The Fossegrimen Folly

by Michael Almich

  "So, by this time, we were very bold. The scary part of the dare wasn’t running into will-o-wisps, trolls, or the huldra; rather, we were scared of wolves, bears, and those types of natural predators. So, one night in my third summer, about halfway through camp, the guys dared me to not just run to the river gorge rim and back, but to yell a challenge into the river gorge. You know, ‘Here I am. Come and get me.’ That type of thing. Needless to say, I did it. I went down the Elevator…. I told you guys I was in the Forest cabins right?" He continued after seeing nods from several boys. "So, I went down the Elevator, and began to run. Some of the guys cheered me on from the Crow’s Nest. I ran for a bit, but it was difficult to see the roots and rocks in the dark, so I slowed to a fast walk."

  Tad paused with a distant look in his eye, staring off at nothing. Shy thought he must really remember this story well. The boys waited, not wanting to disturb him.

  Tad shook himself from his memory and continued, "The night was cool, like it gets up here. I could see my breath in the moonlight, and I remember shivering as the body heat from running melted away. I only had shorts and a T shirt on. As I walked, I alternately watched the path in front of me, so I didn’t trip, but I also kept looking ahead down the trail. I was really nervous, but wasn’t sure why. I had made this trip several times already that summer, with no problems.

  "Finally, I reached the rim of the river gorge… actually right by the overlook that we stopped at today. I walked carefully out to the ledge and yelled my challenge. Then I waited, silent. I heard several things. The first, I can barely describe. It was almost like a bellow. You know, kind of like the trumpeting of an elephant, but much shorter. It seemed to come from the forest all around the cliffs. I got scared real quick…. And the warnings came back to me. I was so scared, however, that I was frozen to the spot. I literally could not move. The next thing I heard was…." Again Tad paused.

  Shy looked around the room. The boys were so focused on Tad’s story, that it looked like they were under a spell that could not be broken. The only one who met Shy’s glance was Ralph. His eyes were wide.

  "The next thing I heard," Tad repeated, "I don't need to try to describe to you. You all heard it this morning. I will say this, that high keening, wailing, laughter is much scarier at night, by yourself, than during the day with a bunch of friends." He shivered. "I am not sure what makes that noise, but some of the old farts around this area claim there are flying creatures that live in that gorge. A long time ago the Native Americans in this area would scare their children by saying the flying dragons would carry them away….

  "Anyway… At this point, I was able to move… and I ran! I tripped on a root, and as I was getting up, I saw a light in the distance on the path. It appeared just for a second. I saw it, and then it went out. It seemed to me at that point like something had moved in front of it, and blocked it out. I didn’t know what to do. I stayed on my knees for a minute and stared at the spot where I saw the light. Out of the corner of my eye, off to the right, I saw a brief light flash behind some pines. When I looked that way, I thought I saw a faint silhouette moving behind some trees. It was huge and hulking!" Tad stood up to emphasize how big this figure was that he saw; from his tiptoes he reached his arms up as far as he could, then spread them as wide as he could. "I felt like I should just stay on the ground, try to crawl off the path and hide. So, I slowly moved off the path, backwards, away from the direction of both lights. Next, I experienced the scariest moment of my life…."

  Again Tad paused. It almost seemed to Shy like it was difficult for him to tell the story. Shy couldn’t blame him. He felt terrified just hearing about it! The pause stretched on as Tad closed his eyes.

  "Tell us…" Henry whispered. The boys all nodded in agreement.

  Tad cracked his eyes open dramatically. "I am only sharing this with you, so that you do not make the same mistake and underestimate the warnings and legends…. So, as I backed away a vice clamped down on my leg, just above the ankle! I was roughly jerked into the air like a doll. I screamed. Then I screamed again. I think I continued screaming for some time. I was lifted higher into the air and turned to face my captor. It was a troll, although I didn’t know it then. I am not sure if they can't hide themselves with the magic we call Glamour, like Tom T does, or if I could see the beast because it was touching me. I sure could see it though. It was hideous!

  It held me up with a huge, muscled, long, hairy arm. It held some type of lantern in the other hand (I realized later that the lantern light was a swarm of lightening bugs that flashed on and off, but there was so many of them that the light didn’t even waver). It seemed to be examining me. I screamed again, and this time, I could hear the response of the strange laughter from within the river gorge fading to the edge of hearing. It almost sounded like acknowledgement of the fact I had been captured. Like, 'OK, troll, you got to him first… He's all yours.'

  "Anyway… Trolls are such an unbelievable creature to describe. They have a face that I can only describe as a hippopotamus. They have a very broad snout, and thick short whiskers that almost look like they have been singed. The face narrows slightly from the snout to the main portion of the head. Their eyes are kind of squinty, and they have large square teeth. Their heads really look like a hippo’s. Their bodies are extremely well muscled, they are covered in coarse gray - black hair. Of the three I saw, two had tried to fashion some form of clothing, which partially covered them, but the other just didn’t seem to care. The strangest part about them, though, is they have only one leg! They use their long arms, with hands balled into a fist, to walk. It ends up looking a lot like an ape or gorilla. So, this one that had caught me could only hold his lantern up to see me for a few seconds at a time… while he balanced on one leg. Then he needed to put that other hand, with the lantern, down onto the ground to balance himself. Eventually, he moved to where he could lean against a tree. Then he began to study me again.

  In the meantime, two other trolls, the ones with clothing, showed up. They seemed to talk in some kind of guttural language. The one holding me was obviously the leader. He would raise his grunts and expressions to a louder level, and the others would seem to give in to whatever he was saying. It all sounded very harsh to me.

  It was at this point that I realized the bellows that I had heard after yelling my challenge, must have been these trolls. I felt not only scared, I felt foolish! To be out, by myself, yelling challenges… Stupid! That is why I am telling you all this. Don’t relax your guard, follow the rules!

  "The leader threw me over his shoulder, and began to head off to the north. One iron-like arm clamped down on me, while the other held his lightening bug lantern on high. I struggled a bit, to see if I could get free, but it just made him grip me harder. While hanging over his shoulders, I watched the two clothed trolls follow us for a bit. The way they walked was amazing. They would use their long arms very similar to the way you or I would use a crutch, swinging the huge stumpy back leg forward. Then, balancing on their one leg, they would swing the crutch arm forward. Once they got their momentum going, they were able to move at a very rapid pace. They created a rhythm as they passed through the forest. Plant leg, swing arm, plant arm, grunt, plant leg, swing arm, plant arm, grunt….

  "Soon the two other trolls drifted off in other directions. I found myself heading down a narrow path, stone walls on each side. It was more like a giant crack in the cliffs, than a path. I could still hear the waterfall but it sounded muffled, like the sound couldn’t penetrate the chasm we were in. The troll slowed and set me down on damp stone. My calf felt bruised where he had gripped it, I was cold and damp, but more than anything, I was terrified! I started to try to edge back up the rough stairwell, but he knew instantly. He swatted at me with one huge hairy arm. It knocked me sideways into the jagged stone of the chasm walls. I must have hit my head because I could feel the warm blood running down my forehead and temple. He stood over me now, drooling and growling. He raised his arm again, threatening, a
s if to tell me to stay put. As he moved away to cave entrance in the chasm wall, I went to wipe the blood from my face, and a sharp pain shot up my arm. I realized that I must have broken my arm.

  "It looked hopeless, and as the troll dragged out a huge black metal cauldron, I began to sink into despair. I knew that my time had come… and I might soon be troll dinner!"

  At that point Tad stopped his storytelling. He got up and stretched, moved next to the fire to warm his backside. The boys were all alert now. Some of them sat up. They wanted to hear the end of the story. When Tad remained quiet and showed no signs of continuing, Henry finally spoke up.

  "What happened?" Henry asked. "How did you get away?!"

  "Oh, you wanted to hear that part?" Tad asked in mock surprise.

  "Yeah!" Several boys answered in unison.

  "Well, OK. It does make a nice exciting ending. It seems that my fellow campers, after I didn’t return, admitted to our counselor about daring me to make this fateful trip to the river gorge. He immediately zipped down to the lodge. There he alerted Clancy and Gust… they have worked here for a long time. Clancy went to gather the other counselors, while Gust and my counselor set off immediately in search of me. Gust is really an interesting guy. You boys should get to know him. He is not what he seems. I have heard some rumors that he was in the Special Forces in the Vietnam War. After the war, he became a wilderness guide. He knows these woods and their legends better than anyone.

  "He led my counselor on some seldom used paths. He arrived at the site of my attack quicker than any of us could have. He bent over the marks on the path, studying them closely. My counselor told me all of this afterwards. He said that after a few minutes of quietly studying our prints in the path, Gust took off swiftly in pursuit. He said that Gust seemed like a different man. He moved through the forest like a giant feline on the hunt. He moved with the strength, agility, and fluidity of a much younger man. In fact, my counselor said that he could barely keep up. It was not long before Gust came across the locations that the other two trolls had split off from me and my captor. He whispered to my counselor that two trolls had spilt off and one continued with me. My counselor asked what they were planning, and he said that Gust looked up at him very seriously and said, ‘They will probably cook him and eat him.’ Then, he was swiftly moving off in pursuit again.

  "Meanwhile, I was beginning to sweat it out. I watched in horror as the troll filled the cauldron by carrying smaller buckets to it from a hidden spring of water that flowed from some cracks in the chasm wall. The beast had built a fire under the pot, and I could hear the water beginning to bubble and boil. Every time I tried to inch away, the troll knew instantly. Twice more, I got a swipe from the rough backside of its arm. By this time, I was bleeding in numerous places. After the last time I was swatted, just when the troll turned away, I felt a pebble hit me right in the cheek. I looked back up the path into the gloom, and could barely make out two shadows, crouched low up against the wall. They seemed to move closer. As the two figures came more clearly into view, I could see it was Gust, with my counselor behind. I looked back at the troll. He was still filling the pot, seemingly ignoring me. I glanced back up the path at Gust. He was motioning some hand signals to me. He made the running motion with his fingers and then pointed at me. I shook my head no, and motioned at the troll with my head. Gust seemed to understand. He pointed at me, raised his hand with five fingers extended, as if to say in five minutes. Then, he pointed to himself and made a walking sign, then pointed down the path, to the other side of the troll. Then he pointed to me and made the running sign again. So, I took him to mean that he would walk around to the other side of the troll. It would take him about five minutes. Then, I was supposed to run. I nodded my assent, and turned back to the troll. I was scared to death, but anything would be better than ending up in that pot.

  "The minutes ticked by, and I became more nervous every second. I strained my eyes to the other side of the troll… down the path. Did I see movement down there? Had it been five minutes? I wasn’t sure of either. I didn’t know what to do. Then, I heard some laughter and talking from down the path. The troll had filled the cauldron, and was walking toward me. At the sound of the laughter, he froze, and listened. He began to sniff the air, and then he let out one short bellow. It sounded like a warning bullhorn. Quickening his pace, he thumped up to me and smacked me once again. I tried to block it with my arm, and yelped at the impact. He had such unbelievable strength and mass. I was only able to deflect it, and was sure I had broken my arm in the attempt. The troll had already turned and moved down the path toward the new noise.

  "The instant he passed the curve in the path, I was up and running. I did my best to hold both broken arms tight to my body. To my surprise, my counselor sprang out of the shadows and assisted me up the damp, slick, pathway. 'We have to hurry,' he whispered. As if to emphasize his point, we heard a troll bellow, not behind us, but in front! One of the other trolls was coming!

  "We continued to run for a time, but strained our ears and eyes for any sign of the troll’s friends. Shortly, we caught such a sign. We could hear brush snapping off to our left, and the thump of the troll’s one heavy foot moving rapidly. My counselor tried to pull me off our current path and onto an offshoot, but I resisted because it seemed that we would be headed in the direction of the oncoming troll. He gave one of my broken arms a yank, and I gave in from the pain. We could hear the new troll’s breathing as we passed him on a parallel path. He must have caught our scent, or heard our passing because the thumping paused, then he crashed through between our paths and was now within sight behind us. We ran faster! Soon we arrived at the Elevator. Yes, the very same one you guys use. We hopped on and my counselor desperately pulled us up.

  "The troll burst out of the trees full tilt, and we were only five feet into the air! As he hurtled toward us, my counselor grabbed high on the rope, and yanked with all his might as the troll jumped. One hairy hand caught the base of the Elevator. It swung precariously. My counselor held the rope and stomped on the hand. With a bellow, the troll fell onto his back with a great expression of air, as the Elevator swung through. We looked at each other and he renewed his efforts to pull us up. When we got higher and safer, we looked down, and the troll was nowhere to be seen. As we reached the platform, we heard multiple bellows in the distance. I wondered how Gust was doing. Had they caught him, or had he survived? I felt a huge lump well up in my throat, as I began to realize what he had done for me. I guess I fainted, because the next thing I know is that my counselor was carrying me into the Hive.

  "And that is my troll story" Tad concluded. "I hope you all now understand why we must be careful."

  Seven hands shot into the air at once with questions.

  "Yes Henry?"

  "What happened to Gust? How did he escape the trolls?"

  "Well, he tricked them!" Tad laughed. "Turns out that trolls are brutal, strong, and stubborn, but not particularly bright. The troll that had captured me took off after Gust, but Gust had already laid a false trail down to the river before coming up to where he got our attention. So, he simply ran around a corner and ducked into a crevice. Now trolls have a really great sense of smell, even better than their eyesight. Gust was counting on the fact that the troll was angry and surprised to see him, and would run right past the hiding spot and on down the false trail, to the river. That, my friends, is just what happened. When the troll reached the river and Gust was nowhere to be found, it must have figured out that it had been tricked, or maybe it was just angry at losing its prey. It bellowed out to its fellow trolls, and a few answered. I think most came to see if they could pick up the scent from the other side of the river. Of course they couldn’t because Gust had never been to the other side of the river. A second after the troll passed his hiding spot, he was out and back up the trail. He almost caught up to us, and when the troll crashed through onto our path and was hot on our trail, he was not far behind. After he saw us escape he headed back t
o the lodge to inform Clancy. The story of what happened passed through camp quickly, and everyone was much more careful from then on. It seems like there is one big event like this each year that wakes everyone up to the seriousness of these woods. It’s a fun camp, but part of the fun and excitement comes from the fact that there is real danger involved."

  Tad looked around again at the boys. Several were whispering to each other, and a couple had their hands raised with questions. Shy hesitantly joined them, and as his hand went up, Tad looked to him.

  "Shy?"

  "What was that light I saw last night? Was it a troll with his lantern… like the ones in your story?"

  "I don’t know Shy. I suppose it could have been, or it could have been a will-o-wisp. Either way, don’t ever consider following it!" Tad paused for effect. "If it was a troll, he must have had a reason for being that visible. That is probably not a good sign, especially since he allowed you to see him, or his lantern at least."

  The other boys were now looking at Shy. He squirmed uncomfortably. A log floated on the air to the fire as Tom T worked at what he considered to be his chores.

  Henry broke the silence by moving over to Shy and asking, "What did you see exactly, Shy? When did it happen?" Before Shy could answer, Henry turned to Tad and blurted, "What do you mean it’s not a good sign?"

  The remainder of the evening was spent discussing trolls, and answering the questions Henry voiced for all the boys. Later, as Shy lay wide awake in his hammock, worried that he was going to dream of hippo faced trolls, he heard Tad stir from across the room.

  "Having trouble getting to sleep?" Tad asked.