Reclining Troll
They were riding, and had been riding it seemed like forever, in a big red bus over the Land of Ice.
Eidur was driving.
From time to time he pointed out how trolls had shaped the Land. The lack of trees could be traced back to warring trolls. Volcanoes were trolls lighting their pipes after sleeping for ever so long. Glaciers were encouraged by trolls because trolls love to drink and love their drinks extra frigid so the fire in their bellies will not burn them alive.
Sometimes the riders in the red bus listened. Sometimes they did not. Fatigue from their exertions often kept them napping between stops. Also many were glued to little devices in their hands that showed off their accomplishments with endless images. Others listened but because they could not hear well, being ancient themselves, failed to make out what Eidur was saying. The rumble of the bus had its own story and its own implacable demands. All agreed, however, that as a driver Eidur was beyond compare. He could take them up steep rocky roads that seemed made for mountain goats. He could pass cars on the narrow highways as if the great bus were the nimbler breed. He could find sights other visitors would never see, along the black sand beaches, among the blue flows of ice, in the colorless spaces between everything.
Then one day Eidur stopped the bus. "My friends," he said solemnly though with mischief in his eye, "here is where I get off. I hope you have enjoyed. I hope you have learned. And though it's all the same to me, I do most humbly and sincerely wish you well."
And then he left them there. His grey locks lifting in the northern wind, his tall frame bending forward as he slowly made his way against the wind to the waves nearby, Eidur left the red bus riders to their own conclusions. And then he lay down in the deep to take his ease.
These days tour drivers call that rock just off the coast Reclining Troll. They say you never know about these trolls. They may be smarter than you think.
17 November 2022
Texas Jim
Reynisdrangar, Iceland
www.granitecoast.ca