Plot Summary
Death confronts a Giant and is beaten and left incapacitated. While laid low, Death is afraid of the consequences for a world without death.
Later, a young man comes walking by and, seeing Death incapacitated and not knowing who he is, helps revive him. Death reveals his identity to the young man and tells him that while he cannot spare him, to show his gratitude, Death will send his messengers to warn the man of his arrival. The man is happy with this bargain and goes on his way, living each day content and carefree with the knowledge he will know which day will be his last.
In his old age, the man experiences sickness, tiredness, and failing health. He wishes that his pains would end, and eventually, they do. Soon after, Death arrives and tells the man it is his time to come with him. At first, the man is indignant, claiming that Death had not warned him of his coming. Death responds in annoyance that he did; sickness, tiredness, and sleep had all come and visited the man first, giving him ample notice of Death’s imminent arrival. Unable to argue, the man agrees to go with Death.
Lessons
This fairy tale confronts Death head-on and shows that its inevitability is not something to be feared but a welcome aspect of a life well lived. The story personifies and humanizes Death to show its purpose. When Death is defeated by a Giant, a fantasy character beyond the bounds of mortality, he is portrayed in a sympathetic light, mourning not for his own plight but for a world without death.
While the consequences of immortality for all are hard to truly grasp, and one can contemplate the possible utopia or dystopia it would be, for the purpose of this story, it is certainly not a good thing. The young man in the story is a stand-in for us, the common people. He helps a stranger in need, a lesson we should all take to heart. He is rewarded for his effort with the great deal that he will be warned of his death before it comes. With this knowledge, he was happy and went on his way “cheerful and carefree, and lived one day at a time.”
In the end, it is revealed that Death’s messengers are simply the signs of old age: sickness, pain, forgetfulness, and poor sleep. This is the beautiful and universal truth of this fairy tale: we all receive Death’s messengers and know of his eventual arrival. Therefore, we should live each day cheerful and carefree with the knowledge that Death will come one day when we are ready to meet him.