Horrible...............

Horrible...............
How could you write something like this?
Do you have some problem?
Disgusting, sickly, ridiculous, etc...

I would like to see some justice for Ivan, as the others certaintly are poor excuses for friends. If this was a story about a boy doing this to a girl, the boy would certaintly get his just rewards, so why is it different when it's a girl doing the betraying?

Just a thought.

An interesting study on betrayal and selfishness.  

The village would rather switch than fight.

The father sees an opportunity to get rid of an unsuitable suitor
to his daughter.

Neither has a care as to what impact this will have on either
Ivan or his mother.

Ivan lives the life he's been assigned, because of his love for
Katia, and maybe a little altruism for a village that really
couldn't care much less about him - as long as the troll stays
away.

Now the final betrayal: the one thing he had to hold on to has
just evaporated.  

He no longer has any good reason to honor any agreement he'd
made to see this out.

If he can get away once a month to get supplies, why couldn't
he just as easily *get away*?  Let this village fend for itself?

It will take some preparation time ... and keeping a straight
face with whomever happens to bring his supplies for a few
visits.  Maybe as long as next spring ...

But is he made of stern enough stuff?  Or will he just accept his
doom?

This story really, REALLY deserves to be included in some anthology of short stories, and I don't mean one of tg stories, per se.  This is an incredibly disturbing and enlightening tale of true love, sacrifice, and the inexorable march of life.  Not to mention one of the most Fractured Fairy Tales (cf. Rocky and Bullwinkle Show) ever told!  It would fit nicely in any collection of surrealistic, fantastical, or seriously-ironic masterpieces.

An excellent story!  Much more depth than you normally find in the genre, and these characters actually made for believable people.  I just wish there was more--not necessarily a poetically just ending, but something that showed more of what Ivan was thinking, doing--told from her perspective we're only seeing a superficial interpretation of this poor guy.

I'm certainly going to check out your other stories!

    What a sad, but wonderful story.  Ivan gave up so much, endured so much, and never once complained about his situation.  Katia seemed to be his one hold on anything that he loved at all.  But to be fair about that, she is sixteen and needs to move on, no matter how painful it may be for either one of them.  Well, those were just some late night meanderings of my own mind after reading your story.

    For such a short piece it does have a lot going for it.  I know it pulled at me even after I'd read it.  Nicely done.

Great story!   Sad for poor Ivan.  I mean the poor guy gets dragged into 'serving' the greater good of his village without a word in from him as it would seem.  Torn right from his mother's arms which causes her to slowly die a little each day as she goes on missing her beloved son.   For four long years he undergoes more things for his village than any ten brave men would even think about doing after getting drunk out of their skulls!   Then the one good thing in his life, the dream to return to the village and marry his best friend is torn from him in a manner that makes you wonder if the poor girl really understands what he had given up for the village.  

But if you ask me the village should watch just who much pain Ivan can withstand before he snaps.   Sure his dear friend points out that it takes time for a troll wife to bear her young and that she and the other girls are safe from his little threat.   But what if he decided that living is no longer something he desires.  That would leave the village in a nasty state!  

Or even better.   Revenge can warm a heart torn apart.   The next visit by Jenna or the other girls might result in Ivan smiling coldly at them and saying that he no longer knows the village in his heart.  And his 'husband' knows something in the village has caused him pain and Ivan just can't seem to think of something to say to stop the troll from going to the village to get revenge for poor Ivan.  

Again amazing story and I hope you might re-visist it someday

-j-

PS

Wonder if Troll-Mom will feed Ivan herbs to make him more fertile?

First time I really like a story that takes place in such a time era.