Falling into step,
I dance with my fear.
--Fear Haiku

Vishnu, who's kind of the top god among Hindu gods, lives with the other gods in this great hall with a massive oaken door.. One day he has to go away for a big meeting, some kind of god convention. And he's worried about leaving the other gods alone because every time he goes away they get into some kind of mischief. But they reassure him that they'll lock the great oaken door and be OK until he returns. Finally, Vishnu reluctantly agrees to go and he leaves.
Everything's going OK for several hours when suddenly there's this great banging and shaking of the big oaken door. Frightened, one of the gods finally goes down to open the door a crack and standing there is this huge, scary looking, slimy, menacing monster. The god jumps back and the monster roars, steps in and starts to grow.
Now the other gods come down and become terrified too as the monster keeps growing and roaring, "I AM THEFEARMONSTER AND I ROAM THE LAND LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO SCARE!" The gods are screaming in fright, running around looking for places to hide.
As it happens, Vishnu's meeting ends early and he comes home and hears roaring and screaming from the castle and sees the great door open. He steps inside and sees the terrified gods and the monster growing up and sideways, its head to the ceiling. Vishnu immediately knows it's THEFEARMONSTER.
The monster roars at Vishnu but instead of cowering, he welcomes the monster and invites him to sit down. And the monster starts to shrink. So the other gods become a little less afraid and cluster around Vishnu. Vishnu offers the monster food and drink and commands his servants to bring it whatever it wishes as the monster continues to shrink.
Vishnu starts to laugh and tell jokes. Now the other gods become more bold and begin to poke fun at the monster as it gets smaller and smaller. Vishnu tells them not to be rude to their guest and the other gods realize that the monster is only their own fear. By this time THEFEARMONSTER is the size of a mouse and tries to escape but can't get out.
The gods decide to keep him around as a reminder to not let fear get out of hand. And Vishnu tells them two things to remember: One, don't feed the monster, and two, keep a sense of humor.
Next Time: THEFEARMONSTER OF LONDON