let's play a game!

I'm going to tell you a story. Listen [read] closely and don't miss a single detail. Then tell me what you think it means. When I read allegory, I always wonder if I get what I'm supposed to, but usually the author is dead. This is an exercise in reading allegory. You have to figure out what the story means. Tell me what you think, and I'll tell you if you got it right. 





          Once upon a time there was a girl... and a dinosaur. The girl had red and brown hair, depending on her mood (you know, like a mood ring, but built in). The dinosaur had green hair, but it was ok, because he was a dinosaur. I know you're thinking "dinosaurs have hair?!" but this was a special dinosaur. The girl found the dinosaur deep in the woods of Mt. Vernon, beyond the maintenance dump, and for some reason she wasn't afraid of him. He was nice and didn't eat the girl, either because she was pretty or he wasn't hungry (one can never be sure about these things). He liked the way her hair could change colors, and she liked the fact that he had green hair, because everyone knows green means life. In fact, this dinosaur's life was quite miraculous, as his kind had been "extinct" for millennia. 
          The girl was so intrigued with the dinosaur that she decided to live in the woods in order to escape the deadly beast known as academia. She and the dinosaur quickly became friends and discovered that they had much in common, despite the fact that he couldn't speak human. They both liked to run through the trees, sing to the moon, and sneak around scaring people during the day. Yes, the two soon found that they truly loved one another, and the girl decided to remain with him in the woods forever. He gave her a ring fashioned of pine straw and dandelions, which she accepted. The girl had some reservations about the fact that she would be the wife of an "extinct" creature, but of course such strange things cannot surprise one living in the woods. Their marriage was witnessed by countless squirrels, spiders, and other woodland creatures, who rejoiced. 
          As she jumped in an attempt to reach him with a kiss, he suddenly transformed into a handsome hunter, and the two embraced with such joy as has been described in the pages of Ovid. He explained how he had become friends with the very critters he once sought to kill, but had remained so long in the woods that he forgot what it was like to be human (which explains why he turned into a dinosaur). When he met the girl he remembered the redeeming qualities of humanity and slowly grew reacquainted with the art of human interaction. The two lived in wedded bliss for years and years, spending reasonable amounts of time in civilization but often visiting the beloved woodlands where they met. The dinosaur discovered that even sane people sometimes take a trip into the woods. The girl learned that underneath appearances, even in the wilderness, love is never extinct. The End.