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The Great Horned Serpent
Bjorn the Troll was leaving to collect a snack before his Troll wife made the evening meal.
"Now don't spoil your dinner; you know Gramps is coming over, and I'm cooking a big pork roast for his birthday," said Helgi. Gramps was shedding another year of his life for a new one.
"I won't; I'm just going for some wintergreen and acorns."
Bjorn then headed off for the Fox Hollow Triangle next to the Lenape graveyard within the giant bonsai pitch pine garden that Gramps helped build when he was much younger. Not to say he wasn't ancient already when he bound and twisted the trees, but much younger than he is today.
He walked down the ancient path past the crooked part and was ready to walk around the pond when he noticed it was quite dry. In fact, the only thing left in the pond was that scaly, light brown mud that curled in the sunshine. Bjorn thought this was great; he could just walk across and save himself a half mile.
Then, all of a sudden, the Giant Horned Serpent slinked from around the bend in what was the pond. "SSSWhat are you doing in my SSSSpond!" asked the serpent.
"I am going over to get myself a little snack," responded Bjorn.
"SSSNobody croSSSes my pond and livesSSSS their old life!"
"It really is not much of a pond—there is no pond at all here!"
"Well, there waSSS…"
"Not anymore."
"Well there waSSS!"
"I think your honor would be kept in check if I just crossed over this cracked mud; you will still be able to say no one has ever crossed your pond and saved their own skin...hey?" Bjorn said it with a wink.
"I gueSS you're right?"
"I know you haven't been able to eat any salmon of late; this mud looks pretty dried," said Bjorn with a smirk. "If you just let me cross, I can bring us both back some wintergreen and acorns to share."
Well, I can't leave my pond unguarded…"
"Xpond," interrupted Bjorn.
"Xpond unguarded, and my neck can't reach the plateau with the black jack oak, nor can it reach the top of the hill where the wintergreen growSSS."
"Your imagination has been quite empty for a long time, I see," Bjorn said as he crossed to the other side and began to go up the hill. "Don't worry, I'll fill you up on the way back."
Bjorn then headed off for the Fox Hollow Triangle next to the Lenape graveyard within the giant bonsai pitch pine garden that Gramps helped build when he was much younger. Then Bjorn took a handful of acorns and began chewing away.
Bjorn took off his helmet and filled it to the brim with them from the black jack oak. Then he continued to fill in the empty spaces with the wintergreen berries that grew in the shadow of the holy tree. He walked back down and stood at the edge of what once was the pond, and the Great Horned Serpent coiled around his back and looked at Bjorn with a smile. Bjorn then offered him the helmet.
Now every word they said to one another after sharing a meal was sweet, as Bjorn told the Great Horned Serpent the tale of how Ashlad herded hares in a kingdom so small you could barely see it and won a princess. Afterward, Bjorn got up to leave—not to disappoint his love by coming home too late for his father's birthday meal.
As he walked back along the path, the sky crackled, and Bjorn gave a high wave to Thor as he passed with his goats and chariot above as Thor filled the Great Serpent's pond once more.
When he got home with half a helmet full of snacks to share for desert, he found Bosco the bear sitting at the head of the table with Gramp's opposite him. He sat next to his daughter, Angrboða with Helgi opposite him next to Karl.
A giant oak-smoked pig roast sat in front of them all garnished with ivy. During the meal, they all laughed and cheered and ate their full before Gramps let out the old air for the new and smiled…
