In the last post: Alf rubs his hands with glee: tonight, a troll will stalk the forest and test Morris's manhood...

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​Eerie Eve ® James Field. Part 06

Morris marched along a narrow dirt-track path, mighty trees pressing on both sides. All the idiotic talk about trolls had annoyed him at first, but now he rambled with a spring in his step and whistled a jolly tune.

​Hadn't his wife, Sibyl, said the troll was a lady? Yes, Husminx. His imagination pictured a slightly clad temptress with long flowing hair and figure-of-eight figure. Wouldn't that be a fitting encounter for a fine Don Juan like me?

Just as the sun grew too weak to see by, the path opened into a small glen, exposing the remaining daylight. A small lake boarded one side of the glen, tangled trees crowded around the other sides. In the fading light, Morris hurried to assemble his tent. He looked up at the sky. Dark clouds gathered and it looked like rain.

Sibyl had said the magical toadstools she wanted only grew on Trollop Knoll in full moonlight. Which meant, because of the clouds, that he wouldn't be picking any tonight.

Whatever the weather, he didn't mind. Slumbering by the lake and listening to fish jump, rain patter, and trees whisper in the breeze would soothe his soul like balsam. Pooh to the idea of trolls!

Image by Wolfgang Eckert from Pixabay