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Discworld #16.5
Troll Bridge
Part of a short story tribute anthology to Tolkien, found in After the King: Stories In Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien, it was also reprinted in My Favorite Fantasy Story, in The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories, in The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy and was finally released as free online fiction.
An aging barbarian sets out to battle a bridge troll, mano a mano, and thus prove his mettle. “Troll Bridge” by Terry Pratchett, was first published in 1992.
An aging barbarian sets out to battle a bridge troll, mano a mano, and thus prove his mettle. “Troll Bridge” by Terry Pratchett, was first published in 1992.
1 pages, Audiobook
First published January 1, 1992
22 people are currently reading
9176 people want to read
About the author
Terry Pratchett
684 books46k followersSir Terence David John Pratchett was an English author, humorist, and satirist, best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983–2015, and for the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omens (1990), which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 209 reviews
April 30, 2024
Cohen the Barbarian goes to a remote bridge hoping to find a troll, so he can duke it out with him and steal his treasure. Like in the good old days. When he gets to the bridge, the troll living under this bridge is quite excited just to see someone paying him a visit. Turns out, living under a bridge is not a popular career choice for trolls anymore. Other trolls are moving on, getting real jobs.
It’s a beautifully written short tale of a meeting between two old people clinging to the way things were in the past. It’s about two people who see the world around them changing and who don’t want to change with it.
It’s a beautifully written short tale of a meeting between two old people clinging to the way things were in the past. It’s about two people who see the world around them changing and who don’t want to change with it.
September 11, 2025
زندگیِ برای کسایی که حاضر نیستن یا نمیتونن همراه با دنیای اطرافشون تغییر کنن میتونه خیلی سخت باشه. حتی اگه یه ترول توی دنیای تخت باشی که به رسم قدیما زیر یه پل زندگی میکنه
از اینجا بخونید
https://metaphorspace.com/troll-bridg...
اگه تا حالا از این مجموعه هیچی نخوندید، این داستان کوتاه برای آشنایی با سبک تری پرچت خیلی خوبه
از اینجا بخونید
https://metaphorspace.com/troll-bridg...
اگه تا حالا از این مجموعه هیچی نخوندید، این داستان کوتاه برای آشنایی با سبک تری پرچت خیلی خوبه
May 29, 2017
Pratchett’s 1992 short story featuring Cohen the Barbarian.
Cohen travels to a remote bridge to test his might, mano y mano, against the troll under the bridge. Cohen’s father told him it’s what a hero should do. And the old man would turn over in his mound if Cohen didn’t try.
But these times are a changing and Pratchett delivers a short but effective scene of two old timers reflecting on how things evolve and grow.
“I used to like that forest. It was . . . well, it was darksome. You don't get proper darksome any more. You really knew what terror was, in a forest like that."
Pratchett leaves us with a fitting idea about heroes, heroism and how people believe in both.
Cohen travels to a remote bridge to test his might, mano y mano, against the troll under the bridge. Cohen’s father told him it’s what a hero should do. And the old man would turn over in his mound if Cohen didn’t try.
But these times are a changing and Pratchett delivers a short but effective scene of two old timers reflecting on how things evolve and grow.
“I used to like that forest. It was . . . well, it was darksome. You don't get proper darksome any more. You really knew what terror was, in a forest like that."
Pratchett leaves us with a fitting idea about heroes, heroism and how people believe in both.
February 15, 2022
Fantastic little story that kind of deconstructs a typical fairy tale into something humorous and wistful.
July 31, 2025
“You’ve got to have trolls under bridges. Otherwise, what’s it all for?
“There’s no future in just jumping out from under a bridge.”
“There’s no future in just jumping out from under a bridge.”
May 12, 2019
A short story about what it takes to be a hero. Favorite passage:
"Are you going to kill our dad?" said Scree suspiciously. "Course he is," said Mica severely. "It's his job. An' then I'll get famed in song an' story. This is Cohen the Barbarian, right, not some bugger from the village with a pitchfork."
"Are you going to kill our dad?" said Scree suspiciously. "Course he is," said Mica severely. "It's his job. An' then I'll get famed in song an' story. This is Cohen the Barbarian, right, not some bugger from the village with a pitchfork."
January 31, 2025
„- Виж - рече той отчаяно. - Традицията е такава! На такъв мост си е редно хората да очакват някой трол...“
„Коен го потупа по гърба.
- Пък и обичам да срещам хора с... хубави спомени. Това ѝ трябва на тая земя. Хубави спомени.
Тролът се изпъна в поза мирно.
- Аз се старая да давам всичко от себе си, сър...“
„Вятърът вееше откъм планините и изпълваше въздуха с фини ледени кристалчета. В тоя студ и сняг нямаше как да завали. В такова време вълците слизаха към селата и дърветата вдън гората се цепеха от мраз. Само дето вълци имаше все по-малко, и все по-малко и по-малко гори.
В такова време здравомислещите хора си седяха вкъщи пред огнището.
И редяха сказания за герои.“
„Коен го потупа по гърба.
- Пък и обичам да срещам хора с... хубави спомени. Това ѝ трябва на тая земя. Хубави спомени.
Тролът се изпъна в поза мирно.
- Аз се старая да давам всичко от себе си, сър...“
„Вятърът вееше откъм планините и изпълваше въздуха с фини ледени кристалчета. В тоя студ и сняг нямаше как да завали. В такова време вълците слизаха към селата и дърветата вдън гората се цепеха от мраз. Само дето вълци имаше все по-малко, и все по-малко и по-малко гори.
В такова време здравомислещите хора си седяха вкъщи пред огнището.
И редяха сказания за герои.“
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January 22, 2018
Available in A Blink of the Screen and After the King: Stories In Honour of J.R.R. Tolkien, My Favorite Fantasy Story, The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories and The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy.
A short story concerning the Discworld character Cohen. Another very human piece, this time about the values of change, but also the disregard change has on those it leaves behind. It is a nice story but it lacks the well-known and loved Discworld humour.
[First read: 26th June, 2015.
Second read: 28th December, 2017.]
A short story concerning the Discworld character Cohen. Another very human piece, this time about the values of change, but also the disregard change has on those it leaves behind. It is a nice story but it lacks the well-known and loved Discworld humour.
[First read: 26th June, 2015.
Second read: 28th December, 2017.]
August 2, 2015
I have read this short story couple of times by now and it's still just as funny as first time.Must read for all Discworld fans.
November 22, 2020
This is my favorite of the Discworld short stories I’ve read so far—the others were little more than jokes dressed up as vignettes. This one is slightly longer, more elaborate, and different in tone: Poignant in its nostalgia, it made me kinda sad.
A Cohen the Barbarian who is well past his prime meets a troll, and together they reflect on the evolving times, the roles of hero VS villain, the value of change, but also its disregard of those it leaves behind.
As most other Discworld short stories, it’s available to read online for free, so take five minutes out of your day to read it.
A Cohen the Barbarian who is well past his prime meets a troll, and together they reflect on the evolving times, the roles of hero VS villain, the value of change, but also its disregard of those it leaves behind.
As most other Discworld short stories, it’s available to read online for free, so take five minutes out of your day to read it.
July 13, 2019
A find little short story by Pratchett. Quite funny and a short read.
October 7, 2016
Troll Bridge is a short story in the Discworld universe. It can be read for free from here: http://loki.ovh.org/T%20Pratchett%20-...
The story features Cohen the Barbarian, a character we met in previous books from the Rincewind subseries. Cohen is a well-known hero in the Discworld, modeled off of Conan no doubt, who’s well past his prime. Cohen remembers his father telling him as a child that, if he could defeat a troll in single combat, he could do anything. He decides it’s time to cross that task off his bucket list, but naturally things don’t quite go quite the way he expected.
This one was pretty cute, although short. I think it has a continuity error in terms of how cold affects trolls as compared to what we learned in Men at Arms, but I guess it depends on how you read the sentence.
The story features Cohen the Barbarian, a character we met in previous books from the Rincewind subseries. Cohen is a well-known hero in the Discworld, modeled off of Conan no doubt, who’s well past his prime. Cohen remembers his father telling him as a child that, if he could defeat a troll in single combat, he could do anything. He decides it’s time to cross that task off his bucket list, but naturally things don’t quite go quite the way he expected.
This one was pretty cute, although short. I think it has a continuity error in terms of how cold affects trolls as compared to what we learned in Men at Arms, but I guess it depends on how you read the sentence.
July 24, 2025
A downtrodden hero and troll
Cohen the Barbarian's father told him, he told him, "Son, when you can face down a troll in single combat, then you can do anything." Cohen wants to defeat a troll in single combat before he dies. But the task is beginning to look urgent. First, Cohen is no longer a young hero. As Cohen's horse tells him, "One day you're going to die. It might be today." That's the first problem. The second is that troll bridges are in short supply. As Cohen tells his horse,
The story proceeds from there.
Troll Bridge is a short story that was first published in the anthology After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien. It can now be found free on the net, for instance here.
I'm not exactly sure where this story fits in the Discworld. Wikipedia claims it is "Set following the events of The Light Fantastic," the second Discworld novel. Goodreads places it at 16.5, that is between Soul Music and Interesting Times. According to the L-space Discworld chronology Troll Bridge takes place in Discworld year 1969. The Light Fantastic is dated as 1964, and both Soul Music and Interesting Times in 1986. If we take that as authoritative (and why not?), then Troll Bridge is just a loose story floating around in the Discworld, not really attached to any of the novels.
It's a fun story. You can read it in ten minutes, and if you're a Discworld fan or scholar, you probably want to.
Blog review.
Cohen the Barbarian's father told him, he told him, "Son, when you can face down a troll in single combat, then you can do anything." Cohen wants to defeat a troll in single combat before he dies. But the task is beginning to look urgent. First, Cohen is no longer a young hero. As Cohen's horse tells him, "One day you're going to die. It might be today." That's the first problem. The second is that troll bridges are in short supply. As Cohen tells his horse,
When did you last see a bridge with a troll under it? There were hundreds of 'em when I was a lad. Now there's more trolls in the cities than there are in the mountains.So, he's found an old stone bridge that still has a troll. The troll's name is Mica. Like Cohen, Mica is himself a relic of the old days. He is still proud to uphold the old trollish tradition of defending a bridge. What's more, he's chuffed at the prospect of being killed by a hero as famous as Cohen the Barbarian.
The story proceeds from there.
Troll Bridge is a short story that was first published in the anthology After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien. It can now be found free on the net, for instance here.
I'm not exactly sure where this story fits in the Discworld. Wikipedia claims it is "Set following the events of The Light Fantastic," the second Discworld novel. Goodreads places it at 16.5, that is between Soul Music and Interesting Times. According to the L-space Discworld chronology Troll Bridge takes place in Discworld year 1969. The Light Fantastic is dated as 1964, and both Soul Music and Interesting Times in 1986. If we take that as authoritative (and why not?), then Troll Bridge is just a loose story floating around in the Discworld, not really attached to any of the novels.
It's a fun story. You can read it in ten minutes, and if you're a Discworld fan or scholar, you probably want to.
Blog review.
January 12, 2020
Short story featuring Cohen the Barbarian
August 30, 2016
In
Men at Arms
Terry Pratchett proposed that trolls had a reputation for being stupid due to having evolved in cooler climes - their brains don't function properly in the warmer places where people live. Here, we get to see the effect of that societal change on the trolls left behind - the ones who haven't moved to the city. The first two Discworld short stories were basically sketches, jokes of one form or another. This one is a little longer and rather different in tone. It's still written with Pratchett's typical humour but it's an essay on nostalgia; a hero and a troll reminisce and talk about change. It should be easy for everyone to relate to: the world's not like it was when I was a boy...
February 15, 2020
2019: first time reading this short story. Weirdly I've seen the fan made short film before reading the story. Only discovered this due to Goodreads!
January 2, 2023
Whether you are reading Pratchett by yourself or listening to it being read to you, it will always be a magical experience. This story made me sad.
October 12, 2015
Ever wondered what happened to Cohen the Barbarian? Well, the saying "old soldiers never die, they just smell that way" sort of rings true but Cohen is still getting on and constantly being a hero is a lot of hard work.
He has a sort of going out in style plan in mind when he approaches the old troll bridge but, like most plans, that first encounter sort of never goes the way you thought it would.
This is an endearingly comical short story about the trials and tribulations of being a hero and of being a villain. Neither role is set in stone - okay in the case of the troll it might be but you get my gist.
He has a sort of going out in style plan in mind when he approaches the old troll bridge but, like most plans, that first encounter sort of never goes the way you thought it would.
This is an endearingly comical short story about the trials and tribulations of being a hero and of being a villain. Neither role is set in stone - okay in the case of the troll it might be but you get my gist.
October 11, 2024
You can listen to this short story for free read by Levar Burton on his podcast (This link is to listen via Audible U.K. but I assume you can get it anywhere you can listen to podcasts): https://www.audible.co.uk/podcast/Tro...
It is also included in the A Blink of the Screen anthology
It is also included in the A Blink of the Screen anthology
September 7, 2024
It's been close to 30 years since I last visited Discworld, and this story made me want to return. I kept hearing the troll in Taika Waititi's voice.
August 13, 2021
No Country for Old Barbarians and Trolls.
June 18, 2025
This was a neat story, and I enjoyed listening to LeVar Burton's narration of it. (Though if you're considering listening to this version, be aware that there is heavy use of sound effects. I'm not generally a fan of sound effects in my audiobooks.) However, overall it didn't do much for me. Perhaps because I'm not familiar with Cohen the Barbarian as a character yet... I'm not very familiar with Sir Terry's short stories at this point either, so maybe I just prefer his longer works to his short pieces.
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
October 14, 2022
A Cohen the Barbarian short from PTerry. Worth reading, of course. You can find a copy online if you look. I'm not going to link the horribly-mangled version I read. There's a video version too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7v_T...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7v_T...
February 9, 2019
Сборник с кратки творби на уникалния Тери Пратчет! Съдържание, което е идеално както за дългогодишните почитатели на един от най-големите майстори на фантастичното перо, така за хора, които винаги са искали да се запознаят с творчеството му, но изправени пред десетките романи от Света на Диска, не са знаели от къде да започнат. Това е „Примигване на екрана”! Прекрасна колекция от разкази, обхващащи различни периоди от творчеството на Пратчет – както ранните години, така и по-уверените, в които маестрото вече е напипал разпознаваемия си стил и продължава да се гъбарка, както с всичко на света, за което можете да се сетите, така и със... самия себе си. Изданието идва с логото на „Сиела”, в първокласен превод от Светлана Комогорова-Комата. Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле": https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...
June 1, 2023
That was the most wholesome troll encounter ever. ♡
February 21, 2020
A short story about Conan the Barbarian and what heroes do with themselves after they’ve changed the world.
August 3, 2025
a beautiful short story about changing world, tells more about the modern world than many other books.
December 23, 2019
El relato más conmovedor del mundo que puede surgir de dos veteranos. Una historia en la que la empatía se impone y la aventura se añora
June 13, 2013
Everyone should read this story. Despite their age, gender, nationality. It is always topical, relateable, and slightly, yet beautifully sad. This is just life, as and how we know it. Sooner or later , we all find ourselves on the same bridge, with the same questions to be answered. This short story is pure enjoyment, presented on a few pages.
March 17, 2014
One of my favorite short stories. Classic Pratchett. Funny and poignant. Cohen the Barbarian (along with Death and Rincewind) is probably my favorite character in Discworld. And this is his story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 209 reviews