Terry Pratchetts "Troll Bridge" is a more comical take on traditional fantasy. Traditionally The hero and the troll are sworn enemies and most times battle until death, usually our hero wins of course.  In Pratchetts short story, this is far from the case. This short story follows a hero named Cohen the barbarian, and his magical talking horse who always seems to be criticizing cohen. The hero seems to be in his old age now and recalls the old days often, he also speaks of his mortality a lot which is interesting to me. Cohen and his trusty steed come across a bridge and naturally there is a troll underneath it. I find this funny because Pratchett seems to be poking fun at the notion that in fantasy, if there is a bridge, then surly an evil troll must be occupying it. Cohen plans to overthrow the troll and take his treasure, but we soon find out that the troll is a huge fan of cohen and looks up to him. Also the troll has a wife and kids and deals with family drama just like the rest of us. Cohen and the troll talk for some time and seem to hit it off. The story comes to an end with the hero and his horse once again talking of mortality which seems to be an underlying theme throughout the story.

13 February 2020


The story of the Baba Yaga was very interesting. Personally I have never heard of this folklore. I find it interesting reading and learning about other cultures folklores and supernatural entities. This story reminds me of Coraline, the Baba Yaga has similar qualities to that of the other mother. In the Baba Yaga, a girl is sent to see her aunt, the Baba yaga, by her jealous step mother. After asking another trusted family member first, they discover the girl is in danger and what she needs to do to escape the situation. She escapes by tricking the Baba Yaga with the help of a cat. Again this part reminds me of Coraline because of similar events.