At that time, there was a boy who was so cruel that even his parents could not take care of him. He laughed at other children when they got hurt and started to cry. His parents did not know what to think about their son's behavior. The boy seemed to be healthy but had the cruelest nature imaginable. One day, the boy decided to go to the woods. In his plan, he would worry his parents so much that they would be nearly broken into pieces. However, the cruel boy was not as smart as he thought. He did not realize that there would be other creatures in the forest as well. I would describe those creatures as the greatest monsters imaginable.
How cruel a boy can be, he was. He said ugly things to other children. So the boy was cruel, and even the parents disliked him, to be honest. The boy was cruel by nature. Perhaps he inherited his nature from his parents, who knows. The boy thought about how to be crueler than anyone else. He thought over and over again about how to hurt others. Should he hurt other children or his parents, he wondered. Perhaps he would hurt his parents first, and then others would suffer from his actions as well. So he decided to hurt his parents this time and take revenge for his cruel nature. The boy started thinking again about how to be a hurtful creature. There was an old forest they said he should avoid. The boy started thinking, perhaps there was something evil living in the forest. "I should go there to see the monster. Maybe I can even make the monster come home with me," the boy thought. So the boy decided to go to the forest.
At the same time, the shadows noticed the cruel boy and his thoughts. At first, the shadows thought it would not end well for the boy. "How can someone be so cruel?" the shadows thought. They believed the boy would encounter an even bigger monster in the woods. "Perhaps we should help the boy," the shadows pondered. So the shadows started whispering to the boy, telling him not to go to the forest. They whispered about how cruel the forest was and the even crueler monsters that lived there. However, the boy did not listen to the whispers. So the shadows began speaking to the boy, raising their voices to warn him. They tried to prevent the boy from meeting the monsters in the forest, but the boy was engrossed in his cruel games and did not listen. The shadows started screaming at the boy, but he just didn't hear the whispers, the speaking, or the screaming. It was as if his destiny was leading him into the woods, and he would hurt himself if he didn't wise up. As the day turned into evening, the shadows grew stronger while the boy played his cruel games all afternoon.
While the boy was heading back home, he started laughing, thinking about how clever he was to go to the forest where no one could find him. "They will search for me, but I won't listen," the boy thought.
There were darkened woods calling to the boy. For sure, he heard the call of the forest. So, he ventured into the woods, perhaps to scare his parents, who knows. Now we know he wasn't scared at all of going into the woods. The boy was now in the woods.
At first, he just laughed at his cruel thoughts. So cruel were his thoughts this time. No one saw the boy when he entered the forest, but the boy didn't think about that at all. He wondered how far he should go before someone would notice that he was not playing in the usual fields. Deeper and deeper he went into the forest, still contemplating his newfound wisdom. The shadows were quiet.
The sunshine observed the boy's progress but remained silent as well. The shimmering sunlight turned into shadows as the boy went deeper into the forest. The boy did not mind the increasing darkness of the woods. He thought it was the perfect place to hide.
This time, the woods started talking. The boy almost heard the forest talking, but he ignored the words because he believed he was alone in the woods. The forest warned him that he would encounter the monsters that lived there. "This is not a place for a lonely child," the forest added. However, the boy only heard the wind in the woods and nothing else. The sunlight disappeared as the boy continued walking deeper into the forest. "Is there someone?" the boy started thinking.
The boy thought about the animals in the forest and was a little surprised that he had not seen any movement. The animals had heard the boy walking between the trees when he entered the forest and ran in different directions. The forest was silent. When the boy didn't see anyone, he started looking for animal tracks. He found some paths the animals had crossed, but everything was still silent.
This time, one creature spotted the boy. A giant butterfly was flying in the near distance and saw the cruel boy. The boy didn't know, but those giant butterflies were the meanest and evilest creatures around. The butterfly had evil thoughts about the boy. "Perhaps he will be there just to keep me company," thought the butterfly. "I will surprise the boy by playing some evil and cruel games with him. The boy will see how fun it is to play with butterflies." The butterfly was highly amused by the boy's presence. "This time, I will be the cruelest," the giant butterfly thought. Unbeknownst to the boy, he had been spotted by the butterfly as he walked deeper into the woods.
"That boy is the cruelest there is," thought the forest. "I am sure I can find a creature crueler than he is in the woods." After some thoughts, the forest reached a conclusion. "I might know now," thought the forest. "The boy will meet a great butterfly to discover who is the cruelest." The forest smiled at the creatures. The forest had always been there, ancient and forgotten. It had been there for a long time, and people rarely walked in the woods. Children were always told not to cross the line between the fields and the forest or cross the tiny river where the darkened woods truly began.
Usually, children listen to their parents and avoid crossing through the forest. So, the forest was ancient, but so were the other creatures living there. The deer were somewhat a hundred years old because no one hunted them. The flowers in the spots of sunlight in the forest were always there because no one picked them. The flowers were also giant because there was no one to see them grow. The butterflies, well, those butterflies were also giant because they could feed on the great flowers and no one ever saw them. The forest was old and mean, but nothing compared to the butterflies that inhabited it.
There was screaming all over the forest. The butterflies were so loud that no one could hear when they flew across the forest searching for flowers. Perhaps it was the old age of those creatures that made them so mean. Perhaps it had been a long time since they had seen anyone in the forest, which made them mean. Perhaps the woods and the creatures simply had the evilest nature of them all. Now, with someone in the woods, the creatures contemplated how to be the meanest to the cruel little boy. The forest echoed with their discussions. "We will scare the cruelty out of the boy," the creatures said. "We will teach him to be an even meaner little boy," the creatures planned. They believed that this time he would learn what real hurt felt like. The creatures yelled, and the forest agreed. They decided not to reveal themselves to the boy yet. They would continue looking for him and only show themselves when the boy seemed all alone in the forest, with no one searching for him. That would truly scare him, the creatures thought.
The other animals continued to run. They could hear the boy's footsteps. The boy walked straight into the forest without considering who might hear him. The animals stood still and listened. Then they started laughing at the boy. "The boy doesn't know," the animals thought. "He's not afraid of us," they realized. "How silly is that boy?" the animals said. "We will show him what this forest is all about," the animals thought. They would show the boy the true meaning of fear.
The butterfly flew through the woods, searching for the biggest flowers to suck the nectar from. The butterfly screamed and flew through the woods, still searching. Its scream was so loud that it sent all the other animals running in different directions. The forest contemplated quietly. The butterfly continued seeking the sunlight as the day started turning into evening once again.
The sun smiled at the boy, for the sun is the greatest monster of all. The sun knows everything, hears everything, and sees everything. The sun is the greatest, and as human beings, we should acknowledge that. So, the boy grew wiser in the woods, or so the sun thought. It was nice for the boy and his parents, the sun thought, to see this end well. "Perhaps there is a reason the boy is in the woods now," the sun pondered.
Meanwhile, the butterfly flew to the flowers and then to other flowers, sucking the nectar to satisfy its hunger. The butterfly spotted the boy in the woods. "There he is," thought the butterfly. "Now is the time to see what a mean little creature that boy is." So, the butterfly started circling over the boy's head.
The boy was focused on finding a path back home, but, to be honest, he was already lost. However, he didn't start weeping or thinking about being lost. He believed that someone else was already in the forest looking for him, so he started shouting to find those others. The boy shouted and shouted, but no one answered him.
The butterfly was pleased. "Now the boy is lost, and I can play some cruel games with him," thought the butterfly. The butterfly answered the boy. First, it whispered to the boy, and this time, the boy heard the whisper.
"There is a way back home, and I've been spotted, so no worries," thought the boy. However, he didn't realize that the butterfly was just lying to him. There was no path back home yet, so he shouldn't have been listening to the butterfly's whispers. The butterfly started screaming at the boy. The boy started running deeper into the woods, but the butterfly didn't know which direction the boy went. The boy thought he was running straight, but he was so scared that he couldn't think clearly.
The boy also noticed that the sun was going down, and it was getting darker in the forest. He wasn't weeping yet, but he was more scared than ever before. The boy was already scared, but now he started to forget about his cruelness because he no longer heard the butterfly. He thought it was just his imagination and fear playing tricks on him. So, the boy felt fine again, but he was all alone in the forest. He started looking for the path home but couldn't find it. He sat down by the trees and truly contemplated his situation. "I'm fine here. There's nothing to be scared of," the boy concluded.
The sun smiled, and the day had already passed when the boy found the flowers again. "There is still some sunlight with the flowers, so I can go back home," the boy thought. However, that wasn't entirely true because he had walked in the woods all day and still didn't know where he came from. So, he wandered through the trees back to the great flowers. He began to see how the sunlight had already faded for the day.
The boy felt sleepy. "There's nothing to be scared of. I'm fine where the flowers are," the boy thought. He sat down in the middle of the flowers and then started feeling sleepier. He crawled underneath the flowers and closed his eyes. The flowers sang him beautiful songs, and the boy fell asleep. The day turned into night.
The animals knew where the boy was but kept their distance. The forest filled with the calls of the animals. They called to each other to share how the cruel boy was no longer cruel. The boy slept, unaware of the animals in the woods. He had a beautiful nightmare where he was all alone in the forest, and no one knew where he was. By night, the boy dreamt of encountering bigger monsters than he was. The monsters called out to him, the cruel boy, to show him true cruelty. The boy slept through the night, and the monsters started getting closer. The animals also crept closer to the boy as he slept.
The next morning, the boy woke up and was surprised to find himself still in the forest. He wondered how he was still there and if his parents knew where he was. "Why haven't they found me?" the boy thought. "I should have slept in my bed instead of here," he pondered. He was surprised and started noticing the movements in the forest. "Finally, someone to save me," he thought. Those movements in the forest were the animals.
The animals had come closer during the night and were practically staring at the boy. "What a silly boy," the animals thought. The boy became scared as the animals stared at him. There were deer, bears, and a giant butterfly nearby. The boy wondered why the animals were so quiet. He questioned whether they wished to harm him or convey something. The boy decided to run. He ran through the flowers, but he tripped and fell. The boy, once so cruel, was now truly scared. He was scared, all alone, and already wishing he had never gone to the forest. He hoped to be back home with his parents. At the same time, he blamed his parents for not finding him in the forest. "How could they leave me here without finding me?" the boy thought. "Now I must run from these strange animals on my own, and I'm tired," he continued. "So much for the fun. Now I'm truly lost," the boy guessed. He was lost, scared by the animals, and all alone. Whether there was hope to find his way home, we do not know. The animals left in different directions, leaving the boy scared and weeping. The boy didn't notice one animal, as he was too preoccupied with shaking and crying. He wept because his cruelness had already disappeared.