cut the moral

I was reviewing a book for next year. It held two short stories, fairy tales actually - The Happy Prince and the Selfish Giant. I was browsing the books, creating some overall plans, and previewing vocabulary. I hadn't read The Selfish Giant before.

In the story, there is a Giant who builds a wall so children can't play in his garden. He notices, eventually, that only winter and storms come to his garden, never summer or spring. One day, he sees a boy in his garden crying. He feels sorry for the boy and goes over to help the boy climb his tree. The giant realizes how selfish he's been and opens up his garden to the children, but never sees the crying boy again. He grows old and one day sees the boy again. The boy has wounds on his hands. The giant is upset and he asks what the wounds are from. The boy responds the wounds are from the nails. Love has put them there. Then the giant dies and is happy. To paraphrase.

I was a little shocked when I read this story. And I immediately began quizzing some of the Turkish teachers asking, "Do you understand the reference here? Do you get the meaning?" No one did. It was completely out of their context of experience. When I explained it's reference its direct reference to Jesus Christ, I was met with some shock and horror. "You can't teach that!"

Besides that its a second language, religion isn't taught in schools. I am surprised how unaware people are of other religions. I laughed when I was told I couldn't teach the direct relation to the Bible. One, because I'm not sure how I would. And two, without it - well, it was the entire point of the story. It was the moral. And, how can you explain a story that ends in the garden with a boy who has wounds on his hands and a dead but happy giant?

One response was, "Kids, don't worry about those questions, let's talk about love."