Bits, Body, and Bones

November 28, 2024

 

Oh, this rain!

It's barely made a dent in the drought we’ve had, but it’s still been good for this farmer’s parched soul. Our little brook is barely running, and the pond is still way too low, but it’s been enough to quench the fire hazard around us and for that I am deeply grateful.

Anne and I, and our nephew Dave, built a bridge this week on the old Clatter Valley Road which the Farmington Land Trust now owns. The previous bridge rotted away decades ago, and as our new bridge began to take shape, I explained to Anne and Dave how we used to play Billy Goats Gruff on the old one. I was a little light on details, but I remember that there was a mean nasty troll under the bridge, and we had to run across one at a time. Being youngest, I’d go first and tell the troll that he should wait for my other siblings because “they are much bigger than me - I’m so small I’m hardly worth eating”, and then I’d run very fast across the bridge. Each of us would tell the troll to wait for the older ones that were still to come. And then the oldest – depending on how many of the 5 of us my mom convinced to walk with her that day, would either run very fast and get across safely - or lie and say there was another child yet to come. My mom knew for certain that trolls weren’t very fast, or clever, and they certainly couldn’t count very well, so we always made it across safely. Afterwards the troll went back to eating a very boring diet of acorns and skunk cabbage, which made him even grumpier than he’d been before.

The original Norwegian folktale was much harsher and a part of me almost felt bad for the troll in the end. He was tricked by the first two younger goats and then had his eyes poked out by the eldest goat’s horns and was ultimately crushed to "bits, body, and bones”.

 I like my mom’s sanitized version better, but either way the message is still the same. In this day and age when bullies and trolls abound - stick together, be twice as clever, don’t let them pull you down – and give thanks that you weren’t born a troll.