Troll Epidemic
or How To Cure Thievery
A few years ago I let Minta in on my barrel-bank heist [see “Terrible Liar”], and the troll that very rarely laughs did indeed do just that when I described Lisbet’s straight face at my juvenile prevarications.
As an aside: Hearing a troll laugh is not a pleasant experience. Trolls were not made to laugh — just like German is a language that (in my opinion) was not meant to be sung. They smile a lot, though, trolls do. When happy they show two broad rows of (usually) yellowish teeth, and their eyes tend to glitter (and they breathe in a lot), but few things make them laugh and those things are mostly of the slapstick variety — someone falling flat on their behind, or getting chased out of the cave by their wife, stuff like that. Or falling in the river (especially since trolls hate what they call drown-water, and even hold death preferable to being immersed in the stuff), stuff like that. But when they do laugh, the sound is that of medium-sized stones rolling down a rocky slope, though not as loud perhaps. Or, like a very, very large cat purring, very slowly: maybe that’s better. Still, not pleasant. Cats are supposed to be small.
I have heard Minta laugh only a handful of times, and this was one of them.
“Not stupid, Lisbet,” she pointed out once the purring had come to a rest (i.e., ground to a…
