Once upon a time there was a very handsome prince called Hugo, who wanted to become king of a distant land of mountains and caves. Unfortunately his father had died and his uncle was now king, for the family did not believe that Hugo was brave enough to be king yet. This really annoyed Hugo, as you can imagine. He was convinced that he was valiant, but he just hadn’t had the chance to prove it.

One day, Hugo found out that most of the land’s adult men (including the king) were setting off to hunt a monster that was attacking their homes at night. In that mountainous land there was a kind of very famous and peculiar monster called the Monstro. It had three eyes, growled so loudly that you could hear him from miles away and on top of that he also drooled.

Hugo silently followed the men hunting the Monstro, and soon reached the dark cave where the monster lived. Hugo hid behind a rock from the other men, for he was the prince and easy to recognise.

While the group of men argued over how best to hunt the Monstro, Hugo snuck into the cave and went in search of it by himself. Once he had found it, Hugo threw himself on its leg to stop it moving, then pulled a sack over its head so that it wouldn’t bite him. After a few exciting and tense moments, Hugo tied its arms behind its back and took it out of the cave to show the king.

When Hugo told his uncle the story, the king was fascinated and knew that Hugo was now ready to be king. So he declared the news to his subjects and everyone applauded the decision. But Hugo added this: “If you had known me better, I wouldn’t have had to prove my courage with the monster. Because courage is inside a person and need only be shown in dangerous situations.”

THE END

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