The "Black Stories" crime riddles thread

Started by Kumpel, Mon 13/03/2017 23:07:23

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Snarky

Yeah, basically. :)

There's a small wrinkle in that the killer waited until the parent trolls had eaten of the soup made from their child before he killed them, but you basically got it.

So I declare that Kumpel and Stupot+ have cracked the case!




Nice work everybody. Sorry if it seemed tricky; I think maybe the genre of the story didn't lend itself as well to puzzle form as I had hoped. The case is based on the classic Norwegian fairy tale "Smørbukk", told to Asbjørnsen & Moe. Here's a free English retelling:

Spoiler
Butterscotch

There once lived a boy who was very greedy, and always stuffing himself with cream, butter, and all kinds of candy. Because of this he was quite chubby, so everyone called him Butterscotch. Now, as I'm sure you all know, the health risks of childhood obesity are very serious: above all, it makes you a delicacy to trolls.

So one day Butterscotch is in the kitchen with his mother, when they hear the dog barking. They look out the window, and see a horrible, gangly troll hag carrying her head under one arm and a sack over her shoulder. His mother says to Butterscotch, “You better hide under the kitchen table so that troll doesn't catch sight of you!” And so he scoots under there.

A moment later, the troll comes through the door. “Howdy!” she says to the mother. “Nice weather we're having. Is Butterscotch around?” And the mother replies, “Good day, ma'am. Uh, no, I haven't seen him all day.”

“Well that's a bummer,” says the troll, “seeing as I have this pretty little silver knife I wanted to give him for a present.”

“Pip pip! I'm here! I'm here!” yells Butterscotch and jumps out from under the table. (Like I said, he was a greedy little boy.)

“What a lucky coincidence!” says the troll. “It's at the bottom of my bag. Do you mind climbing in to get it for me? My arthritis is bothering me, you see.”

So Butterscotch climbs in, but the moment he's in the sack, the troll heaves it over her shoulder and legs it out of there to bring him back to her home. She walks all day, and when she gets tired she asks into the bag: “Do you know of a hotel around here? Ideally one with a room safe.”

“Oh, we passed one a while back,” says Butterscotch. “If you'll just turn around…”

But the troll doesn't want to walk extra, so instead she looks for a spot along the side of the road where she can lie down. While she's sleeping, Butterscotch takes the silver knife, cuts a hole in the bag, finds a tree stump and puts it inside. Then he runs back home to his mother.

The next day the troll arrives at her place and is all ready to cook Butterscotch, but when she opens the bag she only finds the tree stump. Damn that bothersome Butterscotch!

So one day later, Butterscotch and his mom are in the kitchen again, the dog barks, troll, hide under the kitchen table etc.

“Have you seen Butterscotch today?” asks the troll.
“Shoot, you just missed him!” says his mother.
“Shame. You see, I had this nice matching silver fork I wanted to give him.”

Well, Butterscotch jumps out once more (he really was a very greedy little boy), gets in the bag (newly patched), and off they go again. When the troll gets tired, she asks into the bag: “Really, there aren't any hotels around here? What about a motel or a little Bed & Breakfast or something?”

“No, I'm afraid it's all AirBnb these days,” replies Butterscotch, anachronistically. So the troll lies down by the side of the road to sleep, and Butterscotch takes the fork and pokes a hole in the bag, gets out and puts a big rock inside instead. Then he runs back home to his mother. When the troll gets home the next day, she only finds the big rock. “That does it!” she says to her husband. “I'll get that little fatso one way or another!”

So, third try:

“Know where I can find Butterscotch?”
“Butterscotch? Butterscotch… No, doesn't ring a bell.”
“Really? Well, if you run into him, tell him I have a very chic little silver spoon to complete the cutlery set.”
“Gimme gimme gimme!” yells Butterscotch, emerging from hiding. (Really, it's sickening.) And in the bag he goes.

This time when night falls, the troll just keeps on walking. Butterscotch (who should have thought this whole thing through better) tries to make his way out of the bag with the spoon, but that goes about as well as you would expect.

They walk all night, and by the time they reach the troll's house, it's Sunday morning. The troll says to her daughter, “Take Butterscotch here, slaughter him, carve him up and make us some Butterscotch soup while your father and I are in church; we'll invite all the neighbors over for Sunday dinner!”

When the parents had left for church, the daughter set about trying to butcher Butterscotch, but she didn't know how to slice him. “Here, let me show you how you do it,” said Butterscotch. “Just put your head down on the countertop like this…” And as she laid her head down, Butterscotch took a meat cleaver and chopped it clean off, as if she'd been a chicken. Then he scooped out her innards and popped them in the pot, which he cooked up into a delicious-smelling soup. He arranged the head and the rest of the daughter's carcass in a nice little window seat the trolls had put in along one wall of the kitchen, with a blanket to cover her. Finally, he found the rock and the tree stump the troll hag had carried home in his place, and carried them up onto the roof, where he hid himself away.

When the parent trolls got home, they found their daughter seemingly asleep on the couch, and the soup all ready. They decided to do a little taste test before the guests arrived, and took a big spoonful of the soup:

“Good, by my troth: Butterscotch broth!” said the troll hag.
“Good, by my troth: Daughter-guts broth!” said Butterscotch down the chimney, but the trolls didn't notice. Then the husband also wanted a taste:

“Yup: Good, by my troth, Butterscotch broth!” said the troll husband.
“Nope: Good, by my troth, Daughter-guts broth!” said Butterscotch once again, and this time the trolls heard him.

So they ran out to see where the voice was coming from, but as they came out the door (the hag holding her head up to see better), Butterscotch threw the rock and the tree stump down on their heads and bashed them to pieces. Then he looted their house, taking all their gold and silver, and went back home to his mother a rich boy.

THE END


Spoiler
("Smørbukk" literally means "Butter-buck", and is usually translated as "Buttercup" or "Butterball" in English, but it's also the brand name of a butterscotch candy, so I used that name instead. Also, in the original story the daughter's whole body goes in the soup, but I forgot about that in the initial description when I mentioned one of the victims being found wearing an apron, so I've finessed it in this retelling so that he only uses her guts.)
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That's effed up, right?
The TL;DR version:

Spoiler
A troll had caught a boy and brought him home to eat. Since it was Sunday, she and her husband went off to church (where they were planning to invite all the other trolls to a big Sunday dinner), while they left their daughter to slaughter and cook him. But the boy tricked the troll-daughter into letting him cut her head off, and made a soup from her body instead (while arranging her head in bed to make it look like she was sleeping). Her parents got home and tried the soup, saying it tasted good. The boy, who had hidden himself up on the roof, called down to taunt them about eating their own daughter, and when they came out to look he hit them with a rock and a tree stump, killing them.
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This story is a favorite of mine partly because of the gratuitous cannibalism, and partly because it has the trolls going to church while the little boy they're going to eat for dinner later is (supposedly) being slaughtered. Not to mention how the hero keeps climbing into that bag over and over, even after he's already been kidnapped twice. (laugh)

Tabata

Nice one Snarky
I'm just wondering why Butterscotch's mother obviously didn't to anything to help her son
even if she was in the kitchen where it happened three times in a row.   (wtf)
Did she sell him to the troll or what?   :shocked:

Now who is coming up with the next case?  Stupot? Kumpel?
I am home from work now and waiting 
(laugh)

Kumpel

Oh finally! That one was really tricky. Stupot you can tell us a new one, if you want.  8-)

Snarky

Quote from: Tabata on Tue 21/03/2017 17:47:39
I'm just wondering why Butterscotch's mother obviously didn't to anything to help her son
even if she was in the kitchen where it happened three times in a row.   (wtf)
Did she sell him to the troll or what?   :shocked:

She told him to hide, and lied about not knowing where he was. What else was she gonna do? Not her fault he kept falling for the same trick over and over again. (Which might be his arrogance and greed rather than stupidity.)

Cassiebsg

So... the moral of the story is... greed pays of?  (laugh)

nice one Snarky.  ;-D
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Tabata

Stuuuu where are you?
I need my dose of black bedtime-story ... tired - soo tired   


Quote from: Snarky on Tue 21/03/2017 18:12:13
She told him to hide, and lied about not knowing where he was. What else was she gonna do? Not her fault he kept falling for the same trick over and over again. (Which might be his arrogance and greed rather than stupidity.)
Sure it is his fault but what mother lets get her child getting hurt just because it is acting stupid.
"Never go with strangers and not even if they promise to show you something interesting." 
In case that mother is realising that a stranger is talking to her little one and going to leave with her ...
please don't tell me you really believe it is a normal reaction to look away
just because it would be the childs own fault if it gets abused then?  8-0 :shocked: 8-0

Stupot

Quote from: Kumpel on Tue 21/03/2017 17:55:42
Oh finally! That one was really tricky. Stupot you can tell us a new one, if you want.  8-)
You do it mate. You basically solved it. I jusr added the garnish :-)

Kumpel

CASE #4:
Dozens of yells were heard as one was dead from one second to another. What happened?

Stupot

Were they watching a public execution?

Kumpel

Case #4
Dozens of yells were heard as one was dead from one second to another. What happened?

Yes (nod)


No (wrong)
Were they watching a public execution?


Unanswerable or Ambiguous :-\


Tabata

Is the one who died a human?
Was it murder?
Did he die on stage?

Stupot

Was it an accident?
Did the victim fall?
Did something fall on the victim?

Danvzare

Was it in the middle of a battlefield?

Kumpel


Case #4
Dozens of yells were heard as one was dead from one second to another. What happened?

Yes (nod)
Is the one who died a human?
Was it an accident?


No (wrong)
Were they watching a public execution?
Was it murder?
Did something fall on the victim?
Did he die on stage? (no, but close)
Was it in the middle of a battlefield?


Unanswerable or Ambiguous :-\
Did the victim fall? (when, where, why?)


Danvzare

Was the one who died, on a roof just before dying?

Tabata

Was it a showman whose performance went terribly wrong?

CaptainD

Was the one who died engaged in some form of sport?
Was the one who died engaged in some form of stunt?
 

Kumpel


Case #4
Dozens of yells were heard as one was dead from one second to another. What happened?

Yes (nod)
Is the one who died a human?
Was it an accident?
Was the one who died engaged in some form of sport?


No (wrong)
Were they watching a public execution?
Was it murder?
Did something fall on the victim?
Did he die on stage? (no, but close)
Was it in the middle of a battlefield?
Was the one who died, on a roof just before dying?
Was it a showman whose performance went terribly wrong? (no, but close;) )
Was the one who died engaged in some form of stunt?


Unanswerable or Ambiguous :-\
Did the victim fall? (when, where, why?)

dayowlron

Lets see, we have a human or several humans that died from an accident at some sporting event. The clue that confuses me was the fall question.

Did he die from anything medical condition?
Did the stands collapse at a sports arena?
Pro is the opposite of Con                       Kids of today are so much different
This fact can clearly be seen,                  Don't you know?
If progress means to move forward         Just ask them where they are from
Then what does congress mean?             And they tell you where you can go.  --Nipsey Russell

CaptainD

The wording seems a little ambiguous so...

Did more than one person die?
 

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