Big, but Not Bad

Burns, Brambles, and...Bandages?

"Fine...if you're not letting me in through the door...I'll get in another way!"

I growled with increasing anger as I examined the house for a way in, which is when I noticed how the back wall had a few bricks sticking out before deciding to climb onto the roof. As soon as I made my way onto the roof, I spied the chimney sticking out before positioning myself on the edge with my hind legs dipping into the venthole, where I took a deep breath before pushing myself in. I then slid down the chimney before stopping when I smelled something delicious cooking beneath me, but that's when I felt something warm on my tail and realized what was soon to be on the menu: ME!

As quick as a wink, I bolted out of the chimney and dashed off the roof before running away as fast as I could, hoping to find a nice place to cool my burning tail. Unfortunately, I didn't know of any watering holes or other bodies of water in the forest, so I was left with an injured tail that was somehow not setting the woods on fire. After a rainstorm hit and quenched the fire on my tail, I tried to find a place that could both help and feed me, but I was turned away before the rumors about me started to spread. On top of being a monster that tried to eat a little girl and three pigs, I soon heard folk say that I was a vicious beast who always lied my way into a place, pulling the wool over someone's eyes before I attack them.

The rumors hurt me more than my scorched tail did, and after foraging on berries and a few disgusting nuts, I ran far away in hopes of never hearing the rumors again. After failing multiple times to be let in by a family of goats and scaring a boy so much that his calls for help were ignored (that boy must have set a false alarm about wolves one too many times), I was running away from a shepherd's flock when I fell off a cliff and landed in a thicket of brambles. The thorns were scratching some of the furs off of my body, some of them even cutting deeper than my hair, and I whimpered a little as I tried to make my way out. I'm usually a very tough person who rarely cried unless I absolutely had to, but the emotional stress and physical pain I was going through were an exception, so I got so overwhelmed that I eventually stopped fighting and started howling for help.

To be honest, I don't know how long it was after I gave up on getting out, but I soon woke up before finding myself in front of a fireplace. The flames reminded me of the sparks on my tail, causing me to gasp before noticing that my tail was a little darker than usual, with a massive bandage wrapped around it. In a mix of panic and confusion, I looked around the rest of my body before seeing all sorts of patches and bandages covering my body, and I couldn't believe that I was somewhere so cozy instead of in a thick briar patch. What happened to me? Who got me out of the brambles? Was I dreaming this whole scene? So many questions popped up in my head, and I looked around the room before gasping when I heard approaching footsteps, after which I looked up and noticed a young woman approaching me while holding a tray in her arms before kneeling beside me.

"Oh, you're awake!" The woman chirped when she noticed that my eyes were open, and I even cracked a smile at her melodious voice. I lifted my head a little to see what was on the tray before my eyes widened at the selection of food she had for me, and I started to salivate the moment I saw the food. I initially wanted to dig in like the monster people saw me as, but I also didn't know how this sweet woman would react to me behaving like that, so I moved a little closer to the tray before taking careful nibbles of the meat to start. I soon gained enough energy to sit up without feeling weak, but I had just finished with the meat when I noticed that the woman hadn't touched anything, and I wasn't going to let her go hungry with so much food in front of her.