'Once, in a cave, there lived a horrible ugly monster. Perhaps the most horrible and ugly monster in the whole world.' So ugly is the monster that lives in this cave that he can turn a blue sky to snow and evaporate a pond just by dipping his toe in it. No living thing can stand to be in his presence. But the monster is not ugly on the inside; he's just lonely; very, very lonely. So he decides to build some friends out of stone, but not even stone can stand the full force of the monster's smile, and all the stone animals shatter ...except for one: the little stone rabbit. The monster is thrilled with his new friend - even if the only game he's any good at is playing statues (at which he excels) - and for a time life is good. But even monsters cannot live forever ...