Lucky Lucky Licorice
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 am not taking any chances!
After reading our latest story, make sure to tell a friend, and check out our Trollheim books below!
I was off to meet John Bowker at the brick company's siding. He was coming back from Tuckerton on the 5:15 with a load of clam shells he was going to use as flux. He used charcoal, bog iron, and shells to make pig iron in his furnace. I had him pick me up some anise seeds on the way.
Besides using it in my absinthe, I do love my licorice. Funny how anise makes better licorice than licorice…
The Tuckerton line usually got to the Thousand Acre Woods at 9:05, so I had plenty of time.
I hoped.
Anise is very temperamental; the soil in the Pines is a little too acidic for it. You had to be very careful with it and hope lady luck was on your side…so I was not taking any chances.
After picking up his wallet (he can be really absentminded, always dreaming about the Venusians…), I threw some salt into his furnace and left Boy Scout Pond.
I tipped my hat as I passed the elder tree spirit in the Bull Pitch Pine on the northern crossroads before Duck's Pond.
Then I walked through the Lenape Burial Ground, tapping on wood.
As I left on the other side, I threw an old nail over my head to scare away any evil spirits or Nocken I might have picked up at the pond. Then a black cat popped out, but he ran back into the woods when he saw me.
Too close for comfort…
I was not taking any chances. It was a new moon tonight, and it was the perfect time to plant the anise. I lost all the seedlings last year to an unexpected frost. The year before, the rabbits ate them; I think…
On Two Cemetery Road, just past my house, I looked into a puddle to make sure nobody was watching me. Elfshot through the puddle coming from a Finnish wizard on the other side could ruin my harvest. All I saw was Karl's empty living room.
I wonder who he was after?
I walked past a spider climbing up its web. As I turned left on the brick rail, my left hand was itching. Then I stumbled crossing through the swamp on the tracks.
Three eagles flew overhead as I passed the foreman's farm. So far, Thor was watching over me. They were all good omens!
I had my fingers crossed; I just crossed the crick. I knew if a witch was following me, she would be stuck on the other side. Witches can't cross flowing water, so I was safe.
I could taste the licorice already!
I got there just in time to see the train pull up. John jumped down from a train car, and I handed him his wallet; "Sometimes I wonder if you would forget your head if it wasn't stitched to your shoulders. You and your aliens…"
"I was reading Verne's tales of this blimp flying to the top of the world on my way; oh, anyway—here," John said, handing me my seeds, "I got you a pound for fifty cents."
I grabbed them, saying,
"Thank you!" as I went for my wallet—I forgot it…
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.
We are releasing our second collection of Trollheim stories in print, named Trolling About. It will be available on this website at www.salemhousepress.com and Barnes & Noble. Pick up your copy today, pretty please with sugar on top...
Make sure you pick up the first collection of tales too...
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
Hardcover: $65.00
PDF (non-flowable, best on tablet, desktop, or laptop) eBook: Download a copy onto your device today! Only $5.00
Share