Rootabecka

A kindly old fairy lives all alone in a garden in a wood. He has always wanted a child of his own, so he uses his magic to plant a daughter, but by mistake she is "born" with roots for hair. Thus he calls her Rootabecka. Another fairy from a star offers the only remedy for the child. "She will have hair like other girls when she is kissed by the man she loves".... And so, Rootabecka grows into a beautiful young girl, but is burdened by her roots. She cannot live without sunlight or water and must stay in her fairy father's garden, where it is summer all year round, during the winter. Otherwise, her roots will wither and she will die. In her loneliness, Rootabecka hopes against hope to one day have real hair. And although she has her best friend, Mugget, a talking pumpkin, she feels that something(or someone) is missing. Meanwhile, just outside the woods, not far from the garden, is a village where Conrad, a young woodcutter by trade, lives with his mother. Conrad has his own set of problems. He is never able to join the other young men who are recruited to fight Grulus, a terrible troll who lives in his dark underkingdom. The troll terrorizes the land by sending his flytrap minions to steal from the people or capture people as slaves. Many brave and noble men have tried to defeat the troll, but none have succeeded. Conrad tries again and again to join, but is prevented because he is only a woodcutter, a mere peasant. He finally decides to go alone, bidding his mother farewell and off he sets into the woods, with his only friend, a pet beaver.
Not long after, Rootabecka's fairy father is captured by the troll's minions and she sets forth to rescue him, leaving, for the first time, the safety of the garden, though autumn is fast approaching. Along the way, Rootabecka and Conrad meet in the wood and they go to find her father together. But Grulus  has discovered, with his magic, Rootabecka and her beauty. Desiring to take her as his bride, Grulus commands his minions to capture her, alive and unharmed, and kill her companions. With obstacles like rivers, tangled woods, snow and the fly-trap minions on the chase, will Rootabecka survive?

Copyright Kate Carver 2016