by Peter Ponzo
The Monster
Digger woke up when the ground started to shake.
“What’s that?” he said, but Hopper was still sleeping.
Digger looked around and saw that the rabbit’s house was much bigger than his wormhouse. It had high ceilings and wide walls and when he looked up he could see some light coming through the hole in the ceiling. It must be daytime.
Then the ground started to shake again and the hole disappeared and it was dark.
“Hopper!” Digger shouted. “Wake up! The monster is coming!”
The rabbit jumped out of bed and stared at the ceiling.
“Humm, gracious me! The hole!” she cried. “Something has fallen on the hole to my burrow. How will we get out? We’re trapped!”
“Don’t worry,” said Digger. “I can make a new hole. Watch me.”
And Digger began to dig.
“Your hat!” shouted Hopper. “You forgot your hat!”
“Oh, I forgot,” said Digger, and he took off his hat and placed it carefully on the ground. Then he started digging again.
Hopper watched him. She had never seen anybody dig so quickly. Dirt was flying everywhere. Soon Digger had made another hole in the ceiling and he crawled out onto the ground.
“Come on!” Digger shouted. “Let’s get out of here!”
“Humm, humm, it’s too small!” Hopper said. “The hole is much too small for me!”
So Digger began to dig again and soon the hole was big enough for the rabbit to hop out. They looked around. The shaking had stopped. It was very quiet.
Then they heard a noise and Hopper jumped three times. Thump, thump, thump.
“Something is coming!” Hopper said. “Let’s get out of here!”
And the rabbit hopped away as fast as she could.
Although Digger could dig very quickly, he couldn’t run very quickly. So he crawled to the rabbit hole and was just about to go back down into Hopper’s house when something grabbed him.
“No!” he shouted. “Let me go! I’m just a little worm and ...”
“Digger!” someone shouted. “Don’t be afraid. It’s me!”
Digger looked up and saw Legs standing over him.
“Oh, Legs, you scared me silly,” he said.
“I’m very sorry,” Legs said. “I was sleeping under that bush, then I felt the ground shake, then I woke up and saw you and Hopper.” She looked around. “Where’s Hopper,” she said.
“She was afraid and hopped away,” Digger said. “And I think we should get out of here too.”
“I think so, too,” Legs said. “I could hardly sleep at all, I was so frightened.” And she started to run.
“Wait!” Digger shouted. “Wait for me!”
Legs stopped, looked down at the little worm and said, “If I wait the monster will come.”
“Let me climb up onto your back,” Digger said, “then you can run as fast as you can.”
“Oooh, a worm crawling on my back,” Legs said.
“Are you afraid of me?” Digger asked.
“No, of course not,” Legs said. “It’s just that I’ve never had a worm on my back before.”
“Well,” said Digger, “you can jump on my back and then I’ll run as fast as I can.”
“Silly worm,” Legs laughed. “Okay, climb on,” and she lay on the ground and the little worm crawled onto her back and held tightly to her fur.
“Ready?” Legs asked.
“Ready!” Digger shouted.
And Legs jumped to her feet and ran as fast as she could. The trees rushed by and Digger could hear the wind whistle through her hair and he held on tightly and closed his eyes.
Once he heard a loud CRASH and he felt Legs jump twice as high, and he felt her back shake, and he knew she was very frightened.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered, but she couldn’t hear the little worm.
After a long time Legs stopped running and started panting, her tongue hanging out, tired and thirsty and afraid.
“Are we there yet?” shouted Digger.
“Where?” said Legs.
“Wherever we’re going,” said Digger.
“Where do you think we are going?” Legs said.
The doe lay on the ground and Digger crawled out of her fur and down her leg.
“Aren’t we going someplace?” he asked. “I forgot. Where were we going?”
“Oh Digger, we were running away from the monster. The noise. The shaking. Hopper ran away. Don’t you remember anything?”
“Oh, yeah,” Digger said. “Now I remember. But where’s that black bird?”
“Crow?” said Legs.
“Yeah, Crow. Where’s Crow?”
“He hasn’t come back yet. He went to check on the monster. When he comes back we’ll decide what to do, where to go.”
Just then there was a great CRASH far off in the woods.
“Well,” Digger said, “I don’t think we should wait for Crow. I think we should see this monster for ourselves.”
Then Digger crawled back up onto the doe’s back. “Legs! Run as fast as you can ... to the monster. We’ll see what it’s doing, then we’ll decide what we should do.”
Legs began to tremble.
“No,” she said. “I can’t. I’m afraid.”
“But you are the fastest animal in the forest,” Digger said.
Of course, he hadn’t seen too many animals so he didn’t really know if she was the fastest, but she was fast and he couldn’t imagine any giant monster running as fast as she could.
“Do you really think I’m the fastest?” Legs said.
“Definitely!” Digger said. “Nothing can run as fast as you can.”
So Legs jumped to her feet, looked in the direction of the CRASH they had heard, then started running.
It wasn’t long before the sounds got louder ... CRASH ... CRASH ... and Legs stopped.
“Are we there yet?” Digger shouted.
“Shhh,” whispered legs. “We are at the edge of the forest. But it’s moved.”
“Moved?” said Digger. “What’s moved?”
“The edge of the forest has moved,” Legs said. “It used to be over there, but now it’s right here. Over there, the trees are gone. Eaten. Chewed up.”
Digger climbed higher on her back, onto her shoulders then onto her head. He looked out and saw that they were at the edge of the forest. In front of them was an empty field full of stumps and pieces of logs and bark and sawdust and the ground was all scratched and there were no trees and the sun was very bright.
“Yeah,” Digger said. “The trees are eaten up, sure as shootin’.”
Just then there was another great CRASH and Legs jumped high in the air and started to run back into the woods.
“Wait!” Digger shouted. “Let’s see what’s happening here!”
Legs was shaking all over, but she stayed in the shadows at the edge of the forest and waited. They could hear a sound, grinding, whining, screaming.
“The giant,” Legs said. “It’s coming.”
“Wait,” Digger said. “Just one more minute.” So they waited.
Then they saw it. It was a tree taller than all the others. It had stood there, in that very same place, for hundreds of years. Legs knew that tree. She had played under the tree as a small fawn. Her mother had played there and her Aunt had played there. Her father and her Uncles had played there.
But the tree was leaning, leaning, falling, falling, crashing to the ground. It hit other trees as it fell and the other trees fell too.
CRASH! CRASH!
The forest was smaller. The sun shone onto the fallen trees and into the dark forest behind. Squirrels screamed and ran away. Birds flew up into the air, screeching. Soon the dark forest would be no more. Instead there would be a dry field with black stumps and pieces of log and bark and sawdust, with the ground all scratched and the sun very bright.
Then they saw it: the Monster.
It was almost as tall as a tree and it had great arms which reached out and screamed and its mouth chewed at the bottom of another tree and that tree leaned and fell and the monster reached out and lifted the tree off the ground, high into the air, and it peeled off the branches and the branches fell crashing to the ground and the giant coughed loudly and walked slowly to another tree, then another, then another ... and the forest disappeared, eaten by the monster.
The end of the world. It was coming.
Legs turned and ran back into the woods.
“I can’t stay,” she shouted. “Digger, what are we to do?”
When they reached the rabbit hole, Hopper was there, waiting.
“Humm, gracious, where have you been?” the rabbit said.
“The monster!” shouted Legs. “We’ve seen the monster and it eats trees and the forest is dying and it’s coming ...”
“What shall we do?” Hopper shouted. Then he looked around. “I can’t find Digger,” he said. “I think he’s gone back home.”
“No!” Digger said, sliding down the doe’s leg. “I’m here, and I have a plan. I know what we should do. I know how to stop the monster.”
Legs and Hopper sighed.
“How wonderful,” Legs said.
“Humm, quite a clever worm,” Hopper said.
And they waited while Digger straightened his hat.
And they waited.
“Well?” Hopper said.
“Well what?” Digger said.
“The plan,” Legs said.
“What plan?” Digger said.
“Digger!” Hopper shouted. “You said you had a plan! You said you knew what to do!”
Legs began to cry.
“Wait,” said Digger. “Yes, the monster, the plan, I remember now.”
Digger crawled up onto an old log and stood as tall as he could and the others watched him and listened. Digger explained his plan and they were quite amazed.
“You can do that?” Hopper asked.
“Oh
