What’s my story? Well my story is on a common misconception, what is a misconception you ask? A misconception is a misunderstanding, or a mistaken thought. Before I explain all that I should begin by explaining to you who I am exactly. My name is Harold, I was named after my great grandfather and though I have never met him I would imagine him being a good guy, considering my mom named me after him. I have a baby blue eye, a horn on the top of my head, large scaly wings on my back and a huge dragon like tail. I am purple, and I just so happen to be a one eyed, one horned, flying monster.

Please don’t be frightened, I’m sure that you have heard the terrible rumors about me being a ‘people eater’ but that just simply isn’t true! It is so not true. In fact, I don’t even eat meat, I am a vegetarian. I know that you don’t believe me, but remember how I started this story off? A common misconception is all this fable is, and, really, has there ever been any evidence to back this so called story up? I grew up in the deep forest just outside a small town called Baillie. This was a quiet town, full of hard working people, but they weren’t exactly the most understanding. The trees I grew up with were big green oak trees that almost followed you around as you went through the forest. The town that lay beside the forest had small houses and a big church right smack in the middle. I learned early on that I would have to live a life of secrecy, if the townsfolk ever saw me they would run in fear. Anyway to say the least, growing up wasn’t that easy for me, but I made it by with only a few close calls. I have decided though that enough is enough! I am tired of hiding in fear, scared that I won’t be able to defend myself, and most of all not being a part of such a lovely town.

This story started the way most stories started I must admit, from a kernel of the truth. This is true, this entire story was not a fabrication. Many monsters said that the townspeople just didn’t like us because we are different, some said there once was a drought and that an ancestor of ours got very hungry so he resorted to the worst but only one time! I decided that I was done listening to stories, I wanted to get to the bottom of this terrible rumor. I have always loved journalism, but really how much work is there as a reporter when you’re a giant reptile? So I took this opportunity to have some fun. I talked to some of the oldest monsters there were, I found old news paper reports on monsters, and I even spied on people a few times, until finally I got the true story.

There was a man named Ralph, he had curly brown hair, brown eyes, he was average height, and had very skinned knee right below where his shorts ended. He was also one of the clumsiest men you will ever meet! This man could have stepped on a dime sized pebble and tripped! I’m not even exaggerating, the townspeople knew this about him too, and they would even sometimes avoid him so they wouldn’t get hurt also. At this time monsters weren’t afraid to be seen by people, though they wouldn’t go out of the way to see them or anything but monsters could go along on the outskirts of town and just do their own thing. So one day while my great grandfather was out looking for fresh leaves for dinner, he saw Ralph. Ralph’s mom lived on a hill right beside some of our favorite trees, this hill was like no other. The hill was extremely steep like a mountain, with tall grass that was almost up to your waist in height, and it led to the cliff of a deep valley where you couldn’t even see the bottom. Now the monsters knew how clumsy Ralph was, and him climbing up this hill day after day to visit his mother made them all nervous. We monsters are worriers. This particular day was mother’s day, and Ralph had a bundle of gifts to give to his mom. That was twice his size!
My grandfather watched poor Ralph struggle up that hill for as long as he could, after all he just wanted to help. So he came out of the woods, even though he knew it was dangerous, and began to help Ralph. Ralph was of course thankful for the help until he took one look at who was doing the helping. He looked at the monster and began screaming, backing away, and of course stumbling. Before my grandfather got a chance to warn poor Ralph he was over the cliff. Grandpa Harold didn’t know what to do, he simply looked around for help and noticed Ralph’s mother in the window. She came out screaming! “Where did he go? Where did he go! He was just there! What did you do with him?!” Minutes later the townspeople were swarming him, with ropes, pitch forks, and accusing him of eating Ralph!
“I didn’t do it!” he cried in fear. The townspeople would not listen to a monster over Ralph’s mother though. Next thing you know Grandpa Harold was in deep trouble.

So from then on my kind was not permitted to go in to the town for anything at all, and as you can see it wasn’t even our fault. After I found out how this happened, the next step was to figure out what I could do to change it. Days, weeks, and months went by, and I couldn’t think of anything that would change the mind of the townspeople and make sure that I wouldn’t be killed in the process. I felt defeated and slowly stopped trying seeing as how I wasn’t getting anywhere. I felt bad giving up, but I knew that I fought for what I believed in for as long as I could.

Sometimes wonderful things happen when you’re not expecting them to. I was in the forest along the outskirts of town looking for food to store up for the winter, when all of a sudden I heard a terrible cry. I stopped and stood like a stone, almost turning a gray color out of fear, afraid that I had been seen from outside the forest. Then, after another cry, I realized that the girl was not afraid of me. I looked over my shoulder and saw her. She was young and very small, not much higher then my knee with pale skin, long curly golden hair that hung at her stomach and she wore a bright red coat with a big hood on it. She was standing a couple feet away from a wolf! They were staring at each other eye to eye, as he crouched down in a hunting pose, slowly moving toward her. This wolf was bigger than a dog, with a dark and light gray coat, and he was threatening her with his huge, sharp, white teeth.
At first I was terribly frightened, I wanted to help but I also wanted to run away. I knew that I was not allowed to go out of the forest even if it meant helping someone. At that moment I put the negative thoughts behind me and began racing through the forest dodging many thick trees, jumping over large and small rocks, all to get to this girl before it was too late. As I came up to the trouble, I almost regretted my decision until I realized I was three times the wolf’s size. At this point I was glad to be a monster. I jumped off the ground with all my might and landed on top of him, rolled him over so he was belly up, and held his legs in both of my hands while wrestling him to the ground. He fought me for only a few more seconds until he realized I had him beat. He stumbled back into the forest not to be seen again.
The girl took one look at me and began making a loud noise. I cringed thinking of the pain the townspeople would put me through as this girl screamed in fear. Then I reopened my eyes and realized her screams were not of fear but of glee. She was happy that I had saved her! Her family came out, and the girl quickly told them all the story of how I had saved her life. While she told the story more and more townspeople came to hear the news and started to look at me with awe. Soon everyone was there, the school teachers, the mayor, the children, and they all began to look at me like I was a hero. At this point I couldn’t help but smile and stand tall, facing all the people that I feared for so long with triumph. It looked as though my story would start off where my great grandfather’s ended.

From then on monsters were allowed to live in the city or in the woods. I was even given a job as a reporter here at the Daily Bugle. My job here has given me the opportunity to share with people all over the world how to accept each other, and also the time to write this story to send out so that as many people can understand my story as possible. So next time you hear of a one-eyed one-horned, flying, purple, people-eater in your town, don’t be so quick to judge.