They had come together to defeat the monster armed with only what they could hobble together from their sad little farms. Some carried pitchforks, others had slingshots and bags of heavy stones and even the women had brought their best kitchen knives. They had no idea what they would be facing, but the word had gone out around the countryside that the monster was on the loose again.

All the villagers knew the stories of the monster, told by their parents around campfires and used as a deterrent for bad behavior. “You better straighten up and behave, or we will call The Monster and he will whisk you away. That’s what happens to bad little boys and girls.”

The threats were part of the folklore, but the monster had not been heard from for decades and decades. Even the oldest of the villagers admitted that although they knew the horror stories of the monster and his wicked ways, not one of them had ever actually seen it. But now it was on the prowl again, and the word had gone out to all the small villages to be prepared to fight to the death or the monster would destroy everything. It was said to have an exceptional craving for small children.

The messenger had arrived at Fallowtown at dawn, riding in on one of his mules and screaming his head off.

“It’s coming! It’s on its way! We have heard the heavy footsteps and its mighty roar and we beg you to come and stand with us or all is lost!”

So the inhabitants of Fallowtown took up their sad, disparate weapons and made their way to their neighbors in the next village. They had left the children locked up in the stone chapel along with grandparents and other elders who were too frail to fight but who would make sure the children were safe. Everyone was frightened but everyone also knew that this was their moment in history to finally confront the beast and they would drive it away or die trying.

As they drew nearer to Pinelock, they could feel the thump…thump…thump of the monster’s gigantic feet as it pounded the earth. Every so often there would be the sound of a thunderous roar, and the villagers, lined up along the road, would look at each other wide-eyed and frightened. It was only the thought of their precious children that kept them rooted in place or they would have scattered in fear. Every once in a while one of the men would shout, “Steady there, mates. Steady!”

The sounds and earth’s vibrations got more intense, and they could hear The Monster as it made its way through the dense forest on the edge of Pinelock. Some trembled, some cried, but the line held steady. Then, bursting out from the forest, The Monster let loose with a godawful roar that caused the villagers to clap their hands over their ears and most closed their eyes, too afraid to look upon the evil that was about to fall upon them.

Then all was quiet for a moment, and they all opened their eyes.

That’s when they heard it. The frightening monster, the stuff of fairytales and nightmares, was just feet away and it was….could it be?…..it was….GIGGLING. It was a huge thing, but covered in fluffy white fur and had very long ears and huge feet. It was just standing there, bent over at the waist with its huge hands on its knees and it was indeed laughing.

“But….it’s….it’s just a big bunny!” One of the younger teen-age boys who had joined with the men and women to fight had spoken up. “Look! Look at it!”

All the villagers really looked at the thing, and then they could not stop themselves and began laughing with it. The Bunny Monster, hearing them laughing, stood upright and waved with its fluffy paw. Then in a very, VERY loud voice it said with a guttural kind of roar, “HUNGRY!”

The astonished villagers looked at each other, and then circled in a group. It was decided that two groups would go into the villages and bring back food, and not knowing what the thing ate, decided to try both grains and smoked meats. The Bunny Monster sat quietly and every so often would do the strange giggling thing and wave, but it seemed content to wait. In record time, the food groups came over the hill with carts loaded with whatever they thought the monster might want, and they pushed the cards to within a couple of feet of the huge thing.

The monster, smiling a sort of eery, monster bunny smile, stomped over the carts and began eating, well, everything. The villagers were astounded at its capacity to pack away the food and watched in awe as it downed bushels of vegetables and any number of smoked hams. Finally he stopped and let out a burp that was so incredibly loud that it blew the villagers off their feet. The Bunny Monster grinned at them again, waved another fuzzy paw at them and headed off down the road, bouncing along exactly as a jackrabbit. It was no wonder the ground shook as it moved along.

“Well that was pretty weird,” one of the women said, gathering together the leftovers of the monster meal and throwing all of it in her cart. “I never thought that would end up anything like that. Yup. Just plain weird.”

The villagers all nodded in agreement and then laughing and talking among themselves headed on home to gather up the children and elders and revamp the age-old stories about the The Monster who ended up not being much of a monster at all.