It's Tough To Be A Troll

"Quit scratching!" Gwen commanded. She was tired and somewhat grumpy after their long climb back up the storeroom stairs.

"I can't help it!" snapped Lance in return. "My skin feels itchy."

"Oh, stop," said Gwen irritably. "You are not getting warts. The wizard was probably joking."

"Who said anything about warts? That was just a joke, O.K.? But I'm not joking now. I really do itch all over!" He started scratching again.

"Are you allergic to that stuff you drank?" she asked anxiously.

"Maybe it was that dust in the storeroom. I wish I could take a bath."

"Me, too," Gwen sighed. "To get these spider webs out of my hair."

Once back in the great hall, they chose another stairway, which led down several flights to a doorway, where they found yet another winding hallway lit with flickering torches. They turned left, then right, then went down some stairs, down another hall, down a short flight of stairs, through another door, turned right, and went on and on and.

"Wait a minute," said Lance. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"No," admitted Gwen. "I'm totally lost. We made too many turns or something. How will we get back to the main hall? We don't have a clue."

"Sure we do," joked Lance, holding out their assortment of papers. "Lots of them, remember?
"A lot of good they'll do us," she grumbled. "We can't even figure out what they mean. And I'm hot, and sweaty, and dirty and tired and.hey, wait a minute!" she broke off suddenly. "Do you hear something?"

"Yeah," said Lance. "It sounds like.like running water!"

"It smells like water, too," said Gwen joyfully. "But where?"

"Behind this door, I think," said Lance, pointing to a door on the right. He pushed it open and both children gasped in delight. They were in the royal baths! Steam rose from a large pool of water that filled a great courtyard. Marble tiles covered the floor and large marble bridges rose over of the water. Most wonderful of all, a waterfall spilled over a marble wall at the far end and cascaded down into the pool. With shouts of joy, Lance and Gwen plunged into the pool with all of their clothes on. They splashed each other with the deliciously warm water. Gwen stood under the waterfall and let the water wash over her hair.

"This is great," she murmured, closing her eyes. "I don't care if we ever look for any more clues." But a moment later she let out a shriek. She had opened her eyes to see trees overhead instead of marble columns. Their royal pool had turned into a forest pool, surrounded by rocks and moss. And the water cascading onto her head was ice cold!

"It's cold," said Lance, shivering. "The water's cold now, and the air's like ice. How are we going to keep from freezing to death?"

"I d-d-don't know," answered Gwen, her teeth chattering. "We'll probably d-d-die out here!"

"Here," said a soft voice. "Take this."

A large hand reached out from the bank, holding something furry. The owner of the hand was a huge creature, somewhat human in appearance, with big hands and feet, a long craggy nose, long hair, and pointy ears.

"What-what are you?" asked Lance.

"Dry off first," said the creature gently. "Then we will talk."

Still staring, Lance and Gwen climbed out and took the furs

"Come," said the creature, motioning to a small cave nearby. "I have made a fire to warm you."

Dumbly, they followed her into the cave and sat beside the fire. The creature-they felt sure it was a woman-gave them something hot to drink, and more furs to put on. Then she sat down and simply watched them.

Gwen found her voice at last. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

"Where are we, exactly?" asked Lance.

"In the north lands," said the woman. "It is not always cold here, but winter will be here soon. My people will go underground then."

"Who are your people?" asked Gwen.

"The forest people," answered the woman. "The keepers of the land. Once we lived on your earth, in the northern parts of your world. People there called us trolls."

"I've heard of trolls," said Lance eagerly. "In the legends of Norway and Sweden-but." he looked puzzled, "In the stories, the trolls were wild and mean. And, well, you're not."

"Thank you," said the troll woman quietly. "The people didn't try to find out about us, you see. We looked different, and they were frightened."

Lance and Gwen looked at the woman more carefully. She towered over them, even sitting down. They saw that she was dressed in some kind of animal hide over which she wore a fur coat. Around her thick neck she wore a gold chain, and heavy gold earrings hung from her ears. She had long, shaggy dark hair. Her face was craggy, but her eyes were gentle.

"They didn't need to be afraid," said Gwen. "What's your name?"

"I am called Anya. No, they did not need to fear us," said the troll woman. "But it was our fault too, you see. My people are shy. We had been alone in the northlands of earth for many years. When the humans came, we did not know how to make friends."

"The stories say trolls steal human babies and put troll babies-changelings-in their places," said Lance.

Gwen gave him a dirty look, but the woman only nodded sadly. "It is true, we made mistakes," she said. "We did do that. We wanted only to look at the babies. They were so beautiful, you see. Not like us." She motioned sadly to her own craggy face and big nose. "We have always loved beauty. We collect beautiful things," here she motioned to her necklace and earrings, "and we care for the beautiful things of the earth-the animals and plants and flowers. My people loved the beautiful babies, so they borrowed them for a while, and left their own babies to show that they would come back soon. But the humans didn't understand."

"What about the other stories?" said Lance.

The woman sighed. "Oh, those stories. Because the humans were afraid, they made up bad things about us. There was that awful story about the three goats who disturbed some poor troll trying to sleep under a bridge. They made all that noise and wouldn't let him sleep. Of course he was angry. But he wouldn't have eaten them. We don't like to eat goats. We eat roots, and berries, and nuts. But the human newspapers got it all wrong."

"They always do," said Lance. "Like in the poem 'Peer Gynt', too."

"Yes," said Anya. "The trolls in that poem were wild and uncivilized, and a song was written about it, called 'The Hall of the Mountain King.'"

"I've heard that song!" said Gwen eagerly. "It is kind of wild, but very beautiful."

Anya nodded. "Yes, but our people would never act as the trolls did in the story." She stood up suddenly. "Come," she said quietly. "Come with me, to the real hall of the Mountain King. Come see how we really live."

She led the way through the woods. They walked for miles beneath towering pine trees. They saw birds, and small animals, and here and there some brave forest flowers. They wandered along the banks of icy streams.

About noon, Anya called a halt beside one stream. She did some fishing and caught several fat salmon, which she cooked for them.

After lunch, they resumed their hike. Several times, as they made their way through the forest, they saw large animals such as bears and wolves, but they were never afraid. For Anya seemed to have some kind of quiet communication with the animals. They would look into Anya's gentle eyes, and sometimes she spoke soft words to them in the Troll language-and then the animals would simply turn and go away.

"Why do they do that?" asked Gwen. "What do you say to them?"

"I speak words of greeting," Anya said. "All trolls know how to speak with the animals. We are taught as children. The animals know we will not harm them. They know we eat mostly nuts and berries, and never hunt for sport, but only for food and clothing when we must."

They saw wide alpine meadows. Eagles circled overhead and moose waded in marshy lakes, nodding shaggy heads at Anya's greetings. Crossing the meadows, they came at last to great rugged mountains.

They followed a rushing river into a deep rocky valley. The waters of the river grew wilder and faster, and the rock walls rose high on both sides. As they climbed higher, Gwen began to feel nervous. On one side of them, the sheer cliffs rose, and on the other side a steep drop fell hundreds of feet to the dark churning river below. At last they reached a rocky ledge, and Gwen breathed easier. She saw a large dark crack before her in the cliff.

Anya led them into a long winding tunnel which led downward into the darkness. They walked in the pitch blackness, lit only by the flickering torch, for what seemed like miles. Then at last they came out though another small opening, and they caught their breath in surprise.

They were standing a great ledge above a vast cavern, which was lit by a huge bonfire in the center. By the firelight, they could see hundreds of trolls moving about, each busy with his or her own tasks. Anya led them down hundreds of carved stone steps to the floor of the great cave.

Dozens of curious trolls surrounded them. Most had never seen a human before. Troll children clung tightly to their parents, eyeing Lance and Gwen fearfully. Even the adults were shy. After looking at Gwen and Lance curiously, they nodded timidly and returned to their various chores.

Some trolls were working with animal hides and furs, making them into clothes and bedding for the winter. Others brought in nuts, berries and wild mushrooms they had gathered. Still others counted and sorted these wild foods. The biggest trolls hauled in wood for the fire.

"Winter is coming," said Anna. "We must stay underground, away from the blizzards, for many months. In the spring," she explained, " we roam about the forest. We heal the sick or injured animals. We take care of the land. In the summer we feast and play games, for the summers are short and the sun will not be here long. During the winter we sit by the fires, and eat, and keep warm. We tell stories, and talk, and teach our children, and sing. But right now it is fall, so we prepare for our long stay underground."

Everywhere in the cave that they went, the trolls greeted them with shy smiles and gentle courtesy.

"Everyone is so nice," said Gwen. "I don't understand why humans thought your people were mean. Is that why you left earth?"

"Partly," said Anna. "But it was more than that. At first there were so few humans. Then more of them came. They tore down our forest to build cities. They polluted our lakes and streams, and hunted the animals for sport. The trolls love the land," she said, with tears in her gentle eyes, "and it hurt to see the animals killed and the forest spoilt. Here in storyland, we live quietly in the forests, and keep the land clean and unspoiled forever."

"I wish people knew the truth," said Gwen sadly. "It's not fair."

"You can tell them about us," said Anya quietly.

"Anya," said Lance suddenly. "Can I ask just one more question about the old legends? The stories said trolls hoard treasure. Is that true?"

"Not really," said Anya with a smile. "We love shiny things, as you can see." She touched her earrings and necklace. "But we have no real treasure-just these ornaments we make for ourselves."

"The reason I asked," said Lance, "is that we're looking for a key. A magic key that will take us home. We have clues, but they don't make sense. I was hoping the key might be in with your other treasures."

"I'm sorry," said Anya. "To find treasure, there are other creatures you should visit, but be careful. They are truly dangerous, not like us."

"What kind of creatures?" asked Lance.

"Dragons," said Anya.

"Oh, no," said Gwen immediately. "No way."

Anya led them back down the side of the cliff. Halfway down, Gwen's foot slipped and she fell with a scream over the side of the cliff! Lance rushed to save her, but the earth gave way under his feet, and he too plunged off the cliff into the river! They were quickly swept away by the rushing torrent. Gwen felt the icy waters close over her head.

Several trolls dived over the cliff into the foaming river. Huge hands dragged Lance and Gwen through the water to the shore, where more trolls pulled them out and wrapped them up in dry furs, and gave them hot drinks, and took them back into the cave to bed.

The next day Anya took them back to the pool where they had first met her. They hugged her and told her goodbye, and Gwen gave her a bracelet to keep. They plunged into the icy water. In a moment the water turned warm. They were back in the royal baths.

"Well, at least we're clean," said Gwen.

"Wait!" said Lance. "What's this?" From a pocket, he pulled out a message, written on a piece of leather with some sort of tool. "The trolls must have put this in my pocket after they rescued me." He read the clue.

"If you would find a key so rare,
Look inside the dragon's lair."

He shook his head. "More bad poetry, as usual."

Gwen's eyes lit up. "But this is different! Can't you see? Lance," she said excitedly, "we've been given a real clue at last!"