How did I end up here? The old wooden bridge above my head is my only protection against the rain and the wind. The river in front of me sings me to sleep every night. I live on the berries I manage to find in the forest. I haven’t always lived like this. I grew up in Sellbuying, a small human village not far from Skodvi. It’s one of those villages where everyone knows and trusts everyone else. When I was little, I actually thought I was human. I often wondered why I was the only one in the village who had a tail. My parents couldn’t figure it out either. They said it seemed to have just suddenly appeared one night when I was a baby. Gray-haired Granny Gudrun always tried to convince everyone else that I was a changeling, a troll child that had been left behind when the trolls took my parents’ real son. Nobody in the village believed in her nonsense. Now I of course know that she was telling the truth, but back then we all thought I was a completely normal human with a tail. I was a very well-behaved boy. That’s probably the main reason my parents didn’t believe I could have been a troll kid. Trolls are mean. Everyone knows that. Their well-behaved son acts nothing like a troll. I got along well with all the other kids in the village and got good grades in school. Everyone in the village except Gray-haired Granny Gudrun liked me. It’s starting to rain. The bridge protects me against the rain. I just hope the rain won’t make the water level in the river to rise too much, so that I’ll get wet anyway. If I notice that the water gets too close, I guess I’ll just have to run through the rain and take cover somewhere else. My life took an unexpected turn on my 18th birthday a few months ago. I was at home reading when I heard a knock at the door. I opened it and outside stood a large, round man with a large, round nose. He said that he had something to tell me and asked to be let in. I let him in and noticed to my surprise that he also had a tail. We sat down across from each other and he told me that he’s my real father. He also told me that we’re both trolls. I remember I was very surprised that Gray-haired Granny Gudrun had actually been correct. The whole village had long thought that she was simply going senile. Admittedly, she had actually gone senile eventually, but she had been accusing me of being a changeling long before that. It sounds like the rain is stopping. I look up around the bridge and see that the sky is clearing. Wonderful! It seems like I won’t have to get wet today. My real father said that he had come to bring me back to Troll Village. I replied that I quite enjoy living in Sellbuying and would like to stay among the humans. He said that it didn’t matter. Then everything became dark. I remember waking up in a forest, surrounded by strange creatures. Tiny people with butterfly wings, a naked young man with a violin, a few people who looked like the man claiming to be my father. A beautiful, young woman helped me up and asked me to follow her. Just like the man with the violin, she had no clothes. Something she did have was long, brown hair flowing in the wind. When she turned around, I saw that her back was made out of bark. She introduced herself as the Skogsrå and explained that I was in Troll Village, the home of trolls, fairies and other creatures that don’t actually exist. This came as a shock to me. For all my life I had been completely convinced that I exist. Apparently I was wrong. I can hear trip trapping on the bridge. “Who’s that trip trapping over my bridge?” I ask and look up. “Oh, it is only I, the Tiniest Billy Goat Gruff”, I get as a reply from a puny thing that apparently is supposed to be a billy goat. I suddenly realize I’m a little hungry. I wonder if he’s got any food. “Hey, little billy goat. I’m a little hungry.” “Don’t eat me! I’m so little. Wait for my big brother that will come after me instead. He is much bigger and fatter!” Eat him? That thought didn’t even cross my mind. I’m a vegetarian. However, I don’t have time to object before he has run out of hearing range. I remember that in the beginning I quite enjoyed life in Troll Village. Näcken taught me to play the violin. I used to dance with the fairies and ride the brook horse. In the beginning it was all good. Now I hear tromping on the bridge. “Who’s that tromping over my bridge?” I ask and look up. “I am the Middle Billy Goat Gruff,” replies a billy goat larger than the last one. “Do you know why my younger brother suddenly got in such a hurry?” “Apparently he thought I would eat him. Isn’t that ridiculous?” I notice that the billy goat starts shivering. “So, you were waiting for a bigger and fatter billy goat to appear?” “Erm, no. That’s not what I said.” “Just wait here and soon my bigger brother will come. He is even bigger and fatter than I am,” says the Middle Billy Goat Gruff and runs away. This is getting annoying. Darn billy goats with their hasty conclusions! I have never and will never eat a goat. I just want to ask if they’ve got some berries or fruit or something. I crawl back under the bridge and continue thinking back on my life. I remember that one day I asked the Skogsrå how this whole thing about us not existing actually works. She replied that I shouldn’t worry too much about it. Though I simply couldn’t stop thinking about it. One day when I sat and pondered, a fairy boy came up to me and asked what I was pondering. He had blue wings and was dressed in a green tunic. He had a big smile and big, shimmering eyes. I answered that I pondered about how we could exist even though we don’t exist. He agreed that did seem weird now that he thought about it, so he sat down next to me and also began pondering. Suddenly he vanished. There was a huge commotion in Troll Village. People were very angry with me for having put weird ideas in the head of the poor fairy boy. The Skogsrå had warned me that I shouldn’t think about such things. The inhabitants of Troll Village decided to banish me. I had to wander alone through the woods and make it on my own. No home, no friends. Homeless and alone. Finally, I found the bridge. It had started to rain and I needed to take cover. I saw an old wooden bridge over a small stream and sat down on the tiny piece of land between the stream and where the bridge began. I thought it was quite cosy under the bridge so I’ve been living here for a few days now. I hear stomping on the bridge. “Who’s that stomping over my bridge?” I ask and look up. “I am the Big Billy Goat Gruff,” a gigantic billy goat answers. I probably couldn’t get him down even if I wanted to eat him. “Do you know why my brothers suddenly got in such a hurry?” “Apparently they thought that I would eat them. Isn’t that ridiculous?” I notice the billy goat lowering his head and aiming his horns at me, like he’s preparing to attack. “So, you were waiting for a bigger and fatter billy goat to appear?” “No, that’s not what I said!” I manage to get out with a puny voice. “Just try to eat me!” the Big Billy Goat Gruff roars and runs and head-butts me so that I fly high up and far away. I am above the trees, above the mountains, above the clouds. Finally I begin to descend. The ground is approaching swiftly and I think that this is going to hurt. I fall through a roof and land on a familiar chair. My parents and a man who seems to be my age are sitting around a table, eating dinner. My parents start to beam with joy. Mom hugs me and says “Oh, our son! You’re back!” “Who is this?” I ask and point to the new guy. “That’s our biological son, your step-brother. He came back the same day you disappeared.” “It’s nice to finally meet you,” my step-brother says. “I was taken by the trolls when I was a baby and they’ve raised me since then. Then one day they told me it was time to switch back, so Troll-Dad took me to Sellbuying and left me here.” I am so happy right now. I have been reunited with my parents and I’ve gotten a brother! It doesn’t matter that I don’t actually exist. I’m happy anyway.