There was a time, when the earth was young and people less plentiful, that men built a great city.  The name of the city has been forgotten, since it was so long ago, but there are stories of the people of that city.  This is one of those stories.

The story is about a young boy named Thadius, who grew up on a small farm outside the city.  His father raised goats for their wool, which he sold in the city every summer. He let them wander in the mountains all winter, and then when they came down to the lush meadows in the summer, he and Thadeus would round them up and trim their coats while the weather was warm.  So in spring Thadius and his parents were very busy, sowing oats and hay for their cow and two horses, corn for the chickens, carrots for the rabbits and many different vegetables for themselves.  Then Thadius and his father would head out into the foothills, searching for their goats, each with a blue wool collar, so they could tell them apart from their neighbors. After every goat was found and put in the pen, the two would trim the wool off each goat in turn. It took them several weeks before the task was done and the goats were set free again to feed on their lush meadows. The mother would weave cloth from the scraps of wool and thread that they couldn’t sell and from that make clothes for the family.

The king who ruled over the valley was a good hearted man, but weak and cowardly. He let his advisors make his decisions, while he enjoyed the luxuries of his station and his girth was the subject of more than a few jokes. He was easily bored and nothing held his attention for long, with the exception of his son, Pardis. Pardis was his only son and the queen had died during his birth, which made him even more precious to his father. In image, he was as handsome as the queen was beautiful, but his heart was cold and cruel. The king saw this and blamed himself, so he showered the boy with everything a child could wish for: toys and sweets and exotic animals of every description. Still, each day Pardis was colder and blacker, and many in the castle suspected an evil spell of some sort. No one wished for the day when Pardis would become king and no one knew this better than the king himself. Now, the king had a younger brother who also had a son, and the son was Thadius himself. No one but the king and a few members of the royal court knew of this, not even Thadius knew. To be sure, his father knew, but he did not want anything to do with royalty and had cut off all ties with his brother a long time ago. Still, the king came to believe that the only way his son could be king, would be to remove any possible replacement, namely his nephew Thadius. So he began to form a plan in secret, to rid himself of Thadeus. There was a deep and dark forest that bordered the valley and stretched for endless miles. It was said that no one who had gone into the forest ever came out again and it was rumored that a troll lived there, who hunted down and ate all who entered the forest. The king did not know if this was true, but he was sure if he got Thadius into that forest he would never be seen again. Late one night, the king called for his most trusted servant and gave him secret instructions, making him swear upon his life to carry them out. The servant did not speak a word, but he left the king and headed straight out of the city, disappearing into the night.

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