This new take on the old tale does not detract or change from the original, but rather fills in the story before and after the original piece. As it turns out, there was much more to this than three goats trying to cross a bridge!
The setting of the book is historically accurate as it takes place in Briton a hundred years or so after the time frame of Arthurian legend. The first few chapters of the book do read almost like a history text; a well written record, granted, but an academic piece none the less. The beginning may have been a little cumbersome, but I personally found it to be very interesting. It gives a considerable bit of information about a time in Britain that I had little to no knowledge of. For anyone interested in early Anglo-Saxon history, this is a very good read.
The storyline is woven in with the historical references very well, so the book is still very readable. A small disappointment I felt was that as the brothers tried to win over Troll maidens, they were given a window of time to return to their human form. This made more sense for the story, but I was eager to see them try to catch the eye of a maiden in the form of a goat. One of the things I felt the author did really well was the development of the three brothers.
In the beginning of the book, when the brothers were introduced, I could really only distinguish them based on their birth order, and I had to remind myself which was which. By the end of the book, each of them had become very much an individual, each with a distinct personality, strengths and preferences. At any rate, the book becomes hard to put down as the story is so enjoyable, but at the same time I found myself not wanting for it to be over. There is certainly a part of fantasy to the story, but also some satire and humor, along with the aforementioned historical context.
This definitely goes to my re-read collection because of how I enjoyed it, and because of what I am likely to pick up on following reads. The author does state that the fantasy parts of the story are fictitious, while the rest is founded in history. The fact that Trolls have not been seen for millennia means simply that: One person found this helpful. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. This story follows a band of adventurers seeking for nothing more than a kiss to restore than natural human form. The problem is, when they kill the wrong troll, they anger the wrong trolls. This is a new spin on an old Norwegian fairytale.
In the original, everything ends after the troll is killed, in a sort of happily ever after moment. In this story, however, Futers demonstrates his ability to add the human struggle, and the truth that resolutions are never so simple. Will the goats lose their humanity before they regain their human form? What can be made of characters vying for the comfort of their natural state, when in the end they will destroy that which is offensive to them, or that which they are intolerant of, to get their much desired kiss?
The names may seem overwhelming at first, but I expected this, given it is mythology. He spins yarn well, and I hope we see much more from Mr.
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A well-constructed, carefully prepared book. I could recognize and appreciate the time and trouble put into this book by the author. It took me a while to get into it, quite involved at the start along with many different names that take on different forms, be it the long name or the shortened version, which took a little bit getting used to.
As a great fan of fairytales, I loved to experience the retelling of the age-old story of The Billy Goats Gruff. It somehow brought the story home to explore the lives and the background that could surround the fable. As the three brothers, Edgar, Bert and Frith are transformed into goats by an evil wizard they are forced to set off in search of the one thing that will break their curse - the kiss of a troll maiden. He stared after them with some longing. Why had the shepherd not paid for his potion with goat fleshinstead of squirrel?
That would have made a broth worth eating! It was a well travelled route and gave them few difficul-ties except here and there where bridges were long since washedaway or the road surface was lost through washouts and landslips. The road passed through a land that few of the companyhad ever visited and none knew well. All that was certain wasthat their fallen enemy was said to have two palaces in this dis-tant region and where there were palaces there would be treas-ure.
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The old road ran straight to the north, following ridges andplateaux more often than the pleasant dales. Their descent intothe valley of the River Bromish was a relief to all, for it was alandmark that they had been expecting for some time. For theleaders of the expedition it was also the cause for some concern,for although they knew they were close, they had no actual ideawhere either Gatburgh or Bebbanburgh were. While the men watered their horses, Cadwallon consultedwith Penda, his English ally.
The young King of the Mark spoke The Adventures of the Billy Goats Gruffno Welsh, and the King of Gwynedd would not deign to speakEnglish, so they spoke through an interpreter, a surprisinglyyoung man who was training to be a bard. I would suggest that weattack the stronger one first, in the hope that they can be caughtunawares. Also, the men will be less eager to fight if they havefull saddlebags of booty.
Some of mine felt that Corstchesterwas far enough to come, for it was a rich prize, and we had toleave much behind in order to travel light enough to reach here. The easier prize will fall quickly to usand we will have eliminated an enemy to our rear that mightdiscomfort us if the fight becomes a siege.
He is one of the Cymry, and I think he may be a bardor a wizard by his wild demeanor. Should we turn him away, forsurely he must be a foul pagan? He must have interpreted truthfully, for the English kinggave a short bark of contemptuous laughter, which Cadwallonignored. Let us hear what he has to say. He was surpris-ingly young, probably in his late twenties, having long darkbrown hair and a wispy beard which was mostly visible on hischin and around his lips. He was tall and lean, although not toothin, and he wore a long green cloak made of good woven clothover shabby and nondescript tunic and trews.
He had no occultregalia to mark him out as a wizard except for a long thin staffof dark wood surmounted by a highly polished bronze head. The Fight at GatburghHe introduced himself as Ceredig Uchel and he offered to leadthem wherever they wished. He told them of his hatred for thefollowers of Eadwine who had denied him his rightful rank andrespect. He then began to recount in detail his grievances butCadwallon cut him short. Youmay do whatever you wish once we have gone. Make yourself thepriest or the king of the place. Eadmund called together hislast remaining helpers and bade them return to their homes andawait the return of better times.
They refused, bringing out theirspears and bows to show that they too had been making ready. Athelred suggested setting fire tothe halls and the great stand, but Eadmund would not hear of it. We have already movedanything that they would possibly want within the enclosure; thehalls are of no interest to them.
Theenemy rode into Gatburgh from the road and moved in aweamong the beautifully adorned halls, and spread out throughthe lesser buildings searching for loot. The leaders of thecompany were drawn towards the massive wooden structure From the height bestowedby the great stand, they could survey the entire site, includingthe nearby cattle enclosure. They were somewhat surprised tofind the gateway of this enclosure held against them by a fewarmed men. A horn call brought the scattered warriors to attendupon their lords, who marshalled the men and hurried to theenclosure.
There they found five warriors, at least two of whom werevery young, and a dozen or so followers, shields locked togetherand spears levelled in silent menace. Arriving first, the King ofthe Mark marvelled at such resistance but he swiftly sent in hishousehold against them. Ecgfrith bore a deep gash in his shin to tell for his inexperience,but he wounded his opponent more surely than that, althoughnot mortally. After that, the men of the Mark and their allieswere more cautious. They attacked in formation, making suddenrushes and throwing spears and axes against the shield wall.
Thedefenders replied with bowshot and spears. The ground beforethe place was littered with bodies of the men of the Mark and ofGwynedd, and they were beginning to waver in spite of the oddsin their favour. If they had kept up the attack, the Grufflingswould have died earning a place in the songs of that land for therest of time. Instead, the King of Gwynedd called his warriorsback, and the men of the Mark withdrew.
The defenders relaxeda little, but kept their defensive wall of shields ready in case theybrought archers forward against them but what they brought inwas much worse. For their own part the defending archers inthe redoubt fired arrows into their enemy wherever there was anopportunity, for the store of arrows in the place was great andthey did not need to worry that their few archers would ever lackfor ammunition. When the fighting stopped, Ceredig hurried up to see theWelsh king. He claimed that a guardian magic associated withthis place protected the Grufflings and that only he could defeatthem.
He asked only that he be paid a small amount of gold anda healthy store of silver for it. The greedy king swiftly agreed, The Fight at Gatburgheven though his own people had long since given up the paganways followed by this sorcerer. The wizard took a bow from one of the soldiers and chanteda spell over it. Then he took aim and shot an arrow among theGrufflings. When the mighty warrior fell, a greatshout arose from the Welsh, who stormed forward in triumph,but they fared no better than before, and fell back dismayedonce more.
The Grufflings closed ranks over the body of theirfallen kinsman and grief would not yet master them, though itshowed in the bitter set of their faces. The wizard was furiouswith the Welsh warriors for their haste. They had broken a spellthat he had so carefully prepared and he was not pleased.
Hewarned them not to advance again until he told them to. He took up his staff, staring intently at its head for a momentbefore his face twisted into an uncharacteristic smile.
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He brandished the staff and began to summon hismagic again, this time to weave a different spell. Soon Ecgfrithdoubled over in pain, dropping everything to clutch at his head. He tore off his helm and cast it aside. There were swellings onhis head and his white hair began to sprout all over his body.
The Adventures of the Billy Goats Gruff by Kevin P. Futers
Next Bertred was affected and by the time that he was on hisknees with the pain, there was no sign of Ecgfrith, only a whitegoat kid running around bleating. Eadmund watched in dismayas his sons succumbed to this transformation. When Edgar beganto change, he let out a shout which rang out across the dale andechoed among the hills above.
Then he charged into the ranksof the men of the Mark, for they again stood between him andthe wizard. He began to hack through their hastily formed shieldwall, ignoring the cuts to his sword arm and his legs, deter-mined to reach the sorcerer and slay him. Ceredig was afraidand turned his attention to a new spell against the noble reeve. No doubt Eadmund must have thought thathis enemies could suddenly move with lightning speed, for he The Adventures of the Billy Goats Grufftried vainly to counter a dozen different strikes.
Within moments by either perspective , Eadmund was dead upon the ground andthe attackers were able to storm the enclosure, sweeping asidethe last resistance. They had fled to the old mound which lay in the southwest of the enclosure.
The brothers were huddled near it, afraid perhaps of some newsorcery. They had seen this man before from time to time andknew that he was given to mad shouting and angry outbursts,although none of them truly appreciated the cause of his com-plaint. The wizard smirked with glee, for they had surely playedinto his hand by fleeing to this place of ancient magic. Ceredigsmiled with wicked glee and turned to the men of the Mark andof Gwynedd. This time he spoke in Welsh.
You see, here wehave victory out of defeat at the hands of these brave warriors. You now have a chance to share in their power. Go and seek outthe treasures of this place. Here shall be a great feast to markyour victories over the Sassen race. Take these goats, and letthem be your meat, for no other beasts are here to be found. Thedespoilers have sent all the animals away.
Three Billy Goats Gruff
Eat the goats, and youshall be avenged for their meanness of spirit. He called loudly for silence and in an instant all washushed. The king then spoke, echoed in Welsh by his interpreter. Anyone who eats the fleshof these three goats is eating the flesh of a man. If a man eats These three will be driven forth from this place of the goats, intothe hills above.
Then he spoke in a lower voice directly to the wizard. They fought with the honour of English athelings and should berespected as such. He glared at Penda and sawthat the English king wore many talismans that would protecthim from magic. He hissed in cat-like anger, but hurried awayto collect the treasure promised to him by the Welsh king. Cadwallon was no longer interested in Gafre Vrin.
Exceptfrom the little store within the redoubt, the promised treasurewas scattered and he had no leisure to pursue it. He was awarethat Bebbanburgh remained secure behind him and could notafford to ignore it any longer. He took a little time to slight thehalls and the great stand with fire, then turned his back on theplace, not caring whether the fire held or not.
With Penda andhis other underlings in tow, they rode east to challenge the rockycitadel on the coast. When the fires died and the smoke was borne away intothe east, the men and women of Dinware came down from thehills and found the remains of the slaughter. In gratitude forselfless sacrifice and the return of their tithe goods, they buriedthe fallen of both sides.
They were not properly Christians, sothey made no Christian grave. They did not know how the paganSaxons buried their dead either, except a feeling that it involvedboats. So they made a boat of the fallen foemen and placed theirown countrymen who fell alongside the Grufflings to form theprow. They set Eadmund the Gruff in the midst of the boat withhis eldest son as his companion.
Their labours complete they The Adventures of the Billy Goats Gruffreturned to their homes to see who would come to replace Ead-mund as steward of their holy place. Ceredig toiled eastwards on foot, abandoned byinvaders. Before crossing the bridge he turned south, climbingup into the low hills to reach his hidden valley. He was afraidthat if he delayed the goats would change back into three angryyoung warriors who would pursue him.
He therefore prepareda spell of permanence to follow the wicked spell of transforma-tion he had already cast. He knew that there must be a way ofescape from the spell for it to balance correctly, and that thethree would instantly know what the charm would be. For thisreason, the wizard thought long and hard about what the threewould have to do to regain their true forms.
Again his staff gavehim a flash of inspiration and he laughed at his own wickedcunning as he set to work. How could they possibly do whatwas required? As they turned to the west, Ceredig sent anotherspell after them. The magic allowed them five years to find theircure, so to make things a little harder, he guided their steps insuch a way that they became ensnared in the mists of Elfland, asuncanny a fate for mortals as could be imagined. They were looking down into a broad,steep sided valley, anxious to learn what more they could aboutthe place.
The late autumn sun was sinking ahead of them, cast-ing long shadows across the valley floor, but they knew that theday would last somewhat longer where they were on the moorsabove. The cliffs on the far side were in shadow, but the rocksnot far below their feet were a deep russet in the sunlight, thesame unusual colour that they had seen for some time in thesoil of the area. Below them and to their right the valley wasfull of sheep and cattle, among whom wandered a good numberof herders and young lads, all vigilant for any signs of a threatto their herds or flocks, somehow able to tell the sheep of onegroup from the sheep of another.
The brothers had already encountered these herders whenthey first came to the valley earlier that day. They had madetheir way down the valley sides at one of the few gentler slopesand started to graze on the lush valley grass there, but the shep-herds saw them and came together to drive the goats away withsticks and stones.
Stung and sore, the Gruffling brothers fledfrom the valley and found themselves on the sparsely wooded The Adventures of the Billy Goats Gruffmoors beyond. There they comforted themselves with a mealof autumn berries and briar leaves and then settled themselvesdown for a nap. Curiosity drew them back. Even in the short time they werethere, it was obvious that the valley was divided into two sec-tions. To the south, the valley held few sheep and the grassthere was lush and green.
The area they had visited and the areathat they now overlooked was crowded and the grass, althoughgreen, was sparse and bare patches showed through. Betweenthe well-used pasture and the underused one, there was a bridgeof dark red sandstone. South of this bridge the sides of the valleysteepened between tall cliffs of red stone and there was no waydown from the high moor above.
The arched stone bridge cross-ing the river in a single span looked out of place in that valleywhere the few other bridges were all crude affairs made withlogs. It was this as much as the lack of beasts to the south andthe lush vegetation which lay there that intrigued the brothers. This one looks much newer and it is welllooked after. But why have a bridge if no one wants to cross it? Bertred swallowed the cud he was chewing.
It did nottake him long to find a sheep who was grazing away from hershepherds. He approached openly so that the ewe would notstartle and run. The ewe looked up,decided this strange goat was not a threat and then carried ongrazing. He continued to stalk through thefringes of the flock, keeping out of sight of the human keep- The Three Billy Goats Gruffers, but nothing more could be learned from any of the othersheep who all seemed to give the same answer, as if they hadall learned it by rote.
Although it was frustrating to know so little, they all agreedthat this was worth checking. There was little else to do but towatch the bridge as best they could, taking it in turns to sit uponthe stretch of hillside with the best view of the bridge. Noneof the brothers enjoyed this much as there was little to eat atthis place. Their concept of time was sketchy, being composedof grazing, chewing the cud and sleeping, but they managedto divide it between themselves as equally as possible.
A daypassed without any change in the valley and the second lookedlikely to be the same. However, towards evening they wererewarded by the sight of a shepherd returning from up the valley,driving his flocks before him. Edgar, who was on watch at thetime, urgently called to his brothers to come and see. Togetherthey watched as the shepherd came near to the bridge. The sheepseemed to mill about, reluctant to cross but the shepherd didnot drive them forward with his dogs.
Instead, he made his wayup to the bridge himself, leaving the dogs to hold the flock inplace. A ladder popped up against the side of the bridge and upscurried a troll. The shepherd did not look happy but he pulledhimself up to his full height which actually made him a shadetaller than the stooping troll and spoke to the troll who growledback in answer.
The conversation was short, with the shepherdsoon pleading with the troll over something. The troll cut himshort with a shout. Everyone in the valley; human,beast and enchanted youth now seemed to be watching thebridge with various degrees of interest. The shepherd seemed todroop in defeat; he pointed at a lamb, and then started to drivethe flock across the bridge.
The sheep were nervous crossing The Adventures of the Billy Goats Gruffthe bridge, giving the troll a wide berth. However as the chosenlamb crossed behind its mother a long arm shot out and grabbedit by the neck. Up on the hillside, little Frith even repeated it onceto himself. The shepherd hastily crossed himself and drove hisflock over without looking back and without looking at any ofthe other shepherds gathered there.
He drove his sheep straightdown the valley away from any criticism or condolence. Not farabove him, the three brothers shuddered in fear, thinking aboutthe fate of the lamb. That shepherd was probably late in coming back and hadto pay extra. Having no money he must have paid with one ofthe weaker lambs. Toll trolls may be mean and bad temperedbut they are always fair. I think we could probably get acrossthe bridge without too much trouble. After all, there are onlythree of us. If necessary we can think of a way to trick him intoletting us cross.
But how are we going to get past him? They knew that whatever they did itwould have to work on the first attempt. They would have to take whatever opportunities arose, yet atthe same time they needed a framework plan which would havethem all in agreement with each other and confuse the troll. Thegoats discussed various strategems before settling for one that Edgar seemed a little unsure, especially with hisown role in the plan but he has willing to try it.
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Frith was the first to startout from their hiding place on the valley side. He trotted towardsthe bridge as quietly as he could, keeping to the cover offered byshrubs on the valley side. Their plan would work all the better ifone of them could cross unnoticed and discovery by the men inthe dale would be as dangerous as discovery by the troll. All waswell as the little one reached the near side of the bridge but assoon as he set foot on the bridge, he heard the sound of the trollscrambling up the ladder from wherever it lived below.
The kidtook a few brave steps forward before stopping in terror as the bigman vaulted over the carefully made dry stone parapet. He foundhis feet remarkably well and seemed to fill up the entire width ofthe bridge. Getback to your master before I skin you! I meant no harm, I just ran aheadof the herd. My brothers and our master are following on; theywill pay your toll Mr. Please let me cross, the grass looksso green and tempting over there.
He wassure that goats were not meant to be able to speak, but you nevercan tell when you live in a land of legends. He was also puzzledthat a lone goat should try to cross his bridge just because thegrass on the other side was a different colour. Whether in the end he felt sorry for thelittle beast or because he had some notion of demanding money Futers carefully describes a medieval time period populated not only by humans, but also by trolls, elves and wizards — good and bad. All the main and supporting characters have well-developed and well-defined personalities, and, despite the spells, trolls and elves, the story is believable.
Futers makes good use of his language skills in describing scenes, people, situations, etc. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy, and wants to get lost in a good story. May 08, Jason Clark rated it it was amazing. The next big hit movie from Dreamworks? I think it certainly should be, though it may turn out to be another missed opportunity from the film industry. Of note, Eadwine and his sons are based on real characters from the seventh century, but until now the story of them becoming goats has not been told to any degree.
Anyway, the only release from their spell is to kiss a maiden Troll. It starts The next big hit movie from Dreamworks? It starts off badly when they first meet a troll at the bridge the original Billy Goats Gruff story then kill him. This event increases their challenge by creating distrust amongst the whole Troll nation.
The story then follows these enchanted goats as they slowly lose their humanity and become more caprine. Once the tale gets going, it is a wonderful romp through enchanted lands with several adventures along the way. Fey creatures are met, some friendly and others not particularly. Mr Futers also explains quite a bit about the Troll culture at the time, which has not been well explored by other authors.
He gives considerable perspective to the Trolls reaction to one of their kind being murdered. I would even suggest that he exposes their humanity, but that is insulting to trolls. I enjoyed the style of this book, in many ways done in a similar manner to a Brothers Grimm tale. To my untrained eye, The Adventures of Billy Goats Gruff could have easily been a translation of troll folklore recently discovered rather than a newly worked fiction. The story is of course based on the Three Billy Goats Gruff, which is an old bit of Norwegian folklore.
This new take on the old tale does not detract or change from the original, but rather fills in the story before and after the original piece. As it turns out, there was much more to this than three goats trying to cross a bridge! The setting of the book is historically accurate as it takes place in Briton a hundred years or so after the time frame of Arthurian legend. The first few chapters of the book do read almost like a history text; a well written record, granted, but an academic piece none the less.
The beginning may have been a little cumbersome, but I personally found it to be very interesting. It gives a considerable bit of information about a time in Britain that I had little to no knowledge of. For anyone interested in early Anglo-Saxon history, this is a very good read. The storyline is woven in with the historical references very well, so the book is still very readable. A small disappointment I felt was that as the brothers tried to win over Troll maidens, they were given a window of time to return to their human form.
This made more sense for the story, but I was eager to see them try to catch the eye of a maiden in the form of a goat. One of the things I felt the author did really well was the development of the three brothers. In the beginning of the book, when the brothers were introduced, I could really only distinguish them based on their birth order, and I had to remind myself which was which. By the end of the book, each of them had become very much an individual, each with a distinct personality, strengths and preferences.
At any rate, the book becomes hard to put down as the story is so enjoyable, but at the same time I found myself not wanting for it to be over. There is certainly a part of fantasy to the story, but also some satire and humor, along with the aforementioned historical context.
This definitely goes to my re-read collection because of how I enjoyed it, and because of what I am likely to pick up on following reads. The author does state that the fantasy parts of the story are fictitious, while the rest is founded in history. The fact that Trolls have not been seen for millennia means simply that: