Imaginary Friends...
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! Today's tale I asks about his time traveling the world with the great teacher Manni.
"So how come the gospels or the gnostics don't mention you?" I asked.
"Well, you are trying to write a plausible biography of the person you're selling as the messiah---do you mention his imaginary friend?" Bjorn answered.
"Hmmm…"
"In the lost sayings gospel, Thomas, and John…" Bjorn tried continuing, before I cut him off.
"Lost sayings, Thomas…"
"Yes, are you going to let me finish?"
"Sorry."
"OK, those gospels sometimes, through bad interpretations and scribe's marginal notes, mix me up with the holy spirit to write out Manni's imaginary friend or the times the apostles heard him talking to himself; they were torn between his wisdom and the fact that he was, well, talking to himself…"
"Why were you invisible?"
"After we left Zhao at her well in Shingo, a beautiful soul who carried Mencius in her heart, I felt it was time to throw the chick out of the nest.
"It was time for him to return home. Eventual people graduate."
"So you abandoned him?" I asked, giving him that look.
"Argh, no; I was always over his shoulder; he sensed me, but it was hard not to talk back to him, but he kept talking anyway. It was like he knew how I thought and what I would say. Also, I kept managing things behind the scenes for him. He knew I was there just being stubborn…
"As he sailed back home, I did pull him back from falling overboard a few times…"
"How did you guys go to Japan?"
"We followed the northeast desert winds till they came to the forest in Liaoning and traversed the woods to the shore."
"The top of Africa moving northeast through China is a vast desert. Through a narrow latitude in that desert where all the religions that influenced Judaic thought and the greatest teachers, including Siddhartha Guatama.
"We travelled from the land of the tall cedars and crossed to Egypt to sit at the knee of Philo. Studied at temples dedicated to Enki and Marduk. Attended the fires in Iran. Enrolled in the Greek schools in Afghanistan. We sat in the shadows of the Himalayas, learning from Buddhist sages. On camel back we listened to the singing dunes learning Taoism. "
"So you left him!" I yelled.
"Just like Arthur, Merlin needed to fake his death so Arthur would never fall reliant on him."
"You know how that worked out…"
"Smart ass," Bjorn said, shaking his head and looking at me. "I never left him, and he never left us. I've caught you talking to Manni several times…"
"Well, he is…"
"Yup," he agreed. "I followed him like the Troll Dorfi who followed King Harold Fairhair."
"Hugh?"
"A Troll got caught robbing Harold's father. They threw him into a large cell and tortured Dorfi. Harold took pity on him and freed him. His father found out and imprisoned him. Dorfi came back and freed him. Afterward, Dorfi raised Harold as his own son and taught him magic, wisdom, and fighting skills. When his father had died, he sent him home to take over his kingdom. Dorfi sent him out with one goal in mind; he told him he shouldn't cut his hair till he conquered all of Norway, which he did and Dorfi's invisible hand led him the whole way."
"Ah, that sounds like a Christian tale.."
"No, Dorfi was Gramps' second cousin, a bit of a braggart. He never let you forget that he led Harold to the throne…"
"Didn't Manni go to England?" I asked.
"I stayed home, but he travelled with Joseph, a tin merchant, to Cornwall, where the Phoenicians had a colony that traded in the metal, then to Ireland for silver.
"Then after the crucifixion, he travelled through Egypt to sail back. See, religion moved in five directions. We travelled the desert path guided by the stars. Nature guided to the north, moving southwest from the Russian Steppes to Ireland. Then there is one governed in ice. To the west of Andes and then from southern Africa to Australia. Mani went to learn from the forest people. Later, he might have worked backward from Florida through Canada to Shingo in Japan; I think he married the maid at the well and began making yogurt…"
"You didn't go check."
"I felt bad."
"Why so?"
"Maybe he left his apostles too soon; they were not ready to walk on their own. Would the world have been different if he stayed a little longer?"
"He had to leave them eventually…"
"Yes."
"Did you think you left him too soon?"
"Maybe?"
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.
At the end of February 2025, we are releasing the first collection of Trollheim stories in print. So make sure to come back and check when you can bring their family into your home!
Fiction/ Illustrated Fantasy/ Mythology / Scandinavian Myth/ Norse Sagas / Scandinavian Folk Lore / Coffee Table Book
Paperback: $45 | Hardcover: $65 | PDF eBook $5
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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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