The Unintimidating Trolls

Deep down in a murky valley, settled a dreary village in which three unintimidating Trolls lived. They went by the names of Billy, Pigeon and Kid.

The three brothers were the laughingstock of the valley. The other Trolls heckled the three brothers with relentless belligerence.

Why?..... You may ask.

The brothers were not your typical run-of-the-mill trolls. No, these were the most unintimidating trolls that anyone would have laid eyes on. So unintimidating in fact, birds felt obliged to lay nests in their rotten straw-like hair.

The trolls would have scared the birds off, but lacked the courage to do so, and Billy had this ever-escalating feeling that the mother would drill his eyes out if he even so much as moved his lips.
Billy was delusional. Billy was dropped on his baby as a head.

Pigeon was an alcoholic and had a tendency of always looking down, which caused problems when navigating as he was always walking into poles and the like.

Kid was an excellent negotiator but usually lacked the courage to indulge in any sort of conversation, which rendered his skill mostly obsolete.

All three brothers were so intimidated by everything and everyone that they found themselves in a constant state of jitteriness.

They turned to their Grandfather for help.

Grandfather Bovidae told the brothers of a mountain, deep inside the forest of life named 'Anima', in the heart of which lay 'the shrine of intimidation'. He chuckled to himself, then snarled abruptly at the three brothers after he told them,“But beware you frightful fools, of the 'Arcane Goat' who lurks near the entrance to the shrine”.

Pigeon and Kid laughed at his last remark, “As if a Goat would guard a bridge”, they said to one another.
Billy wore a face of confusion.

The Trolls were ecstatic and filled with joy, for It was the shrine, they thought, which would grant them confidence, courage and the power of intimidation. The next day they set off on their quest with high hopes and imperishable enthusiasm.

The three brothers were in motion, with a jaunt in their step and a grin on their face they sensed the sands were shifting. They hastily ventured through the jutting hillsides and laboured onwards to their destination.

After a long haul they reached the peak of a hill. They scaled their eyes across the valley and noticed a bridge in the distance. The trolls decided to race each-other down the slope to the crossing of the bridge.

Kid went storming in front of the other two and soon reached the bridge and came to a screeching halt. He took merely two steps onto the dilapidated wooden bridge til a Goat appeared out of nowhere right in his face.

“AHHH!”, shouted Kid in a bellowing unintimidated cry as he jumped back.

Kid was extremely intimidated by the Goat and the Goat was severely unintimidated by the Troll. “Who do you think you are!!”, squelched the Goat “Trying to cross my bridge without paying? This is a Toll bridge!!”.

“Well if it's a Troll bridge then why can't I pass?”, he said meekly. “No! Not a Troll bridge... a TOLL bridge” shouted the Goat. “Oh... I see. Well unfortunately I have no money, but my brother is not far behind and he has plenty. If you let me pass then you shall get your toll plus twenty percent”. The Goat liked the offer so let the Troll pass.

A few moments later Pigeon eyelessly arrived at the foot of the bridge and walked straight into the Goat. He jumped back and squealed his lungs airless whilst the Goat gave him a look of disdain.

Pigeon was profoundly intimidated by the Goat. His nerves had swiftly emerged; he felt shaken like a magic eight-ball.

“Wheres my money!” , belted the Goat intimidatingly. “Wh..w...what?” said Pigeon nervously. “This is a Toll bridge!". Pigeon answered in a feeble voice, “I...I...well...ahh”,”Your brother said that you could pay, plus twenty percent”.
“Oh no, he must have been talking about my brother Billy, he's the wealthiest of us all. If you let me pass he'll supply you with all the money you need”, said Pigeon reluctantly, knowing full well the shit that he was leaving his brother in.

The Goat let Pigeon pass and the Troll scampered across the bridge to join Kid.

Meanwhile back at the bottom of the hill Billy had suffered a concussion. 

He awoke to find his eyes were deceiving him. Visions and hallucinations of his Grandfather encircled him.

He suddenly remembered his Grandfathers wise words. He had been struck by a lightning bolt of thought and had deciphered the meaning his Grandfather withheld.
He came to his senses – Mostly – and realised the concussion had awakened the true Troll in him.

“What was thought to have never been there had been there all along”, he repeated to himself like a madman who had just woken up from a concussion.

He rushed towards the bridge and sighted the Goat. He remembered Grandfather Bovidae's words “Beware the Arcane Goat”. Billy quickened his pace and went stampeding towards the Goat in true-form-Troll-like anger and barged him clear off the bridge into the jagged rocks below with confidence and his new found power of intimidation.

He had found his 'Anima' (Inner psyche/soul) and discovered his 'shrine of intimidation'.

Billy was finally intimidating.

Pigeon and Kid had decided to leave their brother in shame of having thought they'd left him out to dry. Little did they know that he had found what they were looking for. Pigeon and Kid searched endlessly for the 'shrine of intimidation', but never found it.

Billy became the most feared Troll to have ever lived and eventually inhabited a bridge of his own. Until one day three Goats decided to come and ruin it all like they thought they were part of some fairytale.