tremendous monster in fear, when she wasn't even looking for ivory anymore?
Grundy wanted to return to the bed and continue his daytime nap, but was afraid the Monster would change his mind and depart without them if he gave him too much leisure. So he decided to keep the Monster's mind occu- pied. The best way to do that, he knew, was to get him talking about himself.
"Where did you get the reputation for consuming dam- sels in distress?" he asked.
"Now that's a long and sad story, replete with irony," the Monster honked, trundling down to the water.
That was exactly what Grundy wanted: a story that would distract the creature for a significant period. "I'm interested in learning the truth," Grundy said encourag- ingly.
"Well, let me get settled comfortably, and I'll tell you."
The Monster completed his trundle to the water, exca- vated sand with his flippers, formed a comfortable cavity, and commenced his narration:
"It all started (the Monster narrated) back in Mundania perhaps five thousand years ago, give or take a few hundred. It seems there had been a number of storms in the region of a land called Ethiopia (Mundanes have strange place names) and the superstitious natives believed that, if they sacrificed their King's daughter to the sea, the storms would stop. That was nonsense, of course; any self-respecting storm would simply take the damsel and continue unabated. So they chained the beautiful virgin named An-dro-meda to a rock by the sea and left her there.
"Now it was sheer happenstance that I was in the area, and heard about it from the local fish. They said that this truly luscious morsel of mortal distaff pulchritude was exposed near the shore, with no one to help her. That bothered me; I don't have any particular brief for land creatures, and less for those of the human persuasion;
but, though the males can be troublemakers, the females can be rather innocent. They should have chained out a man in armor, not a harmless damsel. There wasn't even any storm in the area at the moment. So I went to look— and do you know, she was indeed a luscious creature, ripe and succulent and fully packed. The tide was rising, and a peculiar Mundane fish called a shark (I warned you about those names!) was circling, waiting for the water to rise enough to enable it to swim to her and tear off some of that tender flesh. Even if the fish didn't eat her, the rising water would drown her, so she was obviously doomed.
"Well, I decided to do something about it. I wasn't lim- ited to the water the way the fish was, though I do prefer
it; it offers a usual support, for one thing. So I hauled myself out and approached her. Oh, she was a lovely creature! If I had any taste for flesh, I would have slavered over her attributes. She had more meat on her rib-cage than I had seen in decades, and her hams were plush indeed!
"She saw me and ululated, I presume with pleasure, for it was obvious that I had come to help her. I inserted a tusk into a link of the chain that bounded her hind foot and wedged it out of the stone. That freed her—but I knew it would be useless to return her to the savage folk who had chained her so cruelly here. I tried to tell her that if she would just climb on my back, I would carry her safely to some more equitable culture, but of course I could not speak her language. So I tried to signify my intent by gestures, and I think she was beginning to under- stand.
"Then this idiot wearing winged slippers came flying by. He had a sword in his right front appendage and a circular shield on his left, and without waiting to ascertain any part of the situation he dropped down and pricked me in the snoot with his weapon. Now my snoot is very tender, and he happened to strike a vein; blood welled out and spread across my face, splattering into my eyes. Had I realized his intent, I would never have permitted him to approach; I could readily have knocked him out of the air with a tusk. But I have ever been slow to
Grundy wanted to return to the bed and continue his daytime nap, but was afraid the Monster would change his mind and depart without them if he gave him too much leisure. So he decided to keep the Monster's mind occu- pied. The best way to do that, he knew, was to get him talking about himself.
"Where did you get the reputation for consuming dam- sels in distress?" he asked.
"Now that's a long and sad story, replete with irony," the Monster honked, trundling down to the water.
That was exactly what Grundy wanted: a story that would distract the creature for a significant period. "I'm interested in learning the truth," Grundy said encourag- ingly.
"Well, let me get settled comfortably, and I'll tell you."
The Monster completed his trundle to the water, exca- vated sand with his flippers, formed a comfortable cavity, and commenced his narration:
"It all started (the Monster narrated) back in Mundania perhaps five thousand years ago, give or take a few hundred. It seems there had been a number of storms in the region of a land called Ethiopia (Mundanes have strange place names) and the superstitious natives believed that, if they sacrificed their King's daughter to the sea, the storms would stop. That was nonsense, of course; any self-respecting storm would simply take the damsel and continue unabated. So they chained the beautiful virgin named An-dro-meda to a rock by the sea and left her there.
"Now it was sheer happenstance that I was in the area, and heard about it from the local fish. They said that this truly luscious morsel of mortal distaff pulchritude was exposed near the shore, with no one to help her. That bothered me; I don't have any particular brief for land creatures, and less for those of the human persuasion;
but, though the males can be troublemakers, the females can be rather innocent. They should have chained out a man in armor, not a harmless damsel. There wasn't even any storm in the area at the moment. So I went to look— and do you know, she was indeed a luscious creature, ripe and succulent and fully packed. The tide was rising, and a peculiar Mundane fish called a shark (I warned you about those names!) was circling, waiting for the water to rise enough to enable it to swim to her and tear off some of that tender flesh. Even if the fish didn't eat her, the rising water would drown her, so she was obviously doomed.
"Well, I decided to do something about it. I wasn't lim- ited to the water the way the fish was, though I do prefer
it; it offers a usual support, for one thing. So I hauled myself out and approached her. Oh, she was a lovely creature! If I had any taste for flesh, I would have slavered over her attributes. She had more meat on her rib-cage than I had seen in decades, and her hams were plush indeed!
"She saw me and ululated, I presume with pleasure, for it was obvious that I had come to help her. I inserted a tusk into a link of the chain that bounded her hind foot and wedged it out of the stone. That freed her—but I knew it would be useless to return her to the savage folk who had chained her so cruelly here. I tried to tell her that if she would just climb on my back, I would carry her safely to some more equitable culture, but of course I could not speak her language. So I tried to signify my intent by gestures, and I think she was beginning to under- stand.
"Then this idiot wearing winged slippers came flying by. He had a sword in his right front appendage and a circular shield on his left, and without waiting to ascertain any part of the situation he dropped down and pricked me in the snoot with his weapon. Now my snoot is very tender, and he happened to strike a vein; blood welled out and spread across my face, splattering into my eyes. Had I realized his intent, I would never have permitted him to approach; I could readily have knocked him out of the air with a tusk. But I have ever been slow to
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