The Tales of Callah

Trawl the Troll

Trawl was a very depressed troll. He had just lost his job as a lumber jack. His boss had said he couldn’t afford to pay him anymore, but Trawl suspected that it was because he was a troll. This did not matter as much as finding a new job, so Trawl started looking.

After a few weeks he found a job mining diamonds along with a group of dwarf miners. Every morning the foreman of the mining company looked Trawl up and down when the work day began. The other dwarves snickered behind Trawl’s back about his stout stature and bumpy face. Trawl knew that he was different from the short but more handsome dwarves. Each day he gritted his teeth and got on with his work.

After work one day, one of the dwarves was whispering to the another one. Trawl thought it was about him, but it looked like the dwarves were worried not amused. Trawl asked them what was wrong.

One of the dwarves swept his eyes down to Trawl’s feet and answered, “Some of my tools is missing. Do you know anything about this, troll?”

Trawl bristled and walked away. The nerve of that dwarf.

Over the next few days tools, lanterns and various other things kept disappearing. The foreman called Trawl into his office suddenly.

“Trawl,” he began abruptly, “I know that you have been stealing things from the site. I want all the equipment returned. It you do that you can leave with your last week’s pay.”

“I haven’t stolen anything, sir,” Trawl answered more than a bit insulted.

“Who else could it have been?” asked the foreman.

Trawl put hands on his hips and said, “If I can find out, can I keep my job?”

“Done,” answered the foreman with a shake of his head.

That night Trawl stayed at the site waiting to see if anyone would come to steal more equipment.

Half way through the night, a sound made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. The whiny, high pitched sound came from deep inside the mine. Trawl walked that way but saw nothing.

In the morning the dwarves gave Trawl sly looks as they arrived at work. The foreman strode over to Trawl and cleared his throat, “It looks like there’s no one here but you. You have not returned the equipment. We don’t need your help any longer.”

Suddenly, the same whiny, high pitched sound came from inside the mine. From the gaping mouth of the mine a large creature emerged. A large, pink, oval shaped body flew out and straight at the astounded miners. The dwarves scattered and hid behind anything they could find. Everyone was in a panic.

“It’s a Buldoor!” shouted the Foreman.

As the Buldoor ran by Trawl he picked a shovel and stuck it into the creature’s tail. With a loud shriek the Buldoor ran into the woods surrounding the mine never to be heard of again.

The dwarves, and Trawl, tracked the Buldoor and found their equipment in it’s lair.

From then on the dwarves treated Trawl much better. He had saved them from the Buldoor, after all.