How The Little Warrior Became Great

Once upon a time there was a village that was threatened by a terrible, greedy and ferocious ogre.

He had raided the village many times and stolen all of the possessions of the villagers but, though they were angry, none of the men in the village were brave enough to face the ogre except for one, named Luaf, who was very small.

All the other men laughed when Luaf said that he would fight the ogre.

“Why you’re so small”, they said, “That that Ogre will probably eat you for breakfast”.

Nevertheless Luaf put on his armour and his helmet and, carrying his little spear, set off through the woods to face the ogre.

As he was walking through the woods however, he came across an old man.

“Where are you going to?”, asked the old man.

“I am going to face the ogre who lives in a cave beyond the woods”, replied Luaf.

“Can I come with you?”, asked the old man, “That ogre robbed my village too and smashed my hut and stole all my money and I have been poor ever since”.

“Alright, but it’s a long way to walk”, said Luaf.

“Then perhaps you can carry me on your shoulders”, asked the old man.

And so Luaf let the old man climb up onto his shoulders before continuing on his way

After he had been walking a little further through the forest, however, he came across a young woman.

“Where are you going to?”, asked the woman.

“We are going to face the ogre who lives in a cave beyond the woods”, replied Luaf.

“Can I come with you?”, asked the woman, “That ogre robbed my village too. He burned my hut to the ground and he stole all the money that I and my poor old mother had to live on”

“Alright, but it’s a long way to walk”, said Luaf.

“Then perhaps she can climb up on my shoulders”, asked the old man.

And so Luaf let the woman climb up over him and onto the old mans shoulders before continuing on his way.

But then, not long afterwards, they came upon a little boy.

“Where are you going to?”, asked the little boy.

“I am going to face the ogre who lives in a cave beyond the woods”, replied Luaf.

“Can I come with you?”, asked the little boy, “That ogre robbed my village too and killed my father and mother and now I am an orphan”.

“Alright, but it’s a long way to walk”, said Luaf.

“Then perhaps I can carry him on my shoulders ”, said the woman.

And so Luaf let the little boy climb up over him and the old man let the little boy climb up over him and onto the shoulders of the woman before they continued on their way.

Now Luaf walked for some time through the forest until, finally, he saw the cave of the ogre come in sight and so he called out.

“Come out! Come out you ogre and fight. I am Luaf the brave and I am prepared to fight you”.

And, hearing Luaf, with a loud roaring cackle, the Ogre came out of his cave carrying his spiky club,

“Ha! Come to fight me have you?”, it said, “Why, I’ll have your bones for my breakfast”.

But just then the ogre looked up and his great hairy jaw dropped, his eyes bulging and his body shaking with fear because, over the tops of the trees of the forest he saw the head of the little boy poking out.

“Oh no! It’s a giant!”, the ogre called out in horror, “A giant coming through the forest to eat me”.

And, panicking, the ogre turned and fled, running far away and never returning.

Now, as they emerged from the forest the boy got down from the shoulders of the woman and the woman got down from the shoulders of the old man and the old man got down from the shoulders of Luaf and they all went to look in the ogres cave.

There inside it were all the things that the ogre had stolen from all the villages he had robbed  and so the boy, the woman and the old man shared the treasure and, after Luaf returned with his share to his village, the men of his village didn’t laugh at him anymore infact they hailed him and called him Luaf the great.