A long time ago, in the immemorable days, the gods brought peace to the Lenape people after many decades of war. The people smoked their peace-pipes, and retired to their houses. The gods were content, with the exception of the Evil God. He wanted to create discord among the Lenape people, and therefore he had sent their mortal enemy, the Navajo-Apache tribe of the southwest, to make war with them. The Navajo-Apache tribe attacked, and emerged victorious for the Lenape were unprepared. They were furious at the tribe and the Evil God, and for that reason the Lenape attacked the Navajo-Apache, and emerged victorious this time for now the Navajo-Apache were unprepared. The Navajo-Apache attacked the Lenape, and they were beaten. The two tribes each smoked a peace-pipe, and the Navajo-Apache dared not to attack since then.
The Evil God didn’t like peace and  he was so angry that he decided that he will get his revenge on the braves who had emerged victorious, and he will make them pay. Therefore, he created a monster, the dreaded Procrafagiffs, or the child-devourer. Once the monster was finished, the Evil God sent him to Earth. Every midnight, the children of the braves’ houses disappeared.
The Chief sent out 10,000 braves to fight the Procrafagiffs, and they all perished, by the way of the monster’s poisoned tail. The Chief knew that only the priests can help him solve his problems. Therefore he consulted the elder of the tribe, Sunspot VI, who was the great-great-great-great-grandson of a famous advisor to a very wise chief. Sunspot spent many days and many nights, praying to the gods, who at last answered his prayers by sending two sorcerers down to earth, Red Feather and his cousin, Blue Feather.
When Red Feather caught the Procrafagiffs a few nights later, he used his magical powers and mystical arts to seal the terrible monster in a tree, which he thought would be the greatest prison for such an evil being. However, he also unintentionally trapped his cousin, Blue Feather in the tree, and he regretted doing so. Red Feather wanted to break the spell, but if he did, the Procrafagiffs too, would escape his prison, and eat the children of the Lenape, as the Evil God wished. Therefore, Red Feather departed in deep sorrow.
* * *
It was in the archives of the Museum of Natural History in New York City, where I, Professor Michael Orman,  found this legend. After reading it, I was so intrigued by it that I decided to visit the legend. I wanted to find out more about it. My good friend, Master Thomas Nicholas Andre John Andrew III, or Mr. Andrew, had built a Time of Legend Machine in the year 2222 AD. I was present at its building, and Mr. Andrew had admitted me to his crew to travel back in time. The Time Machine was not only able to travel back in time but also travel to various legends. I went to Mr. Andrew’s house to tell him about the Procrafagiffs legend, and beg him to go there.
“Professor,” he said. “Are you suggesting that we go back to this legend you heard about?”
“Yes, and that is where we shall save the poor inhabitants of the Lenni Lenape Tribe,” I replied.
“That is not the true purpose of the Time Machine,” Mr. Andrew contradicted. “The true purpose is to save animals from extinction. On the other hand, we have never visited a legend before. We have saved animals from harm. Very well, we shall do the same for people. Professor Orman, gather the rest of the crew.”
I was delighted to hear that I had his consent. I went to fetch the chief nurse, Dr. Lydia, and she gathered the rest of the crew. There were ten people in the crew besides myself and Mr. Andrew, so it did not take her long to gather them. They were all loyal to their captain.
Mr. Andrew led us all inside the Time Machine. I sat next to the control panel, and dialed the words; Legend of Procrafagiffs. Then, I pressed a green button that said GO on it, and then the Time Machine began to spin.
After it had finished several thousand revolutions, it was flung forward, and I felt that we were going backwards and downwards. The machine gave a mighty WHOOSH, and we were thrown forward again. We were flung out of the Time Machine, landing on the ground of New Jersey in the times before the arrival of Europeans. Mr. Andrew gave us microscopic Universal Translators (UTs), to be able to talk normally so that the Lenape tribe could understand us, and we could understand them.
* * *
Once we landed in the Lenni Lenape village, I stood up and looked around the site in front of me. There were a lot of natives walking around. They had paintings on them made from different colors. They were dressed in leggings made out of buckskin. They wore moccasins, and some were wearing a wooden circlet with a single quail feather producing from them. There were Indian braves equipped with bows, arrows and tomahawks. Nearby, there were longhouses, which contradicted my ideas of them living in teepees.
“As a natural historian, Professor Orman, you should know better,” Mr. Andrew said, noticing my disappointment.
“I study prehistory, not Lenape history,” I replied. “Anyway we need to see the Chief.”
“Nobody can see the Chief!” a voice interrupted from behind us. “If you look upon the face of the chief, Gitche Manito, the great Spirit, will punish thee.” I turned around. It was a Lenape brave who had just spoken. I stood up in front of him.
“We must,” I insisted. “I have heard about the monster who is devouring children of the Lenape tribe. I want to help.”
“How can you help?” asked the brave. “Are you the chosen one?”
“Who’s the chosen one?” I inquired.
“Never mind,” murmured the brave. “The Chief will receive thy audience now.”
“But you said…” I began.
“The chief will receive your audience now!” shouted the brave. “Follow me.” He led us to a wide longhouse. In the center of the longhouse there was a fire pit. Next to that was a raised throne, which was vacant. Then, the fire in the pit roared to life, and on the throne my eyes discerned the form of a man seated on it. The man was dressed in a beautiful and majestic cloak. He wore a headdress made from various feathers of birds, and his cloak and buckskin clothes were ordained with beads and colors. I instantly knew that this man was the chief of the tribe.
“Approach,” said he. He had a supercilious look on his face, and he was a proud man and very suitable to his status. His dark eyes flashed, and his hair was long and black, but it had begun to turn grey. “You have come to see the monster, no?”
“I want to save you from the monster,” I replied.
“You must see it first,” the chief insisted. “You look like you are the chosen one.”
“Who’s the chosen one?” I asked.
“There is a prophecy,” the chief answered. “There is a prophecy about a white man, the chosen one, who will be the only one who can kill the monster. And I believe that thou art the one.”
“No,” I told him. “I’m not the one.”
“We’ll see,” he said softly. “Tonight, you will stand on the balcony of my longhouse. You shall see the monster for yourself. He shall come at midnight.” Then, the chief gave us roasted deer meat. We also feasted on maize and potatoes. Later that night, I climbed up to the balcony, followed by the crew.
* * *
The moon had waned, leaving the night black as pitch. There was little light from the stars and planets, but the light was not sufficient enough to see. The whole village was silent as if the whole world around me was holding its breath. The crew, having climbed with me to the balcony have fallen asleep near me. Only I was awake. The chief was asleep and so were the other natives. I yawned silently, and was almost ready to give up and go to sleep when I felt a slight movement in the distance.
Then I heard footsteps that shook the land. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. The creature that produced those noises was huge. The sound was getting closer and closer, and I felt that the ground was beginning to tremble below me. Then, I heard a rustle of wings, as if something was flapping, and in front of me there it was: the monster!
To describe it gives me goosebumps to this day. Imagine a creature thrice as large as a Siberian Tiger, the World’s biggest cat. The colossal monster had the head of an alligator, filled with teeth as long and as sharp as European daggers of the late sixteenth century. The teeth were pure white, and the tongue beneath them was forked and slimy. Behind its glowing yellow eyes, it had the horns of a buffalo. The tips of the horns were sharper than daggers.
The Monster had the body of a lion, and eagle wings on either side of it. The lion’s mane covered most of the monster’s neck, and the claws of the monster were poisonous. They could tear a body of a tall man apart. The monster had the tail of a deadly scorpion which could kill anyone or anything (except for the monster itself, of course) with the slightest pierce of a skin. Thus was the frightening spectacle I beheld. I screamed, and the monster roared back at me. It was a deafening roar, but because I detected no movement under me, I thought that the Lenape did not hear the roar. Mr. Andrew and the rest of the crew on the other hand, did hear it, for they awoke.
The Monster bent down its great alligator head, and poked inside the longhouse. The monster swallowed all the children in one gulp. He left the longhouse devoid of children, and rivers of blood streamed from its mouth. As it left, it swung its mighty scorpion tail which instantly obliterated the balcony and we fell. The last thing I remember was the crunching of wood, a yell of sadness, the sound of awakening, and then excruciating pain in my head. Then the world went black as I lost consciousness.
* * *
For how long I was unconscious, how I came to be in the place where I later woke, or how my companions were still with me, I do not know. What I do know is that when I came to, I was lying on a bed made of straw with herbs and leaves wrapped like a bandage around my forehead. Above me, my eyes discerned the faces of two Indians. One was the chief, and the other one was an Indian brave. When the brave saw me awake, he said to me that he was the son of Hiawatha, the great Indian hero whom the American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote about.
“You’re alive!” cried the chief. “What happened? How did you fall?” I told him that I had indeed seen the monster, and that I had seen him eat the children. Then, the chief told us of how he found us lying on the ground, and how we got here. Mr. Andrew decided that the crew should spend several days recovering. During that time, I heard many strange things told by Hiawatha’s son, about his mother, Minnehaha, and about what he had seen when he was fighting the monster. I asked him how he escaped, and he said the following.
“My father gave me these magical mocassins shortly before his death. With them, I can cross a mile in one step.” He said that he led about a thousand braves into the Ramapo Woods to find the monster. Their patience was rewarded when the monster appeared between the trees. The braves shot arrows, threw tomahawks, stabbed with knives, spears, and they even bashed the legs of the beast with their shields. The monster roared at them in agony or in rage, and lashed out its venomous tail. The tail swung at the braves, killing them.
Next attack; the procrafagiffs used its lion paws to strike one hundred braves down with its poison. Did I forget to mention that the claws were laced with venom too? Well they were. The son of Hiawatha told me that he shot poisoned arrows at the head of the monster, but the venom from the arrows did not kill him. After the battle, only he and another brave escaped. The chief was very upset.
* * *
By the time when I felt that we were ready to have more adventures, I returned to speak with the chief in his longhouse. Mr. Andrew, Dr. Lydia (the third in command), and I decided to find out about the prophecy of the chosen one.
“The prophecy was made,” said the chief. “By a very wise mage who served under my father. When he found out about what the Evil God committed, he decided to find out how the monster could be stopped. That is how he prophesied that only the Chosen One can defeat the monster. The mage lives several hundred paces from my home, and he does not live in a longhouse. He lives in a wigwam.”
“Where is the wigwam?” I asked. The chief took Mr. Andrew’s hand, and followed by me and Dr. Lydia, the chief led Mr. Andrew to a huge wigwam near a lake. I wanted to take a drink from the lake but the chief stopped me.
“That is the lake of wisdom,” he told me. “Only the mage can drink from it. If anyone else does, he will be cursed by the Great Spirit.” I did not want to be cursed by “the great spirit”, so I didn’t drink. I entered the wigwam, where Mr. Andrew and Dr. Lydia were waiting for me.
In the center of the wigwam there was a fire pit. Next to the fire pit there was a raised throne, just like in the chief’s house. On the throne sat a very old Native American. He had hair as white as a pearl. His copper skin was wrinkled everywhere. His hair was braided like many lenape, but he wore a headdress that was somewhat less grand than the chief’s. He held herbs in his hand, and he held a staff in his hand.
The mage turned to us and said, “You have come to hear the prophecy of the chosen one, my friends?”
“Yes, and we have come to find out who the Chosen One is,” was Mr. Andrew’s reply.
“But you already have the chosen one among you.” The Mage sprinkled the hearth with his herbs. “The Chosen One has golden-brown hair. The Chosen One has grown a dark mustache. The Chosen One is a man who was misunderstood in his childhood. The Chosen One has a good personality. The Chosen One is brave, and he is the only one who can defeat the monster.” When the mage finished the prophecy I gasped.
“I!” I exclaimed. “I am the chosen one!”
“Ay,” said the mage. “ And two great sorcerers shall come down to Earth from heaven. The monster shall be imprisoned. When the monster shall be freed, thou shalt defeat it. Thou art the chosen one. The Procrafagiffs fears thee. You may leave now.” We exited the wigwam.
I was shaking the whole way back to the Time Machine. The chosen one, me? How? I never knew that the chosen one would be someone from the future. Mr. Andrew noticed that I was shaking and shouted, “Quit shaking! The Chosen One is not a coward!”
“I’m not afraid,” I said. “I’m just a bit worried.”
“Worried?” Dr. Lydia asked. “What about?”
“About Blue Feather,” I replied.
“Don’t worry,” Mr. Andrew assured me. “Once the monster is dead, we’ll save Blue Feather and take him back to the Lenape village.” However, doubts continued to explode in my mind like supernovæ until Mr. Andrew led us into the chief’s longhouse where we went to sleep for the night. I suppressed the last doubt in my head through meditation before entering my dreams. They were full of Ægeri Somnia.
* * *
The next morning, after I got up, dressed up, had breakfast with Mr. Andrew and the crew, I went outside. There, in front of me, stood two natives. However, when I looked closer, they were definitely not natives, for they did not have copper skin. Their skin was golden. One of the man was very short, about as tall as my waist. The man wore buckskin leggings, and his bare chest was still golden. He wore a wooden circlet on his black hair, and from the circlet protruded a small, red feather. The second man looked almost exactly like the first one, but his buckskin leggings and moccasins were differently decorated than the first man’s, and his circlet had a blue feather protruding from it, instead of a red one. The one with a red feather looked at me.
“My name is Red Feather,” he said in a voice like a door that hadn’t been oiled in decades, “And this is my cousin, Blue Feather. We are the two sorcerers that were foretold to come to this land.”
“I know you!” I cried. “You are that sorcerer who challenged the chief of the past to a wrestling match, and you were defeated. When the chief defeated you, you gave the Natives the gift of agriculture.” When I was little, I read a book about that story in school, and after all those years, I still remember it.
“That’s right,” Blue Feather replied. He had a similar voice to Red Feather. Then, the two sorcerers led me next to a tree. They ordered me to wait there until they brought the monster here. While I was waiting, Mr. Andrew and the rest of the crew gathered nearby.
“Mr. Andrew,” I said. “Shouldn’t you tell the chief to gather the Natives around, so that they see the spell performed?”
“Why should they?” the captain asked.
“Well, how could they create the legend if they don’t see it happening?” I replied. That got him. Mr. Andrew left the crew near the tree, and went back to the chief’s longhouse. Soon, all the natives gathered around the tree. By that time, Red Feather and Blue Feather had the monster bound in a magical chain. Red Feather stepped forward.
“The Evil God has been jealous of thy victory, O Lenni Lenape Tribe!” he declared. “Therefore, he has sent this plague upon thee. The child-devourer hath purged this unprotected village of its future. Yet there remains hope. There remains the hope of life, of a bright future, of preservation of our culture, of content, of faith, of surmounting even the highest and obstacles most difficult, most foreboding, most durable, and most strong. There is hope that remains in the world today. Our children can be killed, they may be taken away by this monster, but hope can never be reversed. It can never be removed from us. And I now place this hope inside the Chosen One, whom thou seest in front of thee. The monster shall be imprisoned in this tree for many centuries, and the Chosen One shall defeat him!” The people cheered.
Red Feather waved his hands around the monster and Blue Feather. Out of the sorcerer’s hands appeared a ray of blue and violet light, which began to swirl around the monster and Blue Feather. Then, he chanted his spell.
"The Evil God has had his revenge,
But the Lenni Lenape shalt be aveng’d,
And the monster shall be trapp’d in a tree
No harm shall come from him to thee,
The Chosen One alone will defeat him soon,
Be it after thousands of new old moons,
This is the spell that I weaveth today,
And Now to the heaven portal I shall fly away."
Then, the monster was gone. I decided to tell Blue Feather that I was the chosen one, when Mr. Andrew told me that Blue Feather was gone too. That is when I realized that Blue Feather was trapped in the tree as well. When Red Feather actually said that, the natives understood the same thing I had. The tree itself had two wings carved in it. Were they the wings of the monster? Then, Red Feather said to the Lenape, “I cannot free my brother, for if I do, I will free the monster as well.” He raised his head up to the sky, and with that, he vanished.
I looked at the tree. Suddenly, a flashback came to me. I remembered, in my childhood home, the door to my room! There were the shapes of two huge wings carved into it, just like in the tree. I had often wondered to whom those wings belonged. I finally understood that those wings belonged to the monster. My old house was where I could find it. Unfortunately, that house isn’t mine anymore, for I had sold it to a very rich family, the Weissmanns.
I had kept in touch with Mr. Weissmann in case I wanted to buy my house back. He wrote to me in his letters about the house. This is what I learned about in one of his letters.
Mr. Weissmann decided to renovate the house soon and change the doors. That meant that the builders he would hire would break down the door and the monster would be freed. I decided to go back to the future, and fight the monster. Mr. Andrew led us to the Time Machine, and we went back to our time to complete the prophecy.
* * *
Mr. Andrew and I left my apartment building in New York City, and hailed a taxi to my old house. I went to the house, and saw the builders break down the door. The door fell to the floor with a thud. From the door, I saw a silvery light appear. The light darted to the window, and opened it. It flew out of the window and with an earthshaking crash, the monster appeared! Now as I saw him up close, he looked bigger and eviler than I remembered him. His roar shook the earth, and everyone screamed. A lot of them ran away.
I wondered what I was going to do, how I was going to fight him. Then, Mr. Andrew handed me a piece of cloth. It grew to the size of about half of the monster as I went outside.
“Climb this tree with the cloth,” Mr. Andrew said. I climbed up the tree that he indicated. I wondered what he wanted me to do.
“Use this cloth against the monster,” Mr. Andrew commanded.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
“Trust me,” he replied. “This is the only way to catch him. Use your lightsaber to finish him off.”
“What do you expect me to do?!” I cried. “Bullfight an enraged monster?!!? Have you gone insane?!!?”
“Just do it!” Mr. Andrew yelled. I raised the cloth. “Hey!” I screamed. The monster charged at me.
“Torro!” Mr. Andrew exclaimed. As the monster charged at me, I swung the cloth, and the monster got one of his buffalo horns embedded in a tree not far away. The crew had gathered at the foot of the tree where I was sitting.
“OLÉ!” they cheered. The monster threw the tree at me with its horns. I swung the cloth, and the tree was thrown aside.
“OLÉ!” the crew roared again. The monster lashed out its poisonous tail. I drew my sword, and with a swing, I cut the tail off. Before I attacked the monster, in  my hand, an advanced-technology mega sword magically appeared in my hands. A mega-sword was a very long sword which was laced with fire and acid.
The Procrafagiffs charged again, and I swung the cloth. However, I swung a few seconds too late, because instead of catching the monster in the horns, I was thrown onto the monster’s back.
The monster saw that I was alive, and flew upwards, trying to shake me off. I held on to the mane for dear life, and unsheathed my sword. He darted one way, and I followed him. I swung my weapon down to his back, and in a single strike, I stabbed him in the heart. The monster roared in agony, and we both fell to the ground with another earthshaking crash. I sheathed my sword, and emerged from the back of the dead monster. The prophecy that the mage had said about was complete with the death of the monster. The crew exploded with cheers. Mr. Andrew hugged me.
“OLÉ!” the crew cheered. “OLÉ! OLÉ AND BRAVO PROFESSOR ORMAN!” I beamed with pride.
“And now, to rescue Blue Feather!” Mr. Andrew announced.
* * *
We went back into the house, and found Blue Feather lying next to the door the builders had broken down. Blue Feather was not hurt, but he was changed. He looked older, for his black hair had turned white, and his golden skin no longer shone. Mr. Andrew decided that nothing can change him back, and that Blue Feather should remain that way. Then, we took Blue Feather to our Time Machine, and returned with him to the Lenape village.
“I thank you all,” Blue Feather said. “You have not only defeated the monster, but you have saved me from a certain doom. Now, before I leave, I will present the three of you, Professor Michael Orman, Master Thomas Nicholas Andre John Andrew the Third, and Dr. Lydia, with the following gifts.” He took off his circlet before continuing his speech of gratitude.
“For you, Professor Orman,” he said handing me his circlet. “You were the chosen one, and you have defeated the dreaded monster. I give you, in thanks, my blue feather. It can take you to the portal of the sky to visit me and my brother whenever you wish.” Then, turning to Mr. Andrew, he said, “Mr. Andrew, I give you my magical tomahawk. It can pierce any metal, and any wood.” He gave Mr. Andrew a tomahawk that had a blade which looked as if it had been made from steel. “For you, Doctor Lydia,” he said to her, “I give you this salve. It can cure any wound, no matter how deep or serious.” Then, Blue Feather vanished. The chief came up to me once Blue Feather was gone.
“Thou hast slain the monster!” he cried. “We thank thee with our deepest gratitude. Thou hast saved our children from death. You shall always be honored by our tribe in days, months, years, centuries, and millennia to come. Farewell!”
“Farewell!” I smiled back to him. Then, Mr. Andrew led the whole crew back to the Time Machine. He dialed 2222 AD, and pressed go. After a wild ride in the Time Machine, I left Mr. Andrew’s home, and went back to my apartment near my museum. I went into my room, and changed into my night clothes. Then, I brushed my teeth, and went to bed.
The next morning when I awoke, I thought that the legend was a dream. Then, next to me I saw a small blue feather. That is when I knew that it was no dream.