Authors: Alan MacDonald
Goat Pie
by Alan MacDonald
illustrations by Mark Beech
For Jo, Tim, Joss, Louis and Ellis â A. M.
To my good friend Brandon Buth â M. B.
Collect all books in the
Troll Trouble series
Trolls Go Home!
Trolls United!
Trolls on Hols
PRIDDLES: Roger, Jackie and Warren
Description: âPasty-faced peeples'
Likes: Peace and quiet
Dislikes: Trolls
MR TROLL: Egbert / Eggy
Description: Tall, dark and scaresome
Likes: Roaring, tromping, hiding under bridges.
MRS TROLL: Nora
Description: Gorgeous (ask Mr Troll)
Likes: Huggles and kisses, caves, the dark
ULRIK TROLL
Description: Big for his age
Likes: Smells, singing, Rockball.
GOAT
Description: Strong-smelling, beardy beast
Likes: Mountains, grass
Dislikes: Being eaten
Ulrik sat down at the table and cleaned out his ear with the end of his pencil. All week his mum had been reminding him to write a thank-you letter to his grumpa. He began in his big scrawly handwriting â¦
Dear Grumpa,
Thank you for my goatskin hat. It is uggsome! The flaps keep my earses warm.
I wear it when I go to school and also in bed. Dad says it is a hunting hat so next time we go hunting I'm going to wear it.
He sucked the end of his pencil, which tasted of earwax. It looked like the yellow bits of boiled eggs but had a different flavour. When would his dad actually take him on his first goat-hunting trip? he wondered. Since they had left the far blue mountains of Norway, Ulrik hadn't seen many goats. There were none on Biddlesden High Street or in the park along the road where only the fat ducks bobbed on the lake. He turned back to his letter.
We live in a nice cave here. It is called Number 10. It has got lots of rooms. I've got my own. I have done a mud picture on the walls and it is me and Mum and Dad and you outside our buggly old cave in the mountains.
Mum says my roar is getting more scaresome. If you heard it, Grumpa, you would have to cover your earses. I do roaring and tromping practice with Dad every morning on the big hill in our back garden. Sometimes our next-door nibbler puts his head out the window and roars back at us, but I don't think he's very good at it yet.
That's all I can think of right now.
Love and huggles
Ulrik x
PS (That means pssst! there's more)
What are you doing for Trollmas this year? Are you coming to stay?
Ulrik folded up the letter and put it in an envelope â he could post it in the big red letter-hole on the way to school. That was what you did with letters. He wondered how his letter could travel all the way to the far blue mountains of Norway. It must be a long way for the post peeples to walk.
