Once upon a time, there was a little village near the sea where the
people lived very happily. In this village, there lived a very old
woman who made toys of all kinds for boys and girls. The old woman's
toys were always made of wood, or fabric or stone. There was no shape
that was beyond her skills. All the people of the village sought her
to make special toys for the children.
Outside of the town, down
deep in the forest, there lived a Troll. The Troll was very large
standing over nine feet tall and six feet between the shoulders, with
long arms and short legs. It had green skin with very oily hair, and
it's top and bottom clothes were made from the forest plants. The Troll's
face was like a cross between a man's and frog's with a broad flat nose
and big eyes. The Troll lived in a hut it had fashioned out of dead
trees, rocks, and dirt. The hut was very finely assembled and the
Troll was very handy with tools. He would often carve pictures into
his table and chairs and they had become very ornate. The Troll was
alone, always. He only ever saw the animals of the forest.
One
day two children had been allowed to go into the forest to gather herbs
for their grandmother's favorite soup recipe. It was a beautiful day
and the children decided to make a picnic and bring along their
favorite dolls. The children walked deep into the forest and after
finding the herbs found a lovely spot with a ring of trees around them
creating welcome shade from the noon day sun. They ate happily and
then brought out their dolls. They played and laughed. They didn't
know it, but they had decided to picnic just a stone's throw from the
hut of the Troll. And the Troll did hear them laughing.
It was
such a strange sound to the Troll, he thought it must be birds.
However, these were not any birds he had ever heard. So the Troll
walked to where he heard the sound. As large as the Troll was, he was
as quiet as a fox, for he did not wish to scare the birds. As he
peeked through the ring of trees, he saw the children. He watched them
and admired their game of dolls. He watched them for a few minutes and
then a moth flew by and alighted on his nose. As he brushed it away,
one of the children then looked towards him and screamed. This, of
course, led the other child to scream, as children will do, and they
both jumped and ran as fast as they could go back to the village. The
Troll was as surprised as the children were. He wondered if there was
something frightening behind him. He quickly dropped to the ground and
looked behind him all around. He couldn't see a thing and decided to
pickup the things left behind and take them to the children. The
Troll thought the children were similar to birds as they took to flight
when frightened.
It wasn't long before the children had reached
the village and word spread that there was a Troll in the woods. Most
of the people in the village believed that Trolls were awful creatures
capable of horrible things and that something must be done to protect
the village. Some of the younger men of the village gathered in number
with clubs and torches while the others stood by telling them to take
care. The Troll was just coming up the hill carrying the things that
the children had left behind when the villagers were coming out of the
gates. When the villagers saw the Troll, there was a yell to attack
and they began to rush at him. The Troll was frozen with fear and just
stood trying to understand what was happening. He had only seen the
first two people he had ever seen when he spied the children. Now,
here was a huge mob coming at him screaming and with fire. Soon
enough, he understood that they meant to hurt him. He dropped the
bundle and turned to run. Clubs and fire began to rain down on him as
he ran for his life. The angry villagers split into two with one mob
blocking him from the forest and the other continuing to push him
towards the sea. The poor Troll had no chance but jump into the sea.
As the villagers drove him over the cliff, they shouted for joy as they
believed him finished.
Now, when the Troll jumped into the
sea, he was fortunate as he hit no rocks, and Trolls can breathe
underwater. So, he stayed under the water and swam as far away from
the village as he could but keeping close to the shore to make his way
back into the forest later. The villagers were quite satisfied and
went back to celebrate. All the other villagers came out to meet
them. Between them, everyone then noticed the bundle on the ground
where the Troll had dropped it. It was the old toymaker who remarked
it strange that the Troll was bringing these items to the village.
These were the things left behind by the fleeing children. Why would
the Troll be bringing it back? While everyone agreed it was strange,
it was dismissed that anything good could come from the Troll.
Although, the old toymaker and a few others, began to wonder. The
villagers then went into the village and prepared to celebrate the end
of the Troll.
Meanwhile, the Troll had come out of the sea and
had made his way back to his forest hut. He was confused, very
confused. He wondered why they attacked him. He wondered what made
them so angry towards him. He wondered what he had done that was
wrong. Then, he realized the children must have screamed because they
saw him! He wondered if he really was frightful and, if so, what was
it exactly? He walked back to the clearing where he had spied the
children and then he noticed something on the ground. Something that
was forgotten by the children and something he had missed. It was a
carved wooden horse. It had been carved beautifully. Every detail was
expertly done. He had seen a real horse once or twice before and this
carving was very good. He wondered who had made it. Of course, it was
the old toymaker who had made it, but the Troll had no idea of this.
While it was not right to keep the horse, he decided to keep it since
the risk of going to the village was far to great. Again, he
remembered that angry mob and how afraid he was. His fear was
beginning to turn to anger. The more he thought about it, the angrier
he got.
He went into his hut and sat down. He said to himself
that these creatures were not good. He would make them feel worse than
he felt. Deep in his heart, he knew this wasn't right, but he just
kept getting angrier. A plan began to form in his mind, a plan he
would start on right away. The Troll quickly set out in the forest to
gather the materials he would need.
Part 2 coming soon…