“Nobody notices me. I am invisible. I only want to eat just one little boy. Shh, don’t tell anyone.”
Jaspyr, sensing something amiss, addresses the monster directly, “You won’t eat me!”
“But…,” says the monster, “of course I will… I do… I will eat you.”
“No, no you won’t. You will never eat me. Know why?” says Jaspyr.
The monster, very curious, says, “No! Why?”
“Because it’s wrong to eat people! And you know it!” shouts young Sampson.
Tears form on the monster’s face. “But… I didn’t know that I knew that!”
Jaspyr agrees, “It’s true!”
The Monster is very surprised and becomes deep in thought and consideration. “Ohh! Wow! Huh! Well, alright! What, then, shall I eat?!”
Kasey, hearing from the next room, enters, “Here, some corn tortillas and refried beans!”
The monster is very interested in the corn tortillas and refried beans. He considers them deeply. “Can… can I also have some cheese? A little cheese?”
Kasey demures, “Well, if it wouldn’t hurt, you can have some cheese.”
The monster is now greatly interested. “And… a little pico de gallo, if you wouldn’t mind? And cilantro!?”
Kasey, Samson, Jaspyr, and young Sampson all shout, “Sounds delicious!”
The monster is having a great time. “Much better than if I ate you all! And kinder, too! For, what would I do? If I ate you, I wouldn’t have you as friends anymore!
Kasey, Samson, Jaspyr, and young Sampson all nod to each other in agreement.
They all sit at the table and eat a good helping of corn tortillas, refried beans, cheese, pico de gallo, and cilantro.
“And tea!” shouts the monster. “We must all have tea as well!”
Samson looks to Kasey, Jaspyr, young Sampson, and the monster and has a concerned look on his face. “We are out of tea,” he whispers to all. “Can it be?”
The monster has an idea. “I will go pick some herbs from your garden and boil some water so that we may all have tea with our wonderful meal!”
They all agreed, and after the monster had picked the herbs and boiled the tea in the best pot for boiling water, they all ate and sipped tea until it was almost time for bed. After the lively conversation ended, the monster cried and thanked them before rising from the table to leave to go sleep under his tree in the forest for the night.
They all hesitantly hugged the monster, but sensing true reform in the monster’s heart, they all felt assured the monster would never try and eat anyone ever again, and they hugged him freely and warmly with true affection.
The monster cried tears of gratitude for the warm hugs, and he never thought to really eat anyone, ever again. And if for a second, from time to time, he thought how pleasant it would be to gnaw on a little boy’s forearm, he remembered the corn tortillas, refried beans, cheese (oh, the cheese!), the pico de gallo, and cilantro, and he immediately was awash in thoughts of how much more pleasant it is to share a nice meal with friends rather than eating them.
Occasionally, the monster came to visit and they all made a big deal to have all the ingredients of the monster’s favorite meal so that they could all sit and eat together and tell stories of what important thing each person has experienced since the last time they sat and ate and drank tea.
Stutz's Fairy Tales and Poems 