The Riddle Dilemma
“Stop! You shall not pass until you answer my riddles three—”
The car roared past, just missing the troll standing in the road.
“See?” said Doug, from the Department of Transportation. “No one wants to answer riddles anymore to cross a bridge. We let you do this for tradition, but it would be amazing if you could Just. Collect. Tolls.”
“My family’s been asking riddles here for 19 generations.” The troll sniffed.
“Let’s install a toll booth,” Doug said. “We’ll let people either pay or answer. They’ll answer your riddles, guaranteed.”
“Really?”
“Sure, when we make the toll $30.”
The Green-Walled Treehouse 
What’s needed here is a troll booth.
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LOL!!!
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Exactly, Nancy! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that when I was writing it, haha. Thanks for reading, as always.
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My pleasure, David!
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Ah, the life of a troll, how many riddles do they have? My little grandson enjoys the ‘Billy Goat Gruff’ story.
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Love your first line…ah, the life of a troll. One’s imagination could run riot wondering how his place is decorated. 🙂
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Yes, I wonder. We assume it’s messy but we shouldn’t be prejudiced. 🙂
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Great questions. That would be funny if you had a daily commuter and they just kept asking the same riddles every day. 🙂
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Love the picture of Brooklyn Bridge, my second favorite landmark in NYC. The Chrysler being first.
Thirty dollars to cross it would start a major riot. I can see it now. I so love the idea of answering riddles, but know, I’d then be late thinking too hard.
This was fun. And Roger, great profile of her..she’s a show stopper, even 342 years later. 🙂
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There would be a lot of strongly worded letters to the government about it. It would worse than the furor about congestion pricing.
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Truly clever.
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Thanks, James.
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Sounds like they’ve found a way for everyone to win. Except the congestion, of course. Better start taking the train!
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Good idea. Trolls don’t bother trains at all, I’m guessing.
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Now that is brilliant marketing!
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Keeping traditions alive through commerce. A good tale.
Tracey
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Thanks, Tracey. 🙂
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I predict a massive jam at the troll booth 😀
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Yeah, I can’t imagine. Maybe they’ll mimic EZPass and have a system where you can answer the riddles in advance and just flash the answer as you drive through.
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Great strategizing! I like how you blend old and new here, David. Welcome back to FF! 🙂
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Thanks, Lisa. It’s been a busy time lately so I keep wanting to and then I feel guilty if I post and don’t have time to read others much. Hope you’re doing well.
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You’re very welcome and yes, I am, thanks for asking. Don’t work too hard, David.
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A very clever tale!
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Thanks, Brenda! Glad you liked it.
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Loved this. The lack of fairy tales in our modern world has put many a troll and ogre out of work.
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They try to find employment on some websites, although I’m guessing most internet trolls work for free. 🙂 Glad you liked it, Russell.
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Dear David,
I wonder if this is the same troll who keeps sending texts saying I’m delinquent on my tolls? Of course I don’t remember the last time I drove over a toll road. So I delete these texts to my peril. 😉 Good story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Maybe it’s one of those internet trolls I keep hearing about :). We don’t have any toll booths in this area unless we take I-90 into New York. Just avoid the troll booths. Have a good week, my friend.
-David
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This is such fun, and I bet busy people rather pay than guess.
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Oh, I’m sure. Time is a premium. I would probably just avoid that road altogether, haha.
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you are so right that a $30 dollar toll would maybe make them answer = even though corssing the I-4 and other roads in the state of Florida can be more than $30 and people just start paying no mind to it because EZpasses and stuff like that…. anyhow, I liked imaginging the 19 generations and the fun of the troll riddle and troll booth vs toll
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I can’t say riddles are a great business model, but I guess it’s traditional. 🙂 It would definitely slow things down a lot more than EZpass.
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hahah – yes it would slow things down
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