Once upon a time there were three trolls. There was a small, gentle troll, a bigger, cunning troll and a very big, fierce maniac-for-a-troll. The trolls lived happily in their cave, which they called Wonderhome.

One night an intruder from Far Above came to Wonderhome. He was bright and hot and spoiled everything, and the trolls soon found that Wonderhome was no longer the same. Food was not as plentiful as it used to be, and soon the tree trolls grew hungry. They knew that there was a place called Komor, Hurtplace, that was not as good as Wonderhome used to be, but better than it was now. The tree trolls decided to leave Wonderhome and visit Komor to get their bellies full.

On the way to Komor there was a bridge. The bridge was built over a terrifying chasm, and in the bottom of the chasm was Void. Usually, trolls do not fear anything - anything except the Void. And that was not the end of it. Under the bridge there was a nasty goat. The goat would surely knock the trolls over the bridge and straight into the Void!

But the trolls were so hungry that they decided to cross the bridge anyway. The small and gentle troll went first. The bad goat heard him and shouted: 'Who's trying to pass over my bridge!' 'Oh, just one of Uz' answered troll. 'I'm going to knock you over the bridge!' roared goat. 'Spare me', begged troll, 'I'm just a small, gentle healing troll, no match for you! After me comes a bigger troll, wait for him.' The goat thought it over. 'All right then!'

The medium-sized, cunning troll came second. The bad goat heard him coming and shouted: 'Who's trying to pass over my bridge!' 'Oh, just one of Uz' answered troll. 'I'm going to knock you over the bridge!' roared goat. 'Spare me', begged troll, 'I'm just a simple trader troll, on my way to explore Komor. I'm no match for you and when I come back, I'll give you half of all the profit! After me comes even bigger troll, wait for him.' The goat thought it over. 'All right then!'

The large, twisted berserk troll was the last one. The bad goat heard him and shouted: 'Who's trying to pass over my bridge!' 'Oh, just one of Uz' answered troll. 'I'm going to knock you over the bridge!' roared goat. 'All right', answered troll, 'I'm the Dark Hater Troll! Come up, you sissy, and we'll see who will do the knocking!' Maddened by anger, the Goat-Head climbed over the bridge, lowered his head and tried to butt the troll over the bridge with his horns.

The berserk-troll grabbed Goat-Head by his horns. Then he hit Goat-head against the bridge some fifty times. After that the biggest troll tortured the Goat-Head, and while the bad goat was still alive, ate his liver. Satisfied, the big troll tossed Goat-Head over the edge and carried on towards Komor. The Goat-Head Ragnaglar was never seen again - or almost never. It took him an entire Age to get up from the shores the Void where he had fallen.

In that place Goat-Head saw many strange things that bothered his already disturbed mind, and he had many new ideas to put into practice when he finally got up - but that is another story.

Author: Juha Ratilainen
Picture: Marko Saari