The old man has been feared by the village for years. It is said that he abducts children and hands them over to a terrifying beast that dwells in the dark forest. Everyone considers him a ruthless villain.
That afternoon, a little girl, barely 10 years old, is playing carefree near the village when the old man approaches her.
-Come, come with me,’ he says in a raspy voice.
Naively, she follows him into the darkness of the forest.
Finally they reach a desolate clearing and it is then that the old man leaves her there, to the horror of the little girl.
Paralysed with fear, she sees a wild creature emerge from the trees, a terrifying nightmare creature she has never seen before.
A deformed, grotesque beast, approaching her, dragging its claws and showing its sharp fangs.
The girl was lost, the beast opened its jaws to devour her when, suddenly, the old man appeared from his hiding place, wielding a cane.
Without hesitation, he lunges at the creature and strikes it hard. At that moment, a strange eclipse covers the skies and mysterious flames engulf the monster as it writhes in pain, slowly consuming itself until it disappears completely.
After the eclipse dissipates, the old man rushes over to the terrified girl:
-For years this beast has devoured hundreds of children in the village, luring them with its trickery. But today, thanks to you, the prophecy has been fulfilled and I have finally defeated it.
The girl does not understand anything. The old man they all feared turned out to be her saviour.
They return to the village, where the people are horrified to hear her story, for they had always believed that the old man was the villain.
But when they try to look for him to thank him, the old man has disappeared without a trace.
The years passed and that experience became a legend. A badly told story where the old man was the supposed villain, when in reality he had been the hero who defeated the beast and freed the village from its threat.
A legend that still lives on in the villages near the forest, where he is remembered as ‘the saviour’, the old man with the reddish beard who fulfilled the prophecy and since then, no more children have been reported missing.
