HORRIBLE MONSTER AND THE PRINCE

In old times there was a King. He was very popular in his Kingdom because of his kindness to his subjects.  He had a vast Kingdom spread over several miles of land consisting of big and small cities.  All his country-men loved him because of enormous facilities made available to them which made their lives very easy and happy. 

The King had a habit of visiting all the cities of his Kingdom regularly to meet people and to see their living standards. He was always ready to listen to anybody who was in any kind of trouble and order instant redress of his problems. The officials and workers of that Kingdom also knew his kind habits therefore they always tried their best to solve people’s problems to ensure that no complaint reached the King. Everybody was living a comfortable life and there was also no restriction of any kind of business local or with other countries.

In spite of all the happiness and luxuries in the Kingdom, people of the Capital City of Kingdom were facing a disastrous and painful misfortune due to which all their pleasures and contentment were marred up and spoiled. Due to this deplorable phenomenon, every face of the city looked sad and depressed. Even the thought of that unusual and dreadful occurrence kept the smiles of all faces away. Nobody looked interested in enjoying the luxuries of life made available to him by the King. The King always provided maximum facilities to the public to keep their minds busy in other luxuries of life but of no use. That unfortunate occurrence took place most regularly and without any break for the last many years. People were totally fed up and most of them, who could afford, had shifted to other cities. The ones who stayed back had no option but to stay as they were because they either had good jobs or had no resources to shift.

The King had three sons, Alexander, David and Andrew.  He had no daughter. All the three sons were grown up and were well groomed. They were strong, brave and had been properly trained by well experienced and renowned trainers of the Kingdom as warriors particularly in the use of arrow and sword. 

We know that in old days ‘might was right’. Wars were fought by arrows and sword. One-to-one fights were challenged and in some cases the enemy used to call the name of particular soldier or individual of the opponent army for one-to-one fight while both armies stood on each side watching. In such situations only bravery and strength were the deciding factors. It was therefore necessary for everybody to be ready for one-to-one combat. The King’s sons were basically strong and brave and on top of that they were fully taught all methods of sword and arrow use. 

The King loved all his three sons but the youngest, Andrew was most favorite and close to him. He was loved not only by the King himself but also by his elder brothers. He too loved the King and both his brothers. All the three brothers had followed their father’s habits. They loved the people of their country and were always ready to help anybody who needed it. Due to their kindness and closeness to the people, they were also very popular in public like their father. They always maintained direct contact with public and were well known by face to most of the people of Capital City.

The unfortunate phenomenon of the capital city of the Kingdom was that whenever some one died in the city and the dead body was buried, an awful Monster would come to the graveyard in the night and take away the dead body by dig-opening the grave. On the next morning when the bereaved family would go to the grave, they would find the grave wide open and empty. This situation was very distressing for the relatives of the deceased and they were not only under severe turmoil but were also under heavy mental pressure. Everybody in the city knew that, therefore all faces were pale, depressed and un-interested in the affairs of life as if corpses were walking in the city streets.  They were also depressed because of the feeling that it would be their own turn one day.

To counter the Monster, the management of the Kingdom and the citizens used several methods. They made different plans.  They organized combat squads of strongest and bravest men to guard the graveyard but whenever the Monster appeared, the members of such teams found themselves unable to hold on to their assignment. Severe shivering instantly overpowered them on seeing it moving in the dark. It was a huge black giant advancing towards the graveyard like a mountain. It looked just like a huge human-being with long arms, legs and the mouth, like a gorilla. It was so tall and high that one, standing on ground, had to look up to see its face. Nobody could even think of any method to strike it because going near it was impossible due to its horror. To make a forceful and fatal strike, it was necessary to go closer to it because the only arms available then, were arrows and the sword. If those were thrown from a distance, they would hardly make an effect on such a strong object. It just appeared that the shooter of arrow would be striking a mountain from a long distance. Members of assault squads were also terrified that if they shot an arrow, that would not make any effect and instead the offended Monster would jump and would catch them in no time. The mass body of the Monster was so wide that it was hardly possible to see anything beyond its figure either from its sides or from above its head. It just looked like a whole black night moving.

Some people were so frightened by that giant that they were not even ready to listen the mention of it. There was a great terror in the whole city and its surrounding areas. Population of the villages around the city were afraid lest it came to their graveyards too but thank God, that never went anywhere else.  Another strange thing about that evil monster was that it surprisingly never came to the graveyard when there was no burial. It gave a clear impression of doubt to the citizens that the Monster had some spies in the city to tell him exact date of burial or he had some magical system to get that information.  That state of affairs was continuing for the last several years and the new generation of the city did not even know as to when it had started.

The King, his sons and the total administration were much worried and wanted to stop that disaster but could not do anything.