The Mitten Monster - Children’s Story

Intro: A story written for my niece

Commentary below

Written by Rev. Philip Stonhouse

One day just as it was getting cold outside, all of the adults went into their winter boxes. They pulled out their scarves, their jackets, their boots, their snow pants and gloves, but the strange thing was that none of them could find any mittens. The adults didn’t think anything of it, but the children knew this was too weird; plus the kids all missed their dinosaur mittens, their heart mittens, their puppy and kitten mittens.

All the kids in the neighborhood came up with a plan. They would all try to convince their parents to buy them mittens and then they would set a trap. Well, finally one of the kids, K, got a pair of Superhero mittens. K was scared to lose them, but he agreed to use them as bait. So they organized a sleepover and put the gloves under a box with a stick holding it up and a string tied to the stick. When they heard someone grab the gloves they would put the stick out and trap them.

Well, the night came and it was getting late. The children’s eyes were getting so heavy, they were getting so tired that they couldn’t hold off sleep anymore. One of them woke to a rustling in the box. She reached over and pulled the rope. As she heard the box come down there was a shriek. All the kids woke up with a start. They were too scared to go into the next room to see what it was. One girl, V, double-dog-dared another boy J, but that wasn’t enough. Finally, K, the boy with the Superhero mittens, stepped forward and all the others began to follow.

The box was moving around, bumping into walls, tables, almost knocking over a lamp. K lifted the box as another child shone their flashlight at the box, but he jumped away because just then a long blue arm began to reach out, and on it was a yellow polka dot mitten, then another blue arm came out with a black star mitten, then another arm and another and another, until finally all of the arms lifted off the box to reveal a monster with twenty or more arms waving

around in the air. The children all ran away into the other room. Some of them hid in their sleeping bags, others in the closet, still others under the bed or behind the curtains.

In the silence, they began to hear crying. Each of the children thought it might be one of their friends because they were still little and monsters are scary. But when they peaked out, none of them was crying. It was coming from the other room and something was still tugging on the rope. They peaked around the corner to see the monster hiding in the corner, with all of his mittened hands over his eyes. The monster’s whole body was shaking. He was crying.

They came a little closer and the monster looked out with big, green watery eyes, but immediately hid behind his hands. The children all knew that one cannot hide by covering one's eyes, which made them realize that this must be a really young monster.

“We won’t hurt you”, V said.

“No, we just just wanted to get our mittens back”, added J.

The monster revealed that one of his arms was tied up in the rope. So the children all worked together to release it, thinking that a baby monster must not be dangerous. Even though none of them knew how to tie a knot, they somehow got him untied. The monster grinned with a big, wide smile that reminded them of their grandparents' dentures.

M wondered, “Hey little monster, why were you stealing all of our mittens?”

The monster tentatively revealed to them an unmittened hand, which had one really wide finger and a thumb. A perfect fit for a mitten. The monster then hid the hand behind his back and looked away from them, ashamed.

K said, “Oh, that is a perfectly good hand, you don’t need to cover it up”.

The monster’s big green eyes began to tear up. “The other monsters make fun of me for my funny hands.”

M said, “You don’t have to be sad. We can be your friends”.

V agreed, “We think you are pretty special”.

The monster slowly began to learn what it meant to have friends. When he got comfortable with them he gave them back their mittens. And as scared as the children were of monsters, they learned that differences aren’t scary, instead they can be really special.

Commentary: Jesus often talks about children seeing or understanding things before the wise (in this story, before their parents). Sometimes Jesus is talking about actual children, but sometimes he is talking about his disciples. We are all meant to have a childlike reception and faith for the Kingdom of God.

All of creation is meant to work together for good and there is unity even in our differences. The body of Christ reminds us that as different as some of us can be, we are actually one. We are meant to serve and lift up one another as a body cares for all of its parts. Creation is meant to work much the same way. When God made every part, He says, "and then it was Good". Then when He creates humanity, he puts them in charge of tending, caring, and upholding the rest of creation. So these children naturally live into a Godly care for this monster, even in the midst of their fright.

Do not be afraid. The children were very much afraid. Initially, their response was to hide. This is a common response, even for adults, though we don’t often hide behind curtains, we more often hide behind doors, emotions, or subtext. Yet if we step out of our fear and reach out, it might mean more pain, but it has just as much likelihood, if not more, to be an opportunity to build relationships, new life, and much potential. The kids had their parents to protect them and we have our Father in heaven.