When dinner was over, the little family settled into their comfortably upholstered oak chairs in front of the fireplace. Tiny logs, no more than twigs by human standards, burned slowly with a single large flame. The hearth and chimney was made with little flat white pebbles, set in terracotta potter's clay.

The walls, floor and ceiling were all panelled with tight-fitting timber planks of various hardwoods. These planks ranged in size but nowhere did they exceed the width of a cat's tongue.

Gently quavering light from the fire and a few strategically placed oil lamps gave everything a wash of orange. If nobody moved, it looked like a scene from a faded old oil painting. The little people warmed their hands on thimble-sized pottery mugs of steaming tea.

A deep soft voice cut into their thoughts. "Here's a little challenge for you Morel," Brodo said to his son. "Tell us, from a human perspective, about Gnomes and Trolls."

Morel stared at the little fire in the cosy sitting room of their underground house. "You mean that I should put myself in their place and minds to present their perceptions?"

"Of course son, I think that I put it plainly enough." Brodo chuckled into his mug before drinking deeply.

"Don't you know Father, that Morel always needs everything spelled out and verified?" Rada laughed at his brother's expense.

"Now, now Rada there's no need to go baiting him. Let him ask if he sees fit. It is only the fool who does not ask for clarity when there might be doubt." Ada chided and adjusted the pale mauve silk scarf that hid her hair. Her dulcet tones belied the demand of her message.

"Sorry Mother, but he does leave himself open to my jibes." Rada put his free hand behind his head and smiled into his beard.

The little family leaned back more comfortably in their chairs and waited for Morel to begin. He turned from the fire to face them and sipped some camomile tea from the mug that was clasped in both hands.

"The whole continent is covered in huge ranges of forests. These evil and forbidding forests used to be the pagan strongholds of myths and legends, where people disappeared without trace. Demons and the agents of the Devil were often blamed. Reports of sightings of Giants, Fairies, Trolls, Gnomes and other fanciful creatures of the dark and sinister timberlands were accepted by humans as good reason to respect and distance themselves from the wooded shrines to their gods."

"Now that Christianity has started to tighten its grasp on the minds of the masses, vast tracts of forest are being cut down to develop farmlands, thereby dispelling the myths and reinforcing the new religion. At least that's what the clergy hope to achieve."

Morel looked sideways at Rada, half expecting some comment or contradiction. His brother remained silent, so he proceeded with the tale. "During the Eighth and Ninth Centuries, western Europe was ravaged by constant invasions of barbarians, namely the Vikings from the north, the Saracens who supplanted the Visigoths from Spain in the south and the Magyars of eastern Europe."

"In addition, there were raids by other barbarians, such as the, Franks, Teutons and Burgundians. Celts or Gauls and Romans had already been largely assimilated into the Christianity that the Emperor Charlemagne had spread throughout central Europe."

"Ah, but the pagans still have a strong following and many of them merely pretend to have adopted Christianity so that they might live," Rada interrupted.

"That may be so Rada but we are listening to Morel's interpretation. Give him a chance to express his views." Brodo scowled at Rada and gestured to Morel to continue.

"Gnomes and Trolls are hominids from the same gene pool as humans. It is estimated that about one and a half million years ago, Early Humans, Trolls and Gnomes split into three distinct sub-species of the original anthropoids that developed intelligence. The Gnomes diminished in stature, but their brains and bodily functions developed to the same levels of humans and in fact surpassed them."

"Gnomes use a greater part of the brains than humans do and they are seven times stronger, when comparing abilities with body weight. The Gnomes' evolution finally stabilised at a tenth of the height of humans, with a lifespan of four hundred and fifty years. Their longevity boosted their intelligence and their intelligence helped them to survive."

Ada leaned forward with an apologetic smile. "Sorry to break the flow Morel, but that is hardly a human point of view. We know that is so but the humans have never known anything of our joint heritage. They also have little appreciation of their own origins, beyond myths and misleading religious writings."

He frowned briefly and then smiled. "That may be so mother, but for my story I will assume that they do know more than we give them credit for." He turned back to face the fire and she sank back in her chair with raised eyebrows.

"Trolls remained at half the height of humans and had a lifespan of about fifty years. Interbreeding amongst Trolls caused degenerative hereditary problems, owing to a stock group that was too small. Consequently, maladies and malformations that were unique to their species beset the Trolls. In the normal course of evolution, they should have become extinct. However, they survived because they attached themselves to the dominant hominids called humans and were thus protected from the savagery of life at the time."

"Perhaps early man regarded Trolls as some sort of god or messenger from the gods and felt obliged to provide them with succour and shelter. Whatever the reasons, the Trolls did survive to become part of human folklore. It was only later that humans began to shun them and see them as misfits of society. By then, the severe dangers to their existence had become extinct and they were able to continue to survive without the assistance of humans." Morel drank some more tea and wiped his beard with the back of his hand.

"More like apes than humans, Trolls had soon been shoved to the fringes of early human settlements. They were either regarded with amusement, terror or disdain, depending on the human tribe to which they clung. Some humans enslaved Trolls to carry out menial tasks or perform like circus animals, but most shunned them like lepers."

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Unable to contain himself, Rada contradicted his brother again. "Actually, it is unfair to compare them to apes. Apes are more sociable and have a more structured troop than Trolls. Trolls have no apparent hierarchy in their groups, other than the fact that males dominate females and stronger males bully weaker ones."

"That may be so Rada but as long as the Trolls stayed out of reach of humans, their continued survival would prevail. They were certainly not seen as a threat to humanity. In the Dark Ages, Trolls had been all but forgotten by man. They took care to keep to themselves and only attacked people that were easy targets. The superstitions of ordinary folk during this period ensured that men did not interfere with the Trolls. Unfortunately, many Trolls had witnessed barbarian invaders at work. They did not have the courage or the weapons to emulate these attacks against human armies. However, they did see fit to attack isolated humans and later they turned on the Gnomes."

"The Trolls have always bothered us. According to our history, Trolls have been a thorn in our sides from the beginning of time," Rada chipped in.

"Rada is right, but I think that Morel means that they have concentrated their attentions on us more of late than on humans," Brodo said and raised his eyebrows at Morel for approval.

Morel nodded his confirmation and went on with his story. "The few lowly human victims were unable to convince their lords or kings of the threats posed by the Trolls. Human leaders discounted such tales as the superstitions of pagan peasants and often punished the authors of such reports with torture or condemnation as heretics. As often as not, these lords were just as afraid of creatures of the dark and inexplicable occurrences but they hid their fears better behind their positions of power and their adopted religion."

"The Gnomes tried to keep out of the way of both humans and Trolls. On the whole, they were successful at this for a long period of time. They were past masters at coexisting with humans, without being detected. Only a few isolated incidents or encounters with mankind ever occurred and these were relegated to the realms of myths and superstitions."

"The Trolls developed an inbred hatred of humans and melted away to disappear into the mountains, where they could eke out an existence as hunter-gatherers. They never forgot the maltreatment meted out to them by humans. Whiling the nights away, the adults would tell their children the tales that they had heard from their parents. No doubt, these stories became distorted and exaggerated, but they served to pass hatred from one generation to the next. Whenever the opportunity arose, they would terrorise isolated individuals or families of humans or Gnomes." Morel sat back to indicate that he had exhausted the subject.

Ada looked at Brodo, half expecting him to comment immediately. When she saw that he was still mulling over what had been said, she spoke. "Morel you told a fine tale and gave a reasonably accurate account of history as we know it. However, you told it with a Gnome's slant. Much of what you said is unknown to humans. You should try to put yourself in someone else's place and see things from their understanding. Not just in this little exercise but in life in general."

"Your Mother's right Morel, it was a well-told tale but you missed the point." Brodo smiled.

He clasped his hands together. "The ability to appreciate other points of view is important. It makes for good leadership, better understanding, and anticipation of reactions. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of a foe could be the difference between life and death in battle."

"In some ways, I feel that I should apologise for the question but I wanted to see how you would handle it. As far as we know, humans are unaware of the existence of Trolls and Gnomes so you might well have answered very briefly. Given such a question I might have been tempted, from a human stance, to dismiss both species as the superstitious imaginings of the ignorant."

"I also think that an educated human, who had seen either a Gnome or a Troll, would probably keep his own council for fear of being branded as mad or as a heretic."

Ada said, "We are aware of the problems of husbandry through our experiments with mouse herds. However, I think it unlikely that humans would connect a small stock of Trolls or any other species with hereditary diseases and deformations. They may have had that knowledge at some stage in the past but it is lost to them now."

Rada, with no ribbing of his brother intended, addressed the fire rather than to anyone in particular. "It is also worth noting that humans around the world have different names for us. That is of course, where they suspect that we exist at all."

"In China, they believe that we number amongst their fox spirits or hu hsien. The Arabs call any entity that defies their comprehension a jinni."

"Closer to home, to the north, we are called nissen, tomte or kobold. Across the water in Britain, humans who have had sightings of our kind have used several names from knockers to fairies. In Ireland, they call us Leprechauns."

The Gnome family continued to dissect Morel's presentation, without malice, for an hour or so. When the embers of the little fire died down, they retired to bed. Such sessions were a commonplace tradition that nurtured freethinking and encouraged study of subjects as diverse as history, various crafts, herbal remedies, and ways of preserving food, to name but a few.

The family circle was part of an ongoing informal education that was integral to Gnome culture. They had learned long ago that the method surpassed any formal education other than specialised apprenticeships.

In any case, a formal education was fraught with practical difficulties. Gnomic houses were underground and often far apart. Travel on the surface was dangerous enough for experienced adults, so they were unwilling to risk their children's lives by sending them to far-flung schools.

Parents shared the task of teaching their progenies in the safety of their homes until they were old enough to apprentice themselves to some or other specialist.