The Brave Young Boy and the Beast that None could see.

Once upon a time, in a far off kingdom, the palace of a great king was attacked by a ferocious but completely invisible beast with a terrible roar and gigantic feet and long sharp claws and the beast carried off the beautiful daughter of the king.

 

And so the king asked three of his bravest knights to go and rescue his daughter but the knights all refused because they were too afraid.

 

“Did you hear the monsters roar, sire?”, they said, “With a roar like that it surely must be a dragon with thunder in its mouth”.

 

And they pointed to the monsters giant foot prints aswell, shaking with fear.

 

“Look at the size of its feet”, they said, “With feet that big it must be a giant at least 20 or 30 feet tall”.

 

And, finally they pointed to the deep claw marks it had left in the door of his daughters room.

 

“Look at those claw marks. With claws like that, he must be like a ferocious lion”, they said.

 

But then one of the serving boys spoke up, a boy called Tom who was very brave and said to the king.

 

“I will go and rescue the princess, your highness”.

 

When the knights heard this, of course, they all laughed.

 

“You”, they said, “You are not a knight. How can you rescue the princess from such a ferocious and gigantic beast?”.

 

But the king was impressed by the boys courage and his willingness to help his daughter and so he said to the boy,

 

“If you can bring back my daughter, lad, then I shall make you a knight”.

 

And so the young boy set off with only a knapsack full of food, following the beasts giant footprints and he followed them all the way to a dark forest and then deep into the forest until he saw a cave and, inside, the beautiful princess fast asleep.

 

But then, suddenly, the boy heard the sound of roaring from within the cave and so he ran and hid behind a tree then, from behind the tree, the young boy saw a little gnome appear, only about as high as his knee; taking off the hat that made it invisible and the little gnome had gigantic boots and gloves with long claws upon them and a horn that made a loud roaring noise when the gnome blew into it so that, while it was invisible it would appear to be a giant monster and not a little gnome.

 

And so, when the gnome had taken off its gigantic boots and its gloves with long monster claws and hung up its roaring horn the boy, emptying out his knapsack, rushed into the cave and threw it over the gnomes head capturing it and then, waking the sleeping princess with a kiss he took her and the gnome back with him to the palace.

 

And overjoyed to see his daughter safely returned, the King made the boy into a knight.

 

But then, some years later another monster attacked the palace; this one, a giant dragon of bronze with flaming breath and claws that shot out of its fingers like spears and, because the boy had rescued the princess, the king ran to him for help.

 

“You rescued my daughter. You defeated the invisible monster. Please help us defeat this giant bronze dragon before it destroys my palace and eats us all”, he said, adding,“And if you do, I shall give you my daughters hand in marriage”.

 

But the boy did not have a clue how to defeat the bronze dragon and so he went to the gnome that he kept locked up in a small cage.

 

“How do I defeat the dragon?”, he asked, “Tell me, Gnome, and I will set you free”.

 

So the gnome told the boy to put on his cap that would make him invisible and to climb up the creatures spiky tail onto its back and up to the top of its head.

 

“The beast is entirely covered from head to tail in thick bronze armour but there is one tiny hole, just as narrow as a needle and if you stick a needle in that hole and prick the beast then it will die”, said the gnome.

 

And so the boy set the gnome free and as soon as the cage door was opened the gnome ran away as quick as a hare and then, putting on the cap that made him invisible, the boy climbed up the bronze dragons spiky tail and over its back right up to its head and, at the top of the dragons head, he found the tiny hole that the gnome had mentioned, just as narrow as a needle, and poking a needle into it, he pricked the monster deep then, suddenly, bronze coloured  blood gushing up out of that tiny hole, the dragon came crashing to the ground.

 

Now, seeing the bronze dragon defeated, everyone round about cheered the brave young boy and the king was so happy that, just as he had promised, he allowed the young boy to marry his daughter and they both lived happily ever after.