He threw down the tree and rushed out of the town.

The people chased him at first. Some of them had guns by then. And they were firing at him. But he ran like the wind and got away from them. He was far from town. But he was hurt and in pain. He wanted to lie down. But there was no place. And snow was falling again.

Just then, he saw smoke rising over some treetops. He walked past the trees and came to a little farmhouse. How warm it would be in that little house! How he wanted to go inside! But there would be people in it. And he was so afraid of people now.

Then he noticed something else. Right up against the house was a tiny hut. Its roof was too low for even a child to stand inside. Perhaps an animal lived there. He sneaked up and looked inside. It was empty!

He crawled into it and lay down. There was no wooden floor. Just earth. But it was dry. My Creature had gone through so much since the day that I made him. But now he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Chapter 3

Sounds more beautiful than the singing of birds awakened him. But where were they coming from? Not from outside. They were coming from the wall! There was a tiny hole in one wall of the hut. The Monster sat up and looked through it. Now he could see right into the other house!

An old man was sitting inside, playing a guitar. The sounds were so sweet, they made the Monster cry. After a while, a young woman came into the room. She brought the old man a plate of food.

“Did you take anything for yourself, Agatha?” the old man asked.

“Oh yes,” said his daughter. “I have a whole plateful.” But this was not true.