The Island of The Sea Troll

Once a poor fisherman named Finn McCulloch was saying farewell to his wife and two children because he intended to set out in his fishing boat with four other fishermen but his wife told Finn that he should not go because she had had a terrible dream that his boat would lost in a fog and that a giant monster would attack it.

 

But Finn McCulloch, because he was not a superstitious man refused to listen and it was all his wife could to persuade him wear a good luck charm, a silver cross, around his neck.

 

However, when he had been out at sea for no more than three days, suddenly a dense white fog engulfed his boat; a fog that covered every inch of sea and made he and his crew completely blind.

 

And then, through the water, the men heard the sound of something gigantic moving.

 

It was a gigant sea troll with arms and legs as tall as sailmasts and a chest as broad as the keel of a boat.

 

And with its big eyes, each as broad as the face upon a clock tower and lit up like ships lanterns, the sea troll could see clearly through the fog and, grabbing up all four of Finn’s shipmates in its giant scally hands, it ate them whole, including their fisherman’s caps and rubber boots.

 

But when it picked up McCulloch, dangling him in the air, and examined him, it said,

 

“This one is too scrawny to eat but he’ll make a fine plaything for my daughter”.

 

And so the Sea Troll took him back with him to the island where he lived and gave him to his daughter and his daughter dressed McCulloch up in doll’s clothes and played with him like a doll.

 

Of course, McCulloch did not like this life at all and missed his wife and his children and tried many times to escape from the Sea Trolls island but each time he tried to swim away or paddle away inside a giant seashell, the Sea Trolls daughter would start to cry and, angrily, her father would wade out into the sea and, snatching up a squirming Finn in his giant troll fist, bring him back to his daughter.

 

But then, one day, as Finn was sitting in the cave where the troll and his daughter lived he saw some giant marrows that were growing nearby to the mouth of the cave and he had an idea.

 

From bits of wood and scraps of linen he started to make a little toy boat for himself and to play with it and the Trolls daughter, seeing the boat he had made got very jealous.

 

“Make me a toy boat! Make me a toy boat!”, she demanded.

 

“I will”, Finn replied, “But only if you give me all the things I need to build a boat”.

 

“But what do you make a boat from?”, asked the Trolls daughter.

 

Finn pointed to one of the giant marrows.

 

“Cut one of those marrows in half and scoop out the inside”, he said, “And it will float on water then bring me a giant twig for a mast and a Trolls handkerchief to make into a sail”.

 

So the Trolls daughter brought him all the things that he asked for and, working night and day, Finn built a toy boat for her.

 

Now, when the Trolls daughter saw the finished boat she was eager to play with it and, picking it and him up, she ran down to the shore and, placing him in the boat , put in the water.

 

However the boat did not move at first, it only bobbed about.

 

“Make it move”, said the Trolls daughter, “Make it move”.

 

“It can’t move by itself”, said Finn, “You have to pretend to be the wind and blow on it”.

 

And so, kneeling down, the giant Trolls daughter breathed in, puffing out her chest as broadly as the prow of a ship, before blowing upon the sail of the toy boat.

 

And, when she did, her breath was like a gale hitting the front of the boat and, before she knew it, she had blown the boat far out to sea.

 

“Come back”, she said to McCulloch, “Come back”.

 

“No I will not”, shouted McCulloch, “For I have my own children who are missing their father and my place is with them”.

 

However, then the Sea Trolls daughter started to cry and bawl so loudly that her father heard her and came to see what was the matter and, when he saw Finn McCulloch sailing away in the boat, he began to wade into the sea after him, yelling angrily,

 

“Make my daughter cry, will you, you scoundrel. I’ll teach you”.

 

Now, terrified because the Troll was closing in on him, Finn started to tremble and clasped his hand tightly round the charm that his wife had given him, closing his eyes and praying to all the saints of the sea.

 

And then, just as the gigantic sea-troll was within reaching distance of him and about to smash the marrow hull of his boat in two with a scaly fist as large as a boulder, suddenly, from behind him the monster heard his daughter crying for help.

 

A giant tidal wave had swept her out to sea and the trolls daughter couldn’t swim so now she was thrashing about wildly in the water and shouting,  “Oh  help! Help, father. Help!”.

 

The troll had no choice but to turn around and save his daughter.

 

Then another piece of amazing good luck happened; a powerful gust of wind hit the sail of McCullochs boat and pushed it farther out to sea and, before long, McCulloch had sailed so far that, looking back, the Sea-Troll and his daughter looked as small as if they were ordinary human beings.

 

Now the marrow boat drifted aimlessly for days but McCulloch didn’t starve because he ate marrow flesh from the inside of his boat and drank rainwater that fell into it and then, suddenly and with the greatest joy in his heart, McCulloch saw the familiar coastline of his home and not only that, standing upon the shore he saw his wife gazing out to sea.

 

“I had a dream last night that you would come sailing home today”, she said, greeting him as, jumping from his boat he ran excitedly onto the shore, “And in that dream you told me that you would never go out upon another boat again”.

 

“Nor will I”, vowed Finn, “For I do not ever want to risk being separated from you or my children ever again”.

 

And then, saying that, Finn McCulloch and his wife went home to their cottage and Finn kept his vow to his wife until the day he died.