My Own Made-Up Chapter of Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

The Giant Monster with Horns

          “Boys, and girls, I have a surprise for you,” announced Mrs. Jo one morning, after all the children had taken their seats. The boys all stared at her in amazement.

          Nat asked himself “we already have so much… What more could we want?” His question was answered shortly when Mother Bhaer said,

          “You have all worked hard and done well in your school this year, so Mr. Bhaer and I have prepared something special that we feel you will all like. You do not have to join us if you don’t want to, but tonight, we will make a fire, and sit around it. We can sing and tell stories and jokes and listen as our small, but good band plays music for us.” During the time when she was talking, the children watched, most thinking about how delightful Mrs. Bhaer’s brilliant plan would be.

          Then a whisper broke out among some of the children, like a sunflower sprout, and, just like sunflowers spread and grow taller, so did the whisper. It grew to a murmur, and eventually turned into everyone talking, having different conversations with each other. It kept growing louder as if every child was trying to make themselves heard over everyone else, which was probably what every boy, or girl, was trying to do.

          Mrs. Bhaer was a patient woman, and she knew that if she waited for a little bit, silence would come about almost as quickly as it had started. This soon happened, and she completed her exciting announcement with, “However, you still need to do well at your school today, and if you can do that – which I strongly believe that you can – you will earn the surprise. So, let’s get started!”

          That day, Nat, and all the other boys listened intently, wrote the neatest they could, and tried to remember everything Mr. Bhaer said. Of course, they already did all this often, but tonight sounded very exciting, and the children were determined to earn Mother and Father Bhaer’s generous surprise.

          This work throughout the day paid off, because at dinner that night, Mr. Bhaer said that they did very well on all their schoolwork, and were allowed to have the party after dinner.

          As was said, after a delicious and filling dinner – which the boys tried to hurry through – they went outside and gathered the already chopped wood and started a fire. Obviously, they made a fire with Mr. Bhaer’s help, though.

          The night was fantastic. All of the children came, and just like Mrs. Bhaer had promised, they all danced around and sang while Nat played his fiddle. Even Mother and Father Bhaer joined in and danced with the children along with the exciting music. Finally, when all the boys were tired, they all sat down and told stories around the fire. Some of them were funny and happy, while others were sad or scary. However, the one which Nat began to get goosebumps was the one that Tommy told.

          “You may have been told of many creature tales, but I guarantee none were like this one.” He cleared his throat and began, in a deeper, creepier voice, “A long time ago, there was once a creature, as kind as may be, who took care of the woods. He did not have a name, but he was known very well by all the people who lived near the woods. He would always play with the children, and they loved to visit him. He would carefully put them in the trees, and give them baby squirrels and rabbits to play with. As you can see, this creature was good.

          “The creature had horns and had light reddish brown, very thin hair, to blend in with the trees. He had hooves, and was said to have had the body of a horse, but the head of a bull. As I said, the creature’s job was to protect the forest from anyone who wished to harm it. Life was good for the creature, the forest, and all the children, until a man named Samuel moved into the small town.

          “Samuel was a cruel, selfish man, who believed that the tale of the creature was a myth when the locals in the town told him about it. Samuel came from a land where the price of bark from trees was growing in price, and he came to the forest to gather the bark and sell it in his hometown. Even though the children warned him about harming the forest, he ignored them and went anyway.

          “In the woods, Samuel decided that he would need lots of bark from the whole tree, instead of just the bottom. Since he brought his ax, he figured he’d cut down a few trees, for he didn’t care whether they were alive or dead. However, instead of cutting down ‘a few trees’, he cut down nearly ten! By this time, the creature had heard about Samuel cutting down the trees. He was very angry, and immediately went to stop Samuel. When he found him, Samuel was about to cut down another tree, so the creature charged and hit him, knocking him to the ground. Samuel, fearstruck, dropped his ax and ran as fast as he could out of the woods.

          “The creature, driven mad with fury, forbade everyone from entering his woods, and still lives on today, chasing off anyone who dares come into his forest. He first trusted humans, but he figured everyone was like Samuel, and changed his personality completely.” Finally, Tommy finished, and listened to the applause proudly.

          “Oh, my, would you look at the time!” cried Mr. Bhaer. “Everyone should be getting to bed by now – let’s go!” The children were off, most of them very sleepy. However, they felt wide awake, all thinking about the story Tommy had just told them. They put out the fire and walked back to Plumfield. They all bathed and slipped into their nightgowns. Almost at the same time as the boys all got into bed, were they asleep. All of the boys except Nat, who couldn’t sleep. He was thinking about the story Tommy had just told, trying to decide whether it was actually real or if Tommy had just made it up. Finally, he came to the conclusion that it was the second option.

          Nat awoke early the next morning. He realised that it was Saturday and immediately got dressed and went down to eat breakfast. There, he found Tommy talking with Demi, who were both eating. When Tommy saw Nat he said, “Say Nat, do you want to come on a walk in the woods with me today? Demi said he wants to read, so he won’t come.”

          Nat, completely forgetting about the story last night answered, excitedly, “Yes, I’d like that very much!” After breakfast, the two boys left for the woods. They had a good time, and had many different conversations about many different things.

          As they were walking along the path, they heard Franz say from about 20 feet away, “Hello Tommy! Could you come here? I need your help with something.” He would have asked Nat too, but from his angle, he could only see Tommy.

          “I’ll be right back.” said Tommy and he ran towards Franz. Nat wanted to stay there and wait for Tommy, but he was distracted by something shiny on the ground by the next turn in the path.

          Nat ran toward it, determined to discover what it was, but he stopped short, horrified as soon as he figured it out. It was an ax. It looked just like it was about to chop down a tree, but was dropped as if the owner was spooked. Then Nat remembered Tommy’s story the night before. Was it true? Was this really Samuel’s ax? Was this forest the forest in the story? Then, the most horrible question struck his mind… Was the monster real?

          Just then, Nat heard a branch snap behind him. He whipped around to find himself so terrified that he almost fainted. It was the creature. It had the body of a horse, was a light reddish brown, and had horns. Only, the horns looked as if they had grown longer and thinner, and were branching out in all different directions. Also, its snout was longer and pointier than a bulls, but Nat didn’t realize.

          Without hesitation, Nat screamed, rapidly turned, sprinted to the nearest tree and climbed it until the branches were too thin to put weight on. He looked down and saw the creature bounding across the ground. I thought that the creature was supposed to be brave thought Nat. Then, to his relief, Tommy and Franz came running his way.

          “Look!!” said Franz, but he wasn’t pointing at Nat; he hadn’t even seen him. He was pointing at Samuel’s ax on the ground. “I found my ax!” Nat felt relieved and confused at the same time. He saw the creature, but how had that been Franz’s ax and not Samuel’s?

          “That’s your ax?!” He called from the tree above them.

          “Nat!?” said both boys at the same time. “How did you get way up there, and why did you scream?” said Franz.

          “I saw the creature.” Nat’s face turned from happy to horrified as he pointed behind them. “Watch out!! It’s right behind you!!!!” Franz and Tommy both turned around, but didn’t run. Then, Tommy fell to the ground laughing until he was crying. The creature ran off, because Tommy’s cries were so loud. Nat was more confused than he had ever been in his life. Franz chuckled, then turned and looked at Nat.

           “It’s just a stag.” said Franz. “You can come down now. It’s okay.”

          “Oh,” said Nat. He felt so embarrassed but didn’t care. “That’s just the thing though, I can’t get down.” By this time Tommy had stopped laughing and stood up, wiping the tears off his face.

          “I’ll help you.” said Franz, and finally, after Franz and Tommy telling him step-by-step how to get down, Nat was finally on the ground again, still trembling. The boys walked back to the school.

          “By the way, that story wasn’t real.” said Tommy after Nat told them all that he had been feeling. “I just made it up last night.”

          “Franz,” began Nat, “why was your ax on the ground?”

          “I was chopping wood for the fire last night. I was about to take that tree when Stuffy told me that we had enough. I was so excited that I dropped my ax and left. I was looking for it when I saw Tommy, and I asked him to help me find it.”

          They got back and explained everything to Mr. and Mrs. Bhaer, who had been wondering where they were. Tommy was scolded by Mr. Bhaer for telling such ridiculous stories. Thankfully, though, everything turned out well in the end.