The Story of Gunther

Once upon a time there was a gargoyle named Gunther, who didn’t fit in.

Now gargoyles, as you may know, are the Guardians of old buildings. You can see them on the roofs of cathedrals, or castles, or sometimes old office buildings. They guard against evil attackers, and nasty creatures, and sometimes bad weather (by making sure the rain water drains off the roof properly).

Gunther was a very young gargoyle. He had to go to school, and mind his parents, and do all the other sorts of things young persons have to do just because they are young. And he wanted to be a guardian of some important place, just like his mother and father, who perched on top of the tallest building in the city.

But Gunther was not like the other gargoyles at school. Gargoyles are hard, like stone, and very tough, because they may stand still for year after year after year, in rain and snow and hail, waiting and guarding. But Gunther was soft.

The other gargoyles made fun of him. “You can’t sit on the roof,” they said. “If hail came down, you would turn to mush!” And they threw stones at him, pretending it was hail, and Gunther said, “Ow!” because it hurt. And if he threw stones back, the other gargoyles laughed, because the stones bounced off their rocky gargoyle skin.

So Gunther asked his mother why he was so soft, when all the other gargoyles were so hard. His mother sighed, and said, “Your grandmother on your father’s side, who passed away many years…