Eric is sometimes clumsy and thoughtless, and in school he's known as a 'dummy, dunce, dope'. (Chris Wormell evidently had similar experiences because he tells us the story through his own eyes.) When Eric gets thoroughly fed up with not having friends and being called names, he runs away. But he doesn't get far when there is a shout: 'Monster!' People begin running to the Castle for safety, and in the process call out that they need a hero, but such a hero would have to be a 'twit, a nitwit, a dummy, a dunce, and a dope!' to take on such an awful monster. Well, thinks Eric, I am all those things, so why not. When he confronts the monster (a rather cuddly character), he claims to be all these things, at which point the monster breaks down and says he is too! No friends, no monster-like abilities, always laughed at, so he has run away too. He and Eric become the best of friends, and the village hales Eric as the hero he undoubtedly is. The illustrations are wonderful, rather like an old-fashioned fairy tale, and full of speech bubbles. This should be a treat for all children who feel awkward and misunderstood!