Re: A game of heart and art
@Mata, glad you liked the story.
It is actually a retelling of the three billy goats gruff, see The article on wikipedia, though in my version I thought of turning things around by making the troll a nice troll, and slightly playing with the concept of the three goats.
this is how the parts of the story connect.
In the first story, William lets slip to the troll that he's looking for a goat to "cover" merry bell, his pleading also mirrors that of the youngest goat in the fairy tale. The troll of course has no intention of eating william so essentially just waves him passed, trying to appear non threatening (not to easy when your eight feet tall with huge tusks). William's playing with the idea of female and male is simply because he's about nine and is curious, as well as providing a little humour to the story.
In the second, the troll notices Alice and Jacob passing and sees they have a goat, then realises the goat is a nanny not a billy and so simply leaves the couple in peace.
alice's realisation about her father was more a disconnected set of effects put together, since she realises that her father, not unlike the troll is a large gruff fellow of few words (although in the case of Alice's father this is by choice, not because his jaws are just the wrong shape for speaking).
Oh and yes, a friend of mine was pregnant a few years ago and so I based some of Alice's experiences on hers, in particular the experience of everybody! thinking they know what is best for the pregnant lady rather than the lady herself (this drove my friend nuts).
In the third story, yess, Isaac is a grade A arsehole. Its likely the troll would have tried to pay for Isaac's billy goat had Isaac not been such a git, indeed Isaac attempting to bargain his own life for first Rachel, and then his guards really pissed the troll off, since obviously the troll has no intention of hurting anybody as witness his treatment of rachel.
In the fourth part, things come full circle indeed, poor william is tired and has had an aweful time and the troll is kind to him, not only providing the stud merry bell needs, but also treating him kindly and then taking him home. It is also in this story we see the troll has only a herd of nanny goats, so was looking for a billy goat all along, which ties back to William's conversation with Sarah at the beginning of the story.William's
The rich merchant's son mentioned as joining the army was Isaac (remember he kept talking about his father the rich cattle merchant). Isaac wanted to go and blow up the bridge, but when that was not happening, joined the army in a fit of peak.
the one mistake I have made in this part, and the thing I want to clarify is that the Troll is actually lonely, and william's friendship with the troll continues later. I'm thinking of adding an extra scene towards the end to make this absolutely clear.
As to symbols, well obviously my intention here, apart from reversing an old fairy tale, was not specifically about the literally "hulking" appearance, but to play with the old idea that both beauty and ugliness are skin deep.
Everyone is afraid of the troll because of how fiersome it appears, yet animals sense that the troll is really kind. Likewise, alice's parents belief that Jacob is a bad lot because of his profession as a travelling minstrel, when actually he is a man who loves his wife and will do right by her.
Lastly, poor rachel has learned that handsome is as handsome does and has got a second chance to rethink her life, if she takes it.
Isac might have learned that he's not the dashing man he believes himself to be, and is in fact just as big a thug as the two guards he despises, however he rejects the lesson and just continues on as he is.
That is about where symbology and deeper meanings go. To be honest with this one I was more just trying to have fun repurposing an original fairy tale in a new guise, as well as adding some more original characters.
@moaddye glad you liked the story. I'm afraid I'm not really interested in creating Hp or other fanfiction. I did at one point try novelizing the playstation rpg Xenogears, but these days I'm more interested in creating original work than playing in someone else's universe. As I said, I'd love to try and publish professionally, though I want to practice writing short fiction before I try a full scale novel.
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