Bobby and Nelly: Kidnapped by Trolls in Norway

After their adventurous day on the cruise ship, Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly were looking forward to seeing what the Norwegian fjords are like, since that’s where the ship was headed. A fjord is a long, narrow river with steep mountains on either side. Norway has more fjords than any other country with more than 1,000!

Our first stop along the Norwegian fjords was Hellesylt, a small village. There are less than 300 people that live in this town, which means that there were more than ten times the amount of guests on the cruise ship than there are people that live in the town!

Passengers lined up to wait their turn to disembark the ship so they could explore the town. When you get onto a cruise ship, the process is called embarking, and when you get off of a cruise ship, the process is called disembarking. There were lots of helpful employees escorting passengers off of the ship and onto land. Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly were helped by two employees that looked a little different from the others but they were wearing hats with the cruise ship logo, so they trusted them.

Uncle Rich and Aunt Davia were escorted by another employee but when they got off the ship, they couldn’t find Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly anywhere. They asked other passengers and employees, and learned that Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly were last seen walking down the road with what looked like… TROLLS!!

It was then that Uncle Rich and Aunt Davia began to understand what had happened. Two trolls must have boarded the ship during the docking process in Hellesylt, and, without anyone noticing, the trolls put on hats with the cruise ship logo. The trolls pretended to be cruise line employees, and they’d kidnapped Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly!

Norwegian Trolls

Uncle Rich and Aunt Davia couldn’t understand why trolls would go after Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly, so they quickly did some research. What they learned was troublesome, to say the least.

Norse mythology is full of interesting stories, characters, lessons, and TROLLS! Trolls are mythological creatures that live in caves along the fjords with their families. Trolls prefer the wilderness and they don’t like humans or sunlight very much. They do, however, like to eat and have very sharp teeth — they can eat anything from a stone to a small human. They cannot eat an adult but mischievous, rule-breaking children are their favorite snack!

Oh no! Uncle Rich and Aunt Davia realized that they’re on a cruise of the Norwegian fjords, and Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly were recently naughty and caused all that trouble on the cruise ship… no wonder the trolls took them!

Uncle Rich and Aunt Davia had to find out a little more about trolls so they could rescue Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly. They kept researching and learned there are two types of trolls, Trogres, who are ogre-like giants, and Troblins, who are very short with very big personalities, and love to stir up trouble for humans.

The trolls that took Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly were definitely Troblins. Uncle Rich and Aunt Davia learned that Troblins are usually dim-witted. They would have to outsmart the trolls to rescue Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly!

Uncle Rich and Aunt Davia climbed up the side of a mountain to get a better look at the town and devise a plan to find Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly and begin the rescue mission. They spotted a dark patch of trees, just beyond a house with a red roof. They thought it might be a good place to start since Troblins don’t like sunlight.

That would take a long time, and they didn’t know how hungry the trolls were, so they didn’t know how much time Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly had left before… before… no, they couldn’t even think about the possibility of the trolls eating Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly. They had to stay focused on the rescue mission.

The Wise Old Tree

Uncle Rich and Aunt Davia moved as fast as they could but got lost trying to find their way in the forest. They did, however, find an old tree that lived beyond the house with the red roof, on the outskirts of the dark patch of trees. In the Norwegian language, the word for “forest” is “Skog.”

They found one tree in particular that had six and a half eyes, and a mouth. Six of her eyes appear as three rows of two side-by-side eyes, and her half-of-an-eye is located somewhere between her bottom row of eyes and her mouth. Her mouth kind of rests where her neck might be if she were human, and her neck kind of sprawls out beneath her and sort of looks like the tentacles of an octopus, just spread across the ground. She can smell when trolls are around, and trouble is brewing. Her nose is not the type of nose that a human knows to be a nose but it’s the type of nose that a tree knows to be a nose. Her branches are her nose, and she can smell smells through the wind as it blows through her branches!

This tree had been around for ages and ages, and she knows just how much the trolls, especially the Troblins, like to stir up trouble for humans. She knew the process of the troll people. She knew that Uncle Rich and Aunt Davia would need to appeal to the Special Troll Counsel™ for the release of Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly. She knew that the counsel would appreciate a gift of special red berries that grow in an area of the forest known as Fretheim Kulturepark, where the Troblins never dare venture because it’s very bright there. Even though red berries are poisonous to people, the tree informed Aunt Davia and Uncle Rich that the trolls love to eat red berries even more than they love to eat naughty children. Maybe some type of trade could be arranged…

Aunt Davia and Uncle Rich went to the park to find the red berries that trolls love. It did not take long to find the berries, as they are plentiful in this part of Norway. They picked the berries and were very careful not to eat them because you can get very sick if you eat random berries that you find outside.

After checking in with the Wise Old Tree again for some more information, Aunt Davia and Uncle Rich were able to find where the Special Troll Counsel™ likes to meet.

After finding the counsel, Aunt Davia and Uncle Rich negotiated with the Chairtrolls, who reluctantly agreed to trade Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly for the red berries they had found in the forest.

After the trolls released Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly, they decided to go to hike to the top of the nearby mountain to get a good view.

After being kidnapped by trolls and being released from troll prison, adventuring through the park and to the top of a nearby mountain, Flat Bobby and Flat Nelly decided that they had enough excitement for one day and made it back to the cruise ship.