The Feckless Village

Yilun Jiang

A long time ago, a wealthy merchant family was making their way to the capital to marry one of their daughters to the king. The first half of the trip took longer than expected, so they stopped at a town named Aldorria to plan a quicker alternative. Outside Aldorria was a large forest, which they planned to avoid since it was known to harbor a vicious ogre. However, the alternative route would delay them further, and they were already behind schedule. After engaging the locals, they found a shortcut. Since the ogre hibernated except on the rare occasion it would forage for food, the family should be safe to cross during the spring. However, the locals warned them against having any food out while traversing the forest lest the smell awaken the ogre. Once the ogre was awake, it would kill anyone in its territory. The father exhorted his family repeatedly to follow the locals’ strict instruction. Then he left early the next morning to chart their course through the forest. He told them to wait in Aldorria for his return, when he would guide them across the forest.

The remaining family members waited, then grew bored waiting, then grew curious, so they ventured into the forest later that day. It was so beautiful and peaceful, compared to the first half of their trip, that they felt like relaxing. Charmed by the relief, they forgot the warning. Hunger came on, and they decided to picnic. The savory smells awoke the ogre, which ate them all, then all of their food.

Meanwhile, the old man charted the path they were to take, then headed back to retrieve his family. Journeying back, he noticed bits of clothing, cookware, combs, strewn carelessly on the forest floor. Recognizing them, he realized what had happened. His pain became anger, so that after building a makeshift tomb from branches, he decided upon revenge. He went to the nobles for help, but they told him that the monster was undefeatable. Indeed, they had to offer annual tribute to the monster just to keep it at bay in the forest. The locals however, spoke of a brave warrior who had once volunteered to kill the monster for them. However, he failed and was seriously injured, barely making his way back. He went to the nobles asking for a doctor to cure him. The outraged ogre, in the meantime, went on a rampage through the city. No one tried to stop the monster since everyone in the army was demoralized by the great size and strength of the monster. After seeing the army flee in the face of such fury, the nobles knew they could count on themselves alone. Anxious to avoid the destruction of their own castles and farms, they decided to make peace with the monster. To show how willing they were to concede, they killed the brave warrior and offered his corpse atop a pile of tribute to assuage the monster. In the end, everyone urged the old man to give up on revenge, or the nobles would imprison him for upsetting their scheme.

The old man realized the local nobles would not only refuse to help him, but also actively impede his revenge. So he left quietly, pretending that he had abandoned the idea of killing the monster. He thought, and thought, and thought until finally he came up with an ingenious plan. He didn’t reveal this to anyone since he knew the locals, like their nobles, were all cowards. He declared that he would offer a tribute to the monster of Aldorria’s fattest pig, and he hired the best chef in town to roast it. Secretly, he then buried a sword deep in the pig’s insides, a sharp and serrated weapon. When all preparations had been made, he disguised himself as a villager and went into the forest alone with his roasted pig. The smell soon attracted the ogre, for whom the old man performed the special rituals he learned from the locals. Then he bent his knee and offered his gift. Without hesitation, the ogre ate the pig in one giant gulp. The buried sword began shearing the ogre’s insides. Blood spewed from its bellowing mouth, steaming in the cool spring air. The monster dropped to the ground gnashing, writhing. Then it was still. Witnessing this death, the old man hewed off its head and hauled it to the tombs of his family. He then left Aldorria for his home town and never returned.

The Aldorrians heard the news and hailed the great achievement and courage of the old man. They destroyed the temple they had dedicated to the ogre and built a better one for the old man.