountain. She is not qualified to live by the lake!” said the old giant.
They walked along the hillside in the other direction, where there was a dense jungle.
There were obvious traces of giants’ life in the whole jungle. Many trees had been uprooted and thrown on the ground at random.
“Sometimes they are so full of energy and have nowhere else to vent, so they come here to pull out trees and play!” Herbert pointed to a big fallen tree and said, “I used to be young, so I know exactly how hard those impulses are to contain. However, I was luckier than most of them. Back in the day, I had many ways to distract myself in Poland. It was also back then that I met my wife, a human woman. She was the only one who could calm me down, and we eventually fell in love and had two children together…”
“Where are they now?” Evan asked.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen them since I fled Poland, and they haven’t come to me,” said Herbert sadly. “In fact, you are the first humans to come here in years. Many giants have descendants outside, but you are the only ones who have come. I think Fridwulfa will be happy. She has had a good time outside, but recent years haven’t been good to her.”
They walked silently in the woods for more than twenty minutes, getting farther and farther away from the giant’s lake camp.
Then Evan suddenly saw a huge, smooth mound of earth appear in front of him. The mound was nearly as tall as Hagrid. Trees had been ripped up at the roots all around the mound, so that it stood on a bare patch of ground surrounded by heaps of trunks and boughs that formed some kind of fence or barricade in front of them.
But immediately, Evan realized that it was not a mound, but a sleeping giant. He looked to be “only” 16 feet tall, and his body was moving slowly up and down in time with the deep, grunting breathing.
“This guy is Grawp, another child of Fridwulfa,” said the old giant, pointing at the giant lying on the ground, and then looking down at Hagrid. “In age, he should be your younger maternal half-brother.”
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