The Trollgarden

Once upon a time, a little boy and girl named Harry and Henny were walking through the forest when they passed by a cottage with a garden full of stone statues of children and all the children looked sad or frightened.

 

“What strange and unhappy statues”, said Henny, “I wonder who made them”.

 

But then a bird who was sitting in a nearby tree, overhearing the little girls comment, said,

 

“They are not statues. They were all children but the troll who lives in that cottage kidnapped them from their beds while they were asleep, put them in his sack and carried them off. Then he brought them back here and he poured a potion on them that turned them to stone”.

 

“What a horrible thing to do”, said Henny, “Why would anyone do that”.

 

“It’s because the trolls heart is made of stone “, said the bird, “And so it wants to make everything cold and dead like it is inside”.

 

Just then, however, the two little children heard the sound of the Troll coming home, a sackfull of screaming children slung over its shoulder.

 

“Hee-hee-hee”, they heard the Troll laugh, “Scream all that you want. You’ll be quiet once I turn you to stone”.

 

“Oh no”, said Henny to her brother, “The Troll is coming home. He will turn us to stone too if he catches us”.

 

But then her brother had an idea.

 

“Quick”, he said, “Stand still and pretend you’re a statue. Perhaps he won’t notice us”.

 

And so that is what the children did, they stood completely still just like statues, staring straight ahead and holding their breath and when the troll came home, at first, he didn’t notice them.

 

But then his big troll nose started to twitch.

 

“I smell something”, he thought, “Something different. It smells like…yes…it smells like children”.

 

“Well of course you do”, said the bird speaking up, bravely,“You’ve got a sack full of them”.

 

The Troll sniffed at his sack full of wriggling screaming children.

 

“Oh yes”, he agreed, “That must be what I smell”.

 

Then, satisfied by that explanation, the Troll went inside his cottage and, sighing with relief, Harry and Henny unfroze themselves.

 

But then, peering into the troll’s cottage they saw him busily stirring and mixing something in a big bubbling cauldron.

 

“What is he doing now?”, Harry asked the bird, whispering.

“He’s mixing up the potion that he pours upon the children to make them turn into stone”, replied the bird.

 

“Oh we can’t let him do that”, said Henny, “Those poor children. We have to help them”.

 

“It’s far too dangerous”, said the bird, “If your wise you’ll take my advice and go home while you still can and forget all about the troll and those children”.

 

“But we can’t just let him turn those children to stone”, said Henny, “It’s not fair. They have lives and homes and parents who love them just like us”.

 

The bird sighed.

 

“Alright”, he said, “I will distract the troll while you rescue the children”.

 

Then the bird, flapping its wings and cawing loudly said,

 

“Help! Help! A troll has kidnapped children. Someone help”.

 

Hearing the bird, the troll seized his big spiky club and came out of the cottage looking angry.

 

“Here”, it said to the bird, “What are you saying? Trying to get me caught are you. Well I sort you out”.

 

Then the Troll started to chase the flapping bird round the house with its spiky club while the bird continued to squawk “Help! Help!”.

 

And while the troll was chasing the bird Harry and Henny crept inside the Trolls cottage and seeing the sack full of children sitting on the floor untied it, letting all the children out.

 

Just then, however, the trolls pointed ears pricked up as it heard the sound of children’s voices coming from inside its cottage.

 

“What’s that I hear?”, it said, “Something going on in my cottage. Well I’ll soon put a stop to that”.

 

And rushing back into his cottage, holding his spiky club threateningly over his head, the troll grinned evilly as it saw Harry, Henny and the other children,

 

“So”, he said, “Got free, have you? Thought  you’d run away from the nasty, scary troll, did you? Well you’re not going anywhere”.

 

Then the troll moved slowly towards them and the children backed slowly away.

 

Suddenly however, looking over at the  Troll’s cauldron, Harry had another idea.

 

“Quick”, he said to his sister and the other children, “Get hold of that cauldron and tip it over”.

 

Hearing this, the Troll started to become frightened.

 

“No”, he said, “You don’t want to do that”.

 

But Harry didn’t listen, standing behind the cauldron, he grabbed it by its curved rim and tried with all his might to lift it.

 

The cauldron was enormously heavy and Harry wondered if he could manage to tip it up but then Henny and the other children joined him and they all heaved together then suddenly , the cauldron tipped forwards and the bubbling potion came spilling out.

 

Seeing the potion pour out, the Troll, a terrified expression upon his hairy face, turned and started to run but he was not fast enough.

 

Before he could reach the door of his cottage the potion, running over the floor touched the trolls large hairy feet and the moment that it did, to their amazement, Harry, Henny and all the children saw the Troll freeze, his body covered in thick brown hair rapidly turning hard, cold and grey as the potion transformed him into a statue of solid stone.

 

“Hooray!”, the children cried as they saw the now petrified troll and realised that they were free.

 

But then, even more astonishingly, from outside the cottage, they heard the sound of more children, laughing and cheering and screaming with joy.

 

Now that the troll had turned to stone, you see, all the children who had been his petrified prisoners were restored to their normal selves.

 

And they went back to their homes and their loving mothers and fathers who were overjoyed to see them as did Harry and Henny with the little bird who became their very good friend.

 

As for the troll, Harry and Henny’s parents had it moved to their garden and it still stands there to this day as an ornament and something for the birds to perch upon but it was only right that the troll was turned to stone for now his body is as cold as his evil heart of stone.