A Moonlight Scam
An innocent farm girl falls victim to a cruel bait-and-switch
I found the cutest puppy last night!
There was a lovely full moon, so I was going for a stroll along the edge of the forest. I live near there, a few miles outside the village. I used to live in the village proper, but that little house was starting to feel a bit cramped. Plus, I was getting a lot of encouragement from the other villagers to move further away. Something about my pets bothering people? I didn’t really understand it. My pets are all very well-behaved. Even the kelpies stopped causing trouble once I enlarged their pond. Though it’s true that the cockatrice crows pretty loudly in the mornings. That’s probably what they were talking about.
Anyways, about the puppy. Such an adorable ball of silver fluff! Though he would have been more adorable if he weren’t all covered in blood…. Someone had obviously been bullying the poor thing. So of course I took him home with me to treat his wounds and clean him up. He came very obediently. Such a sweet little guy. Okay…not that little. He was actually too big to fit through the farmhouse door, so I had to put him in the barn. It made the horses a bit nervous — I don’t think they liked the blood smell. No reason to be scared of the puppy himself, of course. I mean, I know he’s as big as they are, but he’s obviously a sweetheart. Just look at that cute fluffy tail wagging….
He had bite marks all over him, but fortunately nothing too serious. I fixed him up the best I could and then got him something to eat. We keep plenty of meat around. The gryphons are always bringing home “presents.” They can’t stand to be outdone by the barn cats.
The puppy seemed pretty tired by that time. Poor fellow. I tucked him in and left him alone to rest for the night.
Shock! Outrage!
I came back early the next morning to check on the puppy and feed him breakfast. (I always get up early. That cockatrice really is loud….) But my adorable fluffball was gone!
And there was this muscular pretty boy lurking in my barn!
“How did you get in here? Where’s my puppy?”
“Ah, that was me.” He scratched his cheek and gave me a charmingly embarrassed smile. “I’m a werewolf, you see. Last night was the full moon, so I was stuck in my wolf form. I’m sorry if I startled you. I’m very grateful for — ”
Splash!
I shut him up by throwing the bucket of water I’d brought for the puppy in his face.
“Don’t try and sweet-talk me, you con artist! How dare you trick me with those adorable fluffy ears! Fraud! Shyster! I don’t want to adopt someone like you! Give me back my cute puppy!”
