“Gogi! Gogi!” Suzanne yelled out frantically, but Gogi, her pup, was nowhere to be seen!
Searching for Gogi, Suzanne did not even realise when she had entered the ‘monster-forest’. Now, the ‘monster-forest’ was not a good place for children. The monsters of the forest were known to take away children who strayed into the forest, and kept them as workers in their caves. It was said that the children were never allowed to leave the forest or even see their friends or family. They were lost to the world!
Tired, Suzanne decided to rest for a little while. ‘I will just rest my head on this soft moss-covered stone on the ground for a little while and then I will look for Gogi again,’ she thought. And she fell asleep!
When Suzanne woke up, it was almost evening and it was getting dark. Hungry, scared and worried for Gogi, she started crying.
“Who is making such a lot of noise?” roared a voice.
“Waaaaaahhhhhh!” wailed Suzanne loudly. “I have lost my Gogi!” she cried.
“Stop! Stop!” the voice roared louder. And Suzanne cried even harder. Scared of the voice, she cried even louder and harder. The louder the voice roared, the louder Suzanne cried. The loud voice said, “I can’t take this noise any more. It is hurting my ears! Please stop!”
“Then, please help me find Gogi!” screamed Suzanne louder and louder.
“Wait there!” the loud voice commanded.
“But where are you?” asked Suzanne, surprised. However, there was no response. A short while later, Suzanne saw Gogi happily coming towards her. Tail wagging, yapping in joy, it hugged and licked her. Suzanne was elated.
“Thank you! Oh, thank you so much!” she cried loudly in joy. “Now don’t start yelling again, please!” said the loud voice earnestly.
“But who are you?” asked Suzanne loudly. Just then, from under a tree-trunk emerged a wrinkled and ugly-looking monster, with cotton stuffed in his bleeding ears. He was shorter than even Gogi! ‘He definitely sounds scarier than he looks!’ thought Suzanne.
“I am the scariest and most dangerous monster of the forest. All animals and children are afraid of me. But your loud voice made my ears bleed!” he cried before running back into the jungle.
From then on, no other child disappeared in the ‘monster-forest’. Suzanne had, unknowingly, with her loud screaming, scared the scariest, child-stealing monster!
