The Hero of Glenford

            There once was a village called Glenford, nestled in a grassy valley, surrounded by tall, dark mountains. Five years ago, all the able-bodied men went off to fight a war with a clan who lived over the mountains. Now there were only kids, women and elderly folks living in Glenford. During the years that the men were away, many hardships and troubles plagued the village. Farming, cutting wood and tending the sheep in the fields were all hard jobs that the men used to do, and the women and kids were struggling to keep up with their duties. To make matters worse, strange things were beginning to happen.

            A huge, hairy beast, the likes of which no one had ever seen before stalked in the shadows. The thing was four feet tall or more with black beady eyes, brown fur and a long pink, hairless tail. It repeatedly snuck into their granary and gorged itself on the village’s stored food. Some called it a Rodent.

            What was even worse was a young mother of two children had not been seen for days. One night a scream rang out. Some of the old folks, women and few older kids came running with torches, stones and staves to see what was the matter. They found the woman who had been missing. She was white as a ghost. The mother was kneeling beside the beds of her children. A neighbor had been watching them. The mother cried, “What have I done?” An old man brought the torchlight nearer and discovered the two children and the neighbor were all shriveled and dead. The mother had blood on her lips and two red blood-dots on her neck. The old man guessed she had been bitten by a Vampire.

            On top of that, a big red reptile with wings and horns was seen flying overhead. One morning, a shepherd-boy found his whole flock of sheep burnt, black and crispy dead in the field. He saw the winged beast shoot forth what looked almost like blue fire that struck downward from the clouds and crackled and boomed loudly. The boy said it may have been a Dragon.

            Well that was the last straw. The next morning at dawn, Hawthorne, the wisest man in Glenford called a meeting in the village hall. “Something must be done!” he declared. “Our food is being stolen, our mothers turn against their own children and generations of sheep are being burnt in the fields.” The villagers screamed and yelled various woes and sighs and loud bursts of approval or dismay. “But what are we to do?” someone posed.

            The oldest boy in the village was 17. His name was Donovan. When the men left for war five years ago, Donovan was a sickly, scrawny 12- year- old boy. But through time and hard work, he had grown big and strong enough to take care of his mother and  two younger sisters.

            The elders came to a unanimous decision very quickly. “Donovan, you are the obvious choice. Your skills, strength and vitality are unequaled. You are the Hero of Glenford!” Donovan swelled with pride. It didn’t matter to him one bit that no one else was even remotely qualified to be named the Hero of Glenford.

That very day he set out of the village on a quest to rid the valley of the Rodent, the Vampire and the Dragon, who were believed to live in the mountains around Glenford. His knapsack contained two loaves of bread, a snare for trapping small animals, an antique mirror his mother gave him for good luck and his trusty bow and arrows. All of Glenford stood at the gates of the crumbling village walls and waved Donovan farewell.

            Donovan’s first day’s trek through the valley was a pleasant stroll, but the next day the route became rocky and steep. The day after that, Donovan was climbing the mountain North of the village. By the third day Donovan had run out of food. He found a cave where he decided to spend the night. He made a fire and grabbed one stick for a torch and went inside.

The cave was musky, but he smelled something he never expected in there: bread and fruit. The he saw why. There were piles of food in the cave.

 “This must be the Rodent’s cave!” he said. Donovan got an idea. He took all the food out of the cave and hid it in the trees except for one wedge of cheese. Then he put his snare around it and hid and waited.

 That night, the Rodent came scurrying back to his cave to eat, but there was only the one piece of cheese left. Donovan watched as the Rodent went inside. Then he heard a nasty squeal. Donovan ran back to the cave with his torch just in time to see the snare pull tighter and tighter around the Rodent’s neck.

The snare pulled so tight that the Rodent’s head popped off and hundreds of tiny mice and rats ran out of its body and dispersed around the world. Donovan, nor anyone else at that time had seen such a thing, but from that day on, anywhere where people are, they will still have to deal with mice or rats, but at least Glenford would be free of the huge, terrible Rodent.

            It took Donovan a few days to find the next cave, but unfortunately for him it was dusk when Donovan entered the lair of the Vampire. The Vampire looked like a pretty normal guy, but he was stark white and wore a fancy robe. Two women, equally pale were at his side.

“We hunger Master,” they chanted to him in a whine.

 “Fear not, my children. We will go into Glenford tonight!” the Vampire told them. Donovan pulled out his trusty bow and placed his finest arrow on the string.

“You won’t be drinking the blood of any of the townspeople tonight, you beast!” Donovan cried as he loosed his arrow. The stone arrow head plunged directly into the Vampire’s chest and came out of his back, leaving the wooden shaft through his black heart.

In an instant the Vampire was reduced to a statue of ash. A fair gust blew up from the mountain and scattered the ashes, but they all turned into mosquitoes before they hit the ground. No one had ever seen them before, but from that day till today the tiny bugs will still try to drink your blood.

The two women began to show more color, and thanked Donovan for breaking the spell. He told them where he’d left all the stolen food outside the Rodent’s den, and the two ladies promised to go and get it and take it to Glenford.

Donovan didn’t even get a chance to find the Dragon’s lair. Instead he was ambushed by the winged beast the morning after he slew the Vampire as he walked through an open spot in the foothills.

There wasn’t much for cover and the Dragon shot forth the blue bolts at him in a fury. Donovan thought he was done for. He shot all the arrows he had with him at the Dragon, but most missed. Even the ones that did strike didn’t slow the flying monster down. So he pulled out his lucky mirror in hopes for inspiration. As he looked at his reflection he got an idea.

 He ran out into the open and waved his arms and yelled, “I’m right here Dragon! Finish me off!” The Dragon flew directly over Donovan and opened his toothy mouth. The blue stuff that almost looked like fire shot down at Donovan so fast he barely had time to react, but he managed to hold up his lucky mirror just in time. The lightning reflected off the mirror and killed the dragon, then kept going and got stuck in the clouds. No one had ever seen such a thing before, but from that day then till now, lightning still comes down from the clouds. It’s not intentional now, though, if anyone gets hurt.

Having vanquished all three of the scourges of the mountains, Donovan was free to go home to Glenford. He finally made it home in the middle of the night one night. Only his youngest sister heard him come in the house, and he told her all about his adventure. Of course the next day there was a huge celebration, and since the two ex-vampires kept their word, there was a feast. All the girls in the village wanted to marry Donovan, and he inspired all the boys to grow up to be strong and brave like he was. So through time the village of Glenford recovered from their disasters and became a prosperous village, all thanks to Donovan, the Hero of Glenford.