But he could feel its warmth. And the fire was pretty too. It changed colors and danced in the air.

There was a man sitting beside it. As the Thing came nearer, the man heard a noise behind him. He turned and looked straight into the Thing’s oozy yellow eyes. Into a face he could see through to the bones below!

My Creature was smiling. But the man did not see a smile. He saw the jawbones moving. And the giant teeth of long-dead bodies shining in the firelight. He tried to scream. But the scream wouldn’t come. In terror he got to his feet—and RAN!

The Creature did not know why the man had been so afraid. Perhaps there was something that HE should be afraid of as well. So he ran away too.

It was getting light now. Day was starting. As he walked on, he grew hungrier and hungrier. But he did not know what food was. Then he saw a little animal eating berries from a tree. He took some also. And that made him feel better. A deer showed him how to drink water from a brook.

After a while, he heard the chirping of birds. It made him happy. And he tried to sing the way they did. But his own sounds were loud and rough. He wasn’t sure where they came from and they scared him. So he became silent and hurried away.

Soon snow began to fall. The snow went on until it covered all the berries and the nuts. The air grew colder too. And now there was no warm place to rest. For three days and nights, my Monster walked on and on.

At last he came to a tiny village.