Gunfriid and the Troll

One cold evening, the kind of night when all wise folk should be inside with their doors locked, Gunfriid was walking from Tralheim to Knorr. She had heard that a giant lived in the mountains to the north of Knorr, and she was determined to ask it if it knew the way to the Baba Yaga's house, for as you remember, she still sought to find out what had happened to her brother and sister. The path was dark and overgrown with trees, but Gunfriid was enjoying her walk, using her spear as a walking stick and staring up at the moon, for the night air was cold and clear; a perfect time for traveling. Gunfriid wasn't too surprised when another traveler walked down from a side path and joined her. He was a tall, broad-shouldered fellow in a long, black cloak that obscured his face entirely. Gunfriid nodded as he began to walk in step with her.

"A fine night," she said. "A bit cold for my tastes, but the air is clear and the night is peaceful. What say you, stranger?"

"I like the cold," said the tall man. 

"Fair enough," said Gunfriid. "Where are you headed? Up to Knorr?"

"I go where I please, woman," said the tall man.

"That's a bit rude," said Gunfriid. "Still, I suppose your business is your own." The tall man nodded, and they walked in silence for some time. At last, however, they reached a small clearing in the trees from which there went forward two paths, one straight on through the forest and one up into the hills. Gunfriid stopped in dismay. The folk in Tralheim had not told her there were two roads, and she did not know which was the right way. The tall man began to walk up the path towards the hills, but stopped and looked back at her.
"What is wrong, woman?" he said. 
"Do you know which of these is the right way to Knorr?" said Gunfriid. The tall man considered for a moment, and put up a hand to stroke his unseen chin. Gunfriid noticed he had very hairy arms, but she didn't think it would be polite to say anything. 
"Both paths will take you to Knorr," said the tall man after a while, "But the hill path is faster."
"Then I shall go that way, if you do not mind me accompanying you," said Gunfriid.
"I do not," said the tall man. "But I must warn you, it has been said that a troll lives in the hills and attacks travelers. That is why the forest road was built at all."
"I have never seen a troll, but I should like to meet one," said Gunfriid. "and I am in a hurry to reach Knorr." the tall man shrugged his shoulders and continued up into the hills. Gunfriid followed him. 
They walked for some miles across the tops of the hills, dipping in and out of small valleys and between the pines, until they came to the top of a ridge with a small cabin built on it. The tall man turned to the cabin and stopped again. "This is my home, here. Knorr is down the ridge--see those lights over there?-- you cannot miss it if you only follow the path." He made as if to head inside the cabin and then hesitated. "The slope is dangerous in the dark, and if you prefer, you could spend the night in my cabin. I have a bedroom for guests."
"I have walked many miles this night, and though at first you were rude, you helped me find my way this far," said Gunfriid cheerfully. "And I am very tired." The tall man nodded and she followed him inside his cabin. It was small and dark, even when he lit a foul-smelling candle, but Gunfriid knew the value of hospitality and she said nothing, not even when the tall man offered her a joint of rotting meat to eat, nor when he spread a bloody bearskin on the ground by the fire pit for her to sleep on. "I am afraid I have nothing to give you in trade as thanks for your hospitality," she said, siting down and trying to avoid a clot of blood, "But i you would like, I can tell you the story of why I have come here, so far from my home."
The tall man said nothing, and only nodded, so Gunfriid began to speak in a sing-song voice of how her brother and sister had been stolen away in the dead of night and her father and mother enchanted, levying only her to find them. And as she spoke, she saw the tall man's hood slip back farther and farther until his whole face was revealed, squat and sullen, with great tusks and ram's horns and a bronze ring through the nose--the face of a troll. But Gunfriid was very polite, and she said nothing, only finished telling the story of how she sought the Baba Yaga who knew all secrets and might know where her brother and sister were hidden. Where she had finished, she said good night to the troll, turned over, and fell asleep in the blink of an eye.
The next morning, when Gunfriid woke, the troll was nowhere to be seen, and on the bearskin next her was a small pile of gold coins. Gunfriid took them, walked out of the shack, and headed down the ridge towards Knorr, whistling as she went. After all, she had always wanted to meet a troll.