Bjorn and the Jersey Devil
Welcome to another adventure from the Thousand Acre Woods deep within Trollheim of the NJ Pine Belt! Tales Chronicled by Jonathan Hulton...So there are many misconceptions about who and what the Jersey Devil. Was he a marketing scheme of Benjamin Franklin or a real cryptid walking among the pine trees?
One day, while walking through the Thousand Acre Woods, Bjorn was unexpectedly caught by surprise.
Was he startled by a sasquatch? Maybe a man-eating Mhuwe!
No, it was a tall, talking dodo of sorts.
Bjorn had just walked past Pop Pops, shaping another tree in the upper garden above the Disappearing Pond, as he ventured toward 21 Lakes when he saw this critter chowing down on wintergreen.
“What are you?”
“Is that kind of rude? I didn’t ask you about those horns growing out of your head—though you have a nice tail...”
“I’m married and have a daughter...”
“I’m just jealous; to tell the truth, I’m envious. My cousins have long, fine tails—mine is a little stubby.” Gast said, pointing at his short, wagging tail. “It’s sort of a sore spot with me, especially when I occasionally get tripped up running from those sasquatch hunters from Philly. My cousin once got caught, and they plucked him to make one of those goofy mummers costumes.”
“Well—”
“Right. I’m a Gastornis—well, that is what I just found out; my family and friends just call us the Birds. Gaston Planté: I never met the guy; neither has anyone in my family,” said Gast with one wing to his chest and the other out as he bowed. “G. gigantea of the Gastornithidae family, as I have been told. These bone hunters I had seen skulking through the Pines I overheard describe us once before they got into this fabulous fist fight, almost as monumental as the Sullivan fight at Ong’s Hat. Cope kicked Marsh’s but!”
“Could you be what has been mistakenly called the Jersey Devil?”
“Don’t get me started on that old story Franklin started—Leed’s Devil, a story he made up to sell almanacs—you know I got drunk with him once outside the Cedarbridge Tavern. Boy, did I surprise him when I pulled down my hood to expose this honker of mine, Jersey Devil… My tail is not as long as the stories say; I wish it was. Though my wings are nicer than those on the wanted posters.”
“Did you have any predators? How did you live so long? I’m assuming you were walking with the dinosaurs, or at least some of your family were.”
“The T-Rex—nasty sort. I spread around crushed blueberries mixed with bobcat poop to keep them away. I got a bag right here; do you want to take a sniff?”
“No thanks, but T-Rex have not been around here in quite some time—“
“See it works. Though I don’t need it—I’m quite scary.”
“How so?”
“I just scared away a whole coach of Quakers just this week; in fact, I was so scary, I ran a mile away from myself.”
“What? Never mind, I once caused a whole carriage to run,” said Bjorn.
“How?”
“I ran away, and they chased me.”
“Can you help me carry some of these bags of lichen back to my house?” Gast asked as he pointed to his right.
“Sure, where do you live?”
“If I told you, you might rob my house.”
“Oh, come on—do you live behind 21 Lakes?”
“You know a fish once saved my life?”
“How so?”
“I was starving,” Gast said, rubbing his stomach.
“I’m glad I took this shortcut through this beautiful garden.”
“How so?” asked Gast.
“If I could meet such a confounding critter as you here, imagine what I would have found within the catbrier through the gouge.”
"Hey, I’m famous—haven't you seen my face on those wanted posters?
“I don’t care who sees your face, as long as you don’t show it to me again..”
“Am I that aggravating?
“No— I apologize.” Bjorn said, holding his hand on Gast’s shoulder with a smile. “I just got dunked by the Great Serpent crossing his pond. Now, can I help carry those bags for you?”
“OK.”
If you like the tales from Trollheim you will love Trolls: A Compendium!
by Christopher Jon Luke Dowgin and
Christopher Jonathan Hulton
Fiction/ Illustrated Fantasy/ Mythology / Scandinavian Myth/ Norse Sagas / Scandinavian Folk Lore / Coffee Table Book
Paperback: $45 | Hardcover: $65 | PDF eBook $5
Buy now link...
Following the Harry N. Abrams, Inc. tradition of the series that created Brian Froud's and Alan Lee's Faeries and Gnomes by Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet, we present you with what would have been the next book in the series: Trolls: A Compendium. Trolls—do you think you know what they are? Could you be wrong?
Trolls within Scandinavian lore, myth, saga, fantasy, and folktales are actually anything magical within our northern neighbor's culture. Richly illustrated in this volume are the tales of faeries, dwarves, nissen, huldras, gods, Jotuns, draugar, ghosts, and more. Also, this book introduces our readers to the world of Trollheim, populated by Nattrolls that escaped the 17th-century Swedish colony within the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Narrated by Christopher Jonathan Hulton, who lives in the Thousand Acre Woods just after the Civil War, their tales are filled with Native American lore and tales of their neighbor, the Jersey Devil.
Preview: Google Books
Hardcover: $65.00
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