The beast was confused. He couldn't figure out where all these little creatures came from. They were running around his legs and also up on the little rock outcrop next to his head.

     He found them to be somewhat cute, like little monkeys covered in weird animal skins, each one different from the next. As best he could tell, they were mostly adults, the one near his head on the cliff was a bit smaller and smelled more like a younger creature, like a child.

     He could hear them chattering to each other while pointing at him. They repeated sounds like "UUGE" and "MEGA" and the strangest one, " GEE-RAF" , many times.

     He was partly amused and partly annoyed at their skittering about, they were a bit like hairy mosquitoes. The child especially, was persistent in his attention, reaching out and stroking the beast's nose. It felt pretty good, but seemed somehow inappropriate. He let the little creature continue, but had not yet completely decided how he felt about it.

     The beast turned to the trees next to him and nibbled on some of the fresh young leaves near the top. The young leaves always tasted the best. It was hungry and wasn't about to let these little pests come between him and a nice meal. As he chewed on the leaves he glanced about and noticed the creatures were quite excited about his gastronomic efforts, the child most of all.

     The young creature was jumping up-and-down, clapping its paws together. The beast turned to take a closer look at the young one, who reached out and stroked his snout again. No longer amused, the beast quickly snatched the small creature in his jaws, took one crunchy chew and swallowed it. The beast was quite pleased with the taste. It was true, the young leaves always tasted the best.