Once upon a time, a young man left home and set off on a quest to learn what fear was.
You see, after years of watching horror movies, enduring less than sensitive pranks at the hands of his older brothers, and once even encountering a saber tooth tiger just outside his house, he could not remember ever feeling what he would describe as scared.
So he bade his sweetheart goodbye (for now) and he and Jim (the saber tooth tiger, who agreed to be his pet after the boy had failed to be impressed by his long sharp teeth) left early one morning.
They traveled for a long time before they met anyone, but just after nightfall they encountered a pale young man, and the boy offered to share his beans and hot dogs with him. The pale man agreed to sit by the fire with him and Jim, but declined to eat anything.
Later that night, however, the boy awoke to find his guest crouching over him, fangs bared and ready to bite.
“I’m very disappointed,” he said. But he was not afraid. He gathered his things, and he and Jim left.
They traveled through the night, but it was more difficult. Shadows kept passing over their vision, and creaks and groans seemed to echo. At one point, a great hairy beast leaped out in front of Jim, and stood up to his full height.
He was a werewolf, he explained, and hungry during the full moon. The boy explained that the moon was not full, and so he should be able to go on his way. He was not afraid.
Finally, as day broke, he and Jim found themselves walking past a graveyard, where, incidentally, the dead had begun to walk. Several were lurching right towards them, saying something that sounded suspiciously like “Rain.” He pulled out his umbrella and walked on. He was not afraid.
At this point, however, he did feel rather defeated. Declaring the entire thing a failure, he and Jim headed home. The first thing they did, of course, was visit his sweetheart. But there was a surprise awaiting them at her house.
During his absence, the vampire, the werewolf, and even one of the zombies had made their way to his village and were currently courting sweetheart. To make things worse, she wasn’t exactly resisting their advances. In fact, she was smiling.
Suddenly, the thought occurred to him that she might even prefer the vampire, the werewolf, or the zombie to him. What if she didn’t want to be his sweetheart anymore? Something he’d never felt before gripped him, and he went down on one knee before her and promised her all manner of extravagant things if she would only remain his own sweetheart. She agreed, and it was only later, after he’d thoroughly taunted his supernatural rivals, that he thought back to the moment he thought he might lose her, and realized he had finally learned the meaning of fear.
The End
Source: The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear, Brothers Grimm
