Sometimes our work involves clearing and cleaning burial plots.  We often find candle holders, stuffed animals, cards, and pictures leaning against headstones, and sadly if they are not recovered we have to remove them before we prepare for the winter and the rain season. Considering we are so busy we often have to throw away these mementos as otherwise they will be scattered all over the cemetery when the snow thaws in spring – as it has done so already. It is already quite difficult sweeping away rocks and pebbles to ensure a pristine lawn for our dead.

Your dear Gravedigger was asked today to prepare a burial plot for a couple, a husband and a wife. When the Undertaker showed me to a flat patch of land I was surprised as we had many lovely plots along the wood, or beneath trees, that well, I myself thought would be a delightful resting place for the everafter. Undertaker, who is a rather tall, stoic fellow, who wears a permanent look of empathetic pain shook his head slowly and raised a finger to his lips when I asked about the plot beneath the tree.

“But, the plots beneath the trees are more delightful, and charming, especially for an eternal embrace,” I smiled as I leaned against my shovel.

Undertaker remained silent. A crow cawed above and cawed again, as if pressing Undertaker to answer my question. Undertaker finally grumbled under his breath that the couple were the victims of a hungry man in the wood, so a grave beneath a tree would not be appropriate.  Before I could ask another question Undertaker strolled back up the hill to the funeral home.

Now, with so little answers I was left to ponder as to exactly who, or what, led to the couple’s demise. ‘A hungry man in the wood ?’ I wondered. Well, there are many wicked men, and male beings, that dwell in the forest. I thought to myself, ‘Could this possibly have been the work of the Erlking?’ That would be a striking coincidence as just the other week I had told you about him. Then I recalled that the Erlking is sometimes referred to as “goblin-like.” Could that have been it? Could the couple have been put to an end by the grotesque, evil, temperamental goblin? Most goblins are small creatures, but they do possess magical abilities. No, that just didn’t feel right I thought. It could not have been a gnome either then. The word gnome is pretty synonymous with goblin, but gnomes are thought to be more diminutive beings that live underground.

Sitting down against a tree it did not take me much longer to remember…the Troll’s! Trolls live in rocky areas, caves, and forests. Trolls are first found in Norse mythology, and they are a class of jötunn’s. Scandanavian folklore describes Trolls as human-like, but extremely ugly, as well as man-eaters.

Now, I don’t know exactly what happened in the wood to that poor couple. I do know that they will be laid to rest tomorrow, far away from the wood. I do also know that I will stay very far away from the wood, and any ugly, angry and hungry man-eating trolls.

-Gravedigger