Welcome to another adventure from the Thousand Acre Woods deep within Trollheim of the NJ Pine Belt! Tales Chronicled by Jonathan Hulton...Angrboda and Karl meet the Jersey Devil and try to convince him to sell his magical flying hobby horse to take them to the land of riches.

Angrboda and Karl were beginning to get along when they met Gast, the Jersey Devil. Gast was a gastornis, riding a hobby horse. Commonly mistaken for the Jersey Devil.

"You won't imagine, where I have flown too!" exclaimed Gast.

Karl, rubbing his chin, "With those tiny wings..."

"No, you arse!" Gast be knighting Karl with his steed. Gast picked up the occasional brogue from taverns on the Old Tuckerton Stage Road. "With my horse!"

Angrboda just dropped her head, and Karl began to think of how he could take advantage of the situation. Gast was far older than even Gramps and held a vast treasure.

"Well, those tiny wings couldn't get you any further than a rooster…"Karl derided Gast.

"With that toy!" Angrboda asked in disbelief.

"Yes…with that toy," Gast retorted.

"Off to OZ. Sort of; not exactly sure where it was," Gast continued, looking at his feet. "But I saw great riches…"

Angrboda began to pull out the left-over magic beans Karl sold her as he snickered. Gast just smacked them out of her hand with the hobby horse and shook his head.

"Karl was just showing me his Volume I Issue I of Daniel Leeds American Almanack." Angrboda said on the sly.

"How dare you…" Karl said as he attempted to smack her, as Gramps was just passing. He hoisted him by the scruff. "OK, he can have it; good riddance to bad rubbish."

 

After the bargain, Karl and Angrboda leapt astride the toy. "Giddy up?" Angrboda said with a questioning look.

They ended up on the new damn near the lumber mill. The mill two past Ferrago Forge on the Cedar Creek. The horse now stood on his own four hooves on the shore with a bladder over his nose and mouth.

They heard the voice of a beaver up in the tree state, 'I will be the ruin of the village'. Karl wondered how a tiny beaver would be able to stand up to his claim.

Tweedle Dee and Fee-fi-fo-fum, a large rotund beaver, fell out of the tree. The dam cracked.

 

A second beaver, no smaller if not larger, fell from a limb, busting the dam, and the horse ran away with the rushing current. They were in double trouble caught in the flood that took out the mill and the workers' homes.

When they came to dry land, they found another village threatened by a large melon.

Karl offered to slay it and have a bite to eat. The villagers stepped back. They were afraid he would slay them next.

Angrboda pulled her seeds out and taught them how to grow melons and cut the fruit down in their prime. They thanked her.

They next came upon three brothers arguing over a conical hat, a rod, and a carpet.

To settle the matter, Angrboda suggested they take forty steps and turn around. Then wait for her mark to run to the item of their choice. Karl put on the invisibility hat. Angrboda beat the rug they were standing on, and they flew away on the North Wind.

The North Wind began to stir and tumble. It gathered a ton of strange things. Then a house flew by. It was followed by an angry woman on a bicycle...

They eventually landed at the Door of Prosperity. Karl tried picking the lock; it remained closed. Angrboda yelled, Friend, in dwarfish. They tried everything. Then Angrboda just collapsed on it, finding the door to prosperity was never locked.

They then came out of their dazed state to see Gast making a fire out of Gramps' Jimsonweed. With his little wings, Gast has found it the only way to fly. Gramps then lifted Angrboda onto his shoulder and picked Karl up by his scruff.

Then he shooed off the Jersey Devil.

Sooner or later Angrboda and Karl will wake up from their haze the fire caused.

If you like this tale, hit the share button below or just even tell your friend the old fashion way, with your mouth. Come back next week for our next tale.