Original fiction: Hannah and the Monster
Once upon a time there was a girl named Hannah. She had the most beautiful long hair in all the land, and wore clothes made by the nymphs, spun from sunlight and well-wishes.
One day, Hannah was walking through the forest when she heard a crying sound. This greatly distressed Hannah, as she was so loving and kind that she hated to see any creature unhappy.
She came to a cave at the edge of the woods, and realised that the crying was coming from inside. Bravely, she walked into the darkness of the cave, calling out,
“Hello? Who’s there?”
Suddenly, the crying stopped, and there was a silence.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Hannah added, as an afterthought. There was a sniffling, followed by the noise of someone moving in the darkness. “Why are you crying?” she asked gently.
“I’m crying because I’m ugly,” said a sad, deep voice. Hannah’s pure heart wrenched to hear such an unhappy voice.
“I’m sure you’re not,” she replied.
“I am,” sighed the voice, “I’m a monster. I’ve never left this cave in my life because I don’t want people to be scared and run away. I wish I could go outside, because it’s scary and lonely inside this dark cave.”
“But,” Hannah began, confused, “If you have never been into the forest, you can’t have been to the silver pond in the Faerie Glade. How can you say you are ugly if you’e never seen yourself?”
“Because all monsters are ugly,” said the monster sadly. Hannah still couldn’t see the creature, apart from a large pair of yellow eyes glowing in the darkness.
“Come outside,” Hannah urged, “The sunlight and the trees will make you happy, and the magical creatures who live there will be your friends.”
“They will run away,” sobbed the monster.
“There will always be people who run away,” soothed Hannah, “But that is because they are narrow-minded and don’t understand beauty. The enchanted creatures are my friends, and they see the beauty inside someone. They will want to be your friend too.”
“Really?” the monster snuffled hopefully.
“Yes,” Hannah smiled, “Follow me.”
Hannah led the monster out of the cave. When they stepped into the dappled sunlight, Hannah looked at the monster. She wanted to gasp but didn’t, as she knew the monster would think she was horrified, and he would run back into the cave; but the biggest smile spread across her face.
“Come to the pool in the glade,” she said, to him, “I have something that I want to show you.”
Together, Hannah and the monster walked through the bright forest, until they reached the glade, where the faeries sat on the banks of the pond, eating sweet nectar, brushing their hair and dipping their plump legs in the water. Hannah took the monster to the water’s edge, where he bowed his head and looked at the surface.
“What is that?” he exclaimed in surprise. For what he saw was a majestic creature: he had the beautiful golden head of a lion, with a thick shiny mane. He had the strong, handsome body of a stallion, and a tail like that of an elegant rattle snake. Hannah smiled and stroked his mane.
“Is it beautiful, do you think?” she asked him.
“Yes,” he replied.
“It’s you,” Hannah told him. And the monster laughed with joy, and all the faeries were so happy that they laughed with him, until all the dew turned to rainbow light, and lit up the entire forest.