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The Bet
Welcome to another adventure from the Thousand Acre Woods deep within Trollheim of the NJ Pine Belt! Tales Chronicled by Jonathan Hulton... That's me! In today's tale, Karl comes back from an extremely long journey expecting to win a huge windfall...
Today was the day Karl was returning from his trip. He had travelled from the Atlantic to the Pacific, there and back again.
The Mullah Nasruddin had bet him his fortune that he could not manage the trip and come back possessionless. Just the other day, he got to Trollheim to visit Bjorn. He came with only a flea ridden shirt on his back. The Arabs have believed him to be dead for centuries, but he has been traveling through the Native American tribes, causing trouble or spreading wisdom.
Karl had left me holding his wealth. I was ready to hand it over to the Mullah if he had lost. The great mullah surreptitiously placed his whole holding in the care of another.
Karl figured the agreed upon four thousand pieces of gold coins and a belt of wampum would last him till about a day's journey from home. He didn't want to take any chances and figured he could sleep under the stars and go hungry.
On his journey Karl fell asleep in Cardiff, New York, under a cliff to avoid the rain which suffered a mudslide. An archeologist dug him up and reported he found a giant, which he replaced with a concrete statue.
At Promontory Point, he stepped on the Golden Spike that had to be dug up again for Mark Hopkins to ceremoniously drive it back in and flirted a little with his wife.
In Yellowstone, he sat on a heat vent, causing Old Faithful to erupt in front of Washburn.
On the way back, he grew to his full height, scarring some racists and watched over the first election where black and Indian men could vote.
Just before crossing the Delaware, induced the labor of Maxfield Parrish out of fright when his mother misperceived his yellow hood for the sun rising over Laurel Hill, until his honker and bristle brush mustache came into view. They almost buried her in its cemetery.
Karl had spent his last wampum in Ohio and his last coin in a ginmill in Philly. He was sure he was going to win the bet after he slept in the rain outside of Burlington with Big Rusty, the Quaker Troll, when the owners of the pottery factor found them.
"OK, as you can see, I returned with nothing in my possession." Karl had returned with the only other agreed upon items, clothes on his back. Nobody wanted to encourage Karl to walk around in the buff… That is what Karl thought of, at least…
I then handed the Mullah Karl's fortune.
"Wait, a second; did I not return possessionless?" Karl protested.
Then the Mullah pulled out an empty box of matches. He lifted it to Karl's shoulder and not only the original flea he placed in his clothes, but now a whole family departed into his box. Karl had in his possession not only the Mullah's sole possession, but returned it to him with interest.
If you like this tale, hit the share button below or just even tell your friend the old fashion way, with your mouth. Come back next week for our next tale.
We just released our first collection of Trollheim stories in print. It is available on this website at www.salemhousepress.com and Barnes & Noble. Pick up your copy today, pretty please with sugar on top...
Fiction/ Illustrated Fantasy/ Mythology / Scandinavian Myth/ Norse Sagas / Scandinavian Folk Lore / Coffee Table Book
Paperback: $45 | Hardcover: $65 | PDF eBook $5
Buy now link...
Following the Harry N. Abrams, Inc. tradition of the series that created Brian Froud's and Alan Lee's Faeries and Gnomes by Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet, we present you with what would have been the next book in the series: Trolls: A Compendium. Trolls—do you think you know what they are? Could you be wrong?
Trolls within Scandinavian lore, myth, saga, fantasy, and folktales are actually anything magical within our northern neighbor's culture. Richly illustrated in this volume are the tales of faeries, dwarves, nissen, huldras, gods, Jotuns, draugar, ghosts, and more. Also, this book introduces our readers to the world of Trollheim, populated by Nattrolls that escaped the 17th-century Swedish colony within the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Narrated by Christopher Jonathan Hulton, who lives in the Thousand Acre Woods just after the Civil War, their tales are filled with Native American lore and tales of their neighbor, the Jersey Devil.
Preview: Google Books
Hardcover: $65.00
PDF (non-flowable, best on tablet, desktop, or laptop) eBook: Download a copy onto your device today! Only $5.00
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