The disaster happened on the most beautiful of days. The wind was blowing through the pleasant meadows, sending cherry blossoms drifting through the air like snowflakes. The rich smell after a rainstorm tickled the ex-jester's nostrils as he wandered through the meadow, feeling the warm sun upon his back. Today, for once, was a day in which he did not regret the way things had gone. This was the life, the life of ... well, he didn't know what yet, but for once, a day out here was better than life at the castle. Oh, how quickly that had ended ... he had insulted the king a few too many times for his comfort, and after seeing the monarch cast a leering glance at him, it took Gustav only a split second to decide it was time to walk a different life path. So he had jumped out a window and set out to find one. And what a beautiful day it was! Perfect for looking!

Gustav whistled blithely upon the path, and the bells on his shoes and brightly colored coat jingled merrily to the tune of his boisterous mood. But he stopped abruptly when he saw the deep hole at the roots of a crooked and wizened tree. That hole was massive. So big ... bigger than King Crow's gilded boots. That hole could only have been made by one thing ... Gustav paled. That hole could only be Its home.

All the villagers knew It was there. The old wives and mothers told Its story to their children when they misbehaved. Gustav himself remembered quivering in his little shoes after hearing Its tale. The only consolation was that they had no reason to fear It as of yet. It never left the vast tunnels that it had dug underneath the roots, though people had gone missing in the meadow before.

Gustav gasped and slowly backed away, wondering how he could have been so foolish as to have wandered into Its meadow. Why, of all the meadows in the world, did he set his jingling feet towards this one?