Welcome to another adventure from the Thousand Acre Woods. A place on the edge of Trollheim deep within the mysterious NJ Pine Belt! Tales Chronicled by Christopher Jonathan Hulton...That's me! Today's tale, I go hunting for the Pearl of Wisdom with Bosco.

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I'm going treasure hunting with Bosco. We are on the hunt for the Pearl of Wisdom dug up from the massive shell midden off the coast of Tuckerton. As told by the natives, an older race of giants had built the midden. I saw Cushing officiate the find of two skeletons on the beach.

It must've been one hell of a case of indigestion for the one, since the second came back to life when Gramps said hi. His cousin was sleeping off dinner for so long his skin fell off. It was a good thing he could slip it, his skin that is, back on.

Dr. Theophilus Townsend Price, of the Tuckerton Railroad, writes in his journal that toward the end of the Revolutionary War, the Pine Robber, John Bacon, stole the pearl from Titan Leeds, who found it in the midden.

Earlier, Benjamin Franklin in his Poor Richard's Almanac tells of Leed's find of the pearl and the foolishness of fate that such a buffoon would find it and ascertain any real magical value of it. Many Quakers in Burlington and Philadelphia believe Leeds to be an astrological quack; others fear his metaphysical leanings. 

Now Bacon, working for Franklin's disinherited son, the governor of NJ, was soon killed after the Battle of Cedar Bridge Tavern. Some say Bacon was the last casualty of the war. The local Burlington militia riffled through his clothes, but nobody found it.

There is a peculiar mention in The American Almanack, that many have spotted the Devil after seeing a passing glint in the moonlight around Jones Road.

After Benjamin maligned Leed's son, Daniel, in the first issue of Poor Richard's, calling him the Leed's Devil forever after made his family strange bedfellows with the NJ Devil. Was Daniel hinting toward its current owner in his family's almanac?

So the two of us are leaving the safety of Trollheim to hunt down the family of gastornis, large birdlike dinosaurs, who commonly are mistaken as the Devil himself.

I thought Bosco could provide a little protection. The Nattrolls have so much treasure they collected over the years, they would have no interest in the hunt. Plus, Bosco really hates Gast…

First, we checked around Ong's Hat where Bacon lived, just in case there were any rumors about the pearl.

Then we checked Peggy's Pine Tavern, but she didn't see Gast today.

We followed the old Tuckerton Road past General Howe's old place. Then we asked Fossegrim, who lived in the rapids after the bridge.

We even asked the beaver who had flooded the road. Nobody saw him.

It was getting dark when Bosco growled. I looked in that direction and saw the glint flying in the moonlight. I followed Bosco, who started running. The Devil proved hard to follow as it ran through the scrub oak to reappear in the pines above us. We gave chase as it swam to the bottom of Duckspond and jumped out at the culvert.

It laughed at us as we chased it through the air, land, and water. Three times we almost caught it. Nine times we heard it laughing at us. Once, we almost caught it.

Then I got on Bosco's back as he ran faster than an eagle. The shimmering will-o-wisp jumped into the trees once more, then I leapt off Bosco and plucked one of its feathers in the dark.

Quickly I poured salt on top of it, and the Devil fell to the ground.
Now trapped till I brush the salt off, Nis smiled and laughed. 

"That was fun; why were you guys chasing me, anyway?" she said. 

"We are on a treasure hunt for the Pearl of Wisdom," I told her as Bosco nodded.

When she turned her head, I saw that she not only had the Pearl of Wisdom hanging from her ear; she had its matching earring. 

"I lost it years ago eating some clams with these burly Vikings on vacation," she explained.

"We had run out of clams, and we were drinking pretty heavily as I went searching through the midden for oysters they couldn't shuck, knowing my beak could open them, when I stumbled and lost one. Daniel helped me get it back, but Bacon stole it. Right before he died, it fell out of his pocket, and Gast found it. I can't say its wisdom helped Bacon any, since Molly McGinnis ratted him out after being satiated; maybe she was mad because he finished before her, and too soon."

"That was fun; we had a ball chasing you; maybe we can do it again?" I asked.

"I could use a new sport and Bosco has gained a few pounds…"
Bosco swiped me and Nis laughed, "Sounds good to me, how about Saturday?"

 

If you like the tales from Trollheim you will love Trolls: A Compendium!

by Christopher Jon Luke Dowgin and
Christopher Jonathan Hulton

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

Paperback: $45.00

Hardcover: $65.00

PDF (non-flowable, best on tablet, desktop, or laptop) eBook: Download a copy onto your device today! Only $5.00