Grimm Tales: Billy Goat's Gruff

[chimera0010]

ok guys i know its been a while but my series is back on!

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Bill goat's Gruff

Alexander von Grimm sat there near the house of the gypsy lady. His time dealing with the juniper tree and the events in the last town dealing with Shub-Niggurath weighed heavy on his mind. The old woman walks next to him and sits down beside him. With a heavy sigh she looks at the sky. "Boy...you are responcible for the choises others make because you got invovled in their lives. You cannot always make them choose the right path, but you are responcile for in some ways for the choices they made..."

Alex reaches into his coat and pulls out the book. Frustrations fills his face as he slams the book into the grass and looks at her, removing his glasses so he can look into her old eyes. "Then what is the point of having this power?! How about any power that influences mortals?!" He looks away a big angry. "You claim i did some good with this power, that I helped lives without ruining them. When was this? Where even?!"

He stands up, turning to stand in front of her and looks down on her. "I have seen nothing but the same kind of people making the same mistakes over and over and over again. Yes some people make the right choices but soo many more become corrupt or worse..DEAD!"

He soon falls on his ass, not having noticed the old woman tripped him with her cane. She leans in closer getting a good look at his face. "Pup...you can't fortell the future or clairvoyant enough to know whats gonna happen. The actions of one individual can influence many and change things more than you are wishing to see...." She walks past him, snapping her fingers, forcing him to his feet and dusts him off. "But I have. I've seen everything you have done..Alex. That is why I am going to show you how that one person you helped made a major difference in the world...." She yanks him over to a pool of water and pokes it with her cane. The water ripples showing a young boy.

The boy is standing in the streets of boston before world war 1 ever even happened. That boy is soon punched in the face and forced to the ground. Standing before many kids one of which seems to be the leader mostly because he looks like the biggest and toughest there. The poor kid getting beat up was named Jimmy Morrison. The bully remembered him to be Thomas Malory.

Thomas-"Did I not tell you what I was gonna do to you if you tried to cut across my street again?!"

Jimmy tried to clean the blood off his nose-"No...I....I..."
Thomas-"I.....I...what are you some kind of stuttering freak?"
Jimmy tries to stand up, his scrawny frame looking even smaller in front of Thomas. "No....no...I'm.."
Thomas-"Sounds like it to me!" He picks jimmy up by his shirt, forcing the kid into an alley. "I told you..this is my street! if you wanna cut through it you have to pay me fag!"
Jimmy looks away, "I just wanna go home Thomas, my mom...we don't have any money..."
Thomas throws him on the ground-"Awe looks like some one wants his MOMMY!" he then kicks Jimmy in the stomach and looks down on him. "No money? then you can't pass. If I catch you coming through here tomorrow with no money I will make you wish you never had been born!" He then kicks jimmy in the groin and walks away laughing with his friends.

Jimmy hold shimself, trying to work through the pain. A young girl runs up to him wnting to talk to him but is forced away as jimmy limps his way home. He didn't even bother going home in that moment, just hid behind the public library crying next to a trash can. He knew he was weak, his family was poor, and the only quick way home was through a street run by the local bully. He was so absorbed in his own problems he did not notice a man in a black trench coat sit down beside him.

"Hello Jimmy, looks like you had a bad day..." The strange man hands him a cloth to whipe off his face.
Jimmy-"More like a bad life..." he whipes his face off and looks at the man
"Id like to help you Jimmy if your wanting it..."
Jimmy-"Are you going to beat up Thomas for me?"
The man shakes his head, "No...That wont help in the long run, but I would like to tell you a story if thats ok..." He pulls out his book and begins to read to the kid.
　
--------------the billy goats gruff------

There was once a boy that lived in a small village near the mountains. The town was peaceful to a point, every one was affraid of the troll that lived under the stone bridge that lead to the mountains. Many farmers would take their herds around the bridge and through the shallowest part of the river, which took sometimes days and never had time to fatten up their livestock for winter. Many people spoke of it, it ate travelers who would walk across, a dozen men could not kill it.

In this town was a boy named david, born to a family of goat herders. His mother asked him to take the goats to his uncle's house across the bridge. He was also told to take his sister along. Now David was no fool, he wanted to take the long way around, but his sister was a bit too short to cross most of the water n would take even longer to find a shallow end. He knew he had to cross the troll bridge. He never admitted to being scared, but he was more scared of this moment than anything else in his short life.

What many knew is the troll was being hunted by a young wizard. The Wizard was in town and had a love for reading books. David overheard the wizard say that trolls are tough, but often run when they know they wont win the fight. They merely look intimidating because people perceive them to be. David's sister wanted to go back, but if they did...the goats would not get fat n ready for the winter market. He took a deep breath and began to herd the goats across the bridge.

At first nothing happened. Nothing at all, but then he looked and seen that his sister was no where to be found. He stopped the herd and looked around. He called out for her but no answer, then he wondered if she ran home...or worse..the troll. It was not long after he began to worry that a large green arm swooped around from under the bridge, and struck him onto his ass. He looked up, seeing one of his goats being torn in half. He screamed and herded the other goats away from th bridge and hid in the woods. The troll, oddly enough never followed.

The boy was scared, he had no idea where his sister was, and he had to get the goats across the bridge. So much to worry about. Then the young wizard came. He asked the wizard if he could beat the troll and the wizard merely smiled and said he can create a spell that can beat the troll, but the boy will have to fetch them for him. The wizard would watch the goats for him while he went to gather the items.

The first item was the feather of a mother hawk. He moved through the harsh forest and found such a nest. He struggled to climb the tree and reached for the nest. The hawk faught him, and he had to be quick and agile to survive and not fall to his death. He claimed a feather from the nest and made a quick retreat from the hawk. He swore under his breath, covered in claw marks and scars from the beak. The next item was a ram horn. This would be difficult since rams like to run, charge, and bash their horns into everything they see. But David overcame this by using his brain, he tracked the ram down and used a spear fashioned from wood to spear the goat in the side at the last second before the beast collided into him.

After claiming the horn and feeling better about himself, he had his third item. He had to get some hair from a grizzly bear. He took the ram meat and set up a trap for the bear. Low n behold it came looking for food and began to snack on the meat. David lunged out and snatched a tuft of hair off the bear. He made a run for it, knowing the bear will catch up to him eventually; so he slid along the grass and played dead near the edge of a cliffside. The bear stopped and began to sniff him over. Just as soon as he loomed far enough over, he used his wooden spear and his feet to flip the bear over him and onto the rocks bellow. The bear was injured but not killed which was a good thing?

David returned with the feather, the horn, and the hair and handed them to the wizard. He asked him what kind of spell can come from this? The wizard replied it has already been done. By obtaining the feather he showed he had the agility and grace to avoid being killed even though he had some injuries. The horn showed that he knew how to use his cunning to slay an enemy who he cannot beat directly. The hair shows he managed to use his wits and his speed to beat a foe who was overly matched for him. Thats all the boy needed to beat the troll. Giving David back his goats he sent him to the bridge to face the troll again.

David met his sister at the bridge again. She looked scared. She begged David not to go across again but David was more confident this time. He began to cross and looked at the water of the river, and then he stopped. He seen his sister change. Her body began to bulk with muscle, her hair lengthening and soon her arms and back began to extend. Her nose lengthened and more muscles began to grow ad she grew taller and more hideous. David turned around, seeing the troll extend her long claws and show her glistening sharp teeth through her muscular maw.

David never felt so affraid in his life. Part of him wanted to run back to town and tell every one, but if he ran, the family would lose the goats and become destitute. He held his wooden spear tight and took a stand. The troll mocked him, told him he was no hero, or a knight, and that he will die just for even knowing the secret. The troll was proud but deep inside its gut, it felt a small prick of fear. There was somthing different about the boy, something the troll never felt from any one else before.

The fear never left David, he knew he could easily die fighting this monster, but to die facing it and protecting what he loved and cared for...was far better than to live as a coward knowing he could have done something...anything. The fear never left, it stuck to him like it does for heroes and cowards alike.

They exchanged blows, claws flailing, the spear jabbing and spinning. He did not back down, every time the troll knocked him to the floor of the bridge he got back up to stab into the troll again and break what ever bones he could. The troll may have muscle, but her body was not completely layered, so he aimed for the joints and the bones not engorged. He dodged the swipes, eventually breaking the figers off its right hand and shattering its left shin. Right when the troll lunged in he stabbed the troll in the eye and pushed it off the bridge.

The troll hit the water hard, and its own weight pulled it under the current. Triumphant, David returned home that winter with the goats as a hero. The wizard explained the troll killed the girl a while ago and hid as her so no one would think to find the troll's true hiding spot. David conquered more than a troll on that day, he did so much more.

-----back to reality---

The man adjusted his glasses and looked at Jimmy. "You have to stand up to Thomas and master your life and your fear."
Jimmy-"But I can't beat him by myself..."

The man helps jimmy to his feat, "Maybe not, but if you don't face him now you will lose more than a fight and some money, and it will haunt you for the rest of you life..."

Jimmy went to the street the next day. And seen Thomas working out in the alley. The boy was big no doubts there, but still, they were the same age. Jimmy walked up to him and took a deep breath.

Thomas-"So did the little wussy moma's boy bring me my cash?" he stopped doing crunches and stood up, towering over Jimmy.

Jimmy shook his head and held his ground. Thomas coiled his arm up and made a hard punch. Jimmy dodged out of the way so that the blow would hit a light pole and break Thomas's knuckles. They did exchange blows, day after day the same thing. Jimmy took a beating but he managed to mess up the bully enough as well. It soon was no longer fun to pick on the smaller kids he chased. Eventualy Thomas gave up, Jimmy would never back down, and soon other kids were standing up to him and Thomas eventually found a different street to go work on.

-----

The gypsy lady then changes the water. "You taught the boy courage Alex, you taught him what it ment to stand up to tyrants and how to be smart about doing things. Yes...sadly like all things, they do die...." She touches the water showing world war 2. "He died at the ripe age of 30. But he did not die in vain..." She shows the boy in the trenches near the front lines, he just pulled one of his comrades down from the enemy fire only to see a grenade fly through the air and into the trench. Many of his fellow soldiers already jumped out of the trench, but one man didnt, he was too scared to move. Jimmy threw himself onto the grenade and took the blast for his friend.

Alex felt horrible inside (just another wasted life that ended too soon...). The gypsy looked at him and fast forwarded time. "His friend marcus was that man saved. Now nearly 57 and still haunted by that memory in the war. But it never broke his spirit...". She showed Marcus standing at a train station waiting for the train to arrive instead of taking a car to go see his relatives. That same moment, a young man no older than 19 was suffering from epilepsy was also waiting for the train. the young boy began to suffer from a seizure right when the train was coming on, the boy fell onto the tracks and could not move. Marcus threw himself down to the tracks and rolled the boy out of the way before the train pulled into the station. Then showed 5 years later that boy became a gym instructor and a health specialist and helped many men and women become strong athletes and body builders.

The gypsy looked at him. "From that lesson you taught it had a ripple effect on many lives. Yes one person died because you got invovled in his life but its the lesson you taught him that got taught to others." She takes him by the hand and and hands him back his book. "We all make mistakes Alex, its part of growing up. You are still human, a wrather long lived human with supernatural powers..but still human. Now get back in there kid and fight!"

Alex looked around after he got shoved by the gypsy and found himself back in his apartment holding his book. He knew what he had to do, he had to find the witch causing alot of greif as of late and put a swift end to her. He taps his book and looks out his bedroom window as the sun begins to rise.

[Mdlftr]

Fairly complex stream of consciousness telling of the story, but gripping!
Thank you for bringing this series back!

Write on!

Mdlftr

[Big Jake]

Good to see the series continued. And this was pretty good. VERY uplifting.