The Three Chocolatiers

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The Three Chocolatiers by Harris Tobias



The Three Chocolatiers

O nce there was a village surrounded by tall mountains and dark for-

ests. Overlooking this village stood a castle where the Baron and his family

lived. Below the castle, in the village, there was a street filled with small

shops— a bakery, a butcher, a wine seller, a cozy inn and a candy storeamong others. Like all the stores in the village, the candy store had been in

the same family for many generations. The Brulee family took great pride

in their candy making tradition. They passed down this knowledge from

one generation to the next and now that the three Brulee sons were grown,

they would take over the business and allow their parents to retire. The

brothers loved the candy business, but like young people the world over,

they longed for a life of romance and adventure.

Everyone loved Brulee’s candies. The store was a fixture in the village

and attracted people from as far away as the capitol city. Generations of

children had grown up eating as much Brulee candy as they could get theirhands on. The candies were always the best quality because the Brulees

never skimped on their ingredients, as a result, the store was always busy.

Gossip had it that the king himself would send his servants to purchase

candies for the royal candy dish. Of course that might have just been a

rumor, you know how little towns are? But one thing was certain, the store

was popular and every one assumed that the Brulee family was well off

and enjoyed a life of comfort and prosperity. The truth was quite different.

The Brulees knew everything there was to know about making candy

except one important thing, how to make money at it.

The candy business was a very difficult business to be in. To make thebest candy required the best ingredients, the best flavorings, the best sugar,

the finest liquors and cordials and cocoa beans and that was expensive. It

was so expensive that the family actually lost money year after year and as

a result, they were very poor. It looked as though the three brothers would

be the last of the family to make candies. The Brulees were broke.



Now the three brothers worked in the store after school. They

learned how to turn cocoa powder into chocolate and turn the choco-

late into beautiful bonbons, truffl es and profiteroles. They learned to

make caramel and fudge and, licorice, and all-sorts. How to make

toffee and lollipops, gumdrops, gummy bears, sucking candies of all

kinds. Everyone agreed that the brothers would soon take over the

family business and keep the candy making tradition going. It soon

became apparent that each boy had a knack for making a certain kindof candy.

Aaron, the eldest, was a wizard when it

came to the hard candies like lollipops and

candy canes, peppermint sticks and fruit

flavored suckies. His raspberry lozenges

tasted better than real raspberries. His pep-

permint sticks made your mouth taste

as cool as a mountain stream.

Bartholomew, the middle boy, found that hewas a master of the gooey, gummy candies like

caramels and gummy bears, gum drops, nougat

and licorice. He could make a nougat almost as

creamy as his caramels, and his caramels were

simply not to be believed.

And Clyde, the baby of the family turned

out to be an absolute genius when it came to

chocolate. There was nothing young Clyde

couldn’t do with chocolate, dark, rich chocolate

rolled into bars or poured into molds. Creamy

thick milk chocolate made into bonbons and

truffl es were a delight to the eye and a treat for

the tongue. He even dabbled in white chocolate

which was considered quite radical at the time.

The three brothers and everyone else in the town referred to the

‘The Three Chocolatiers”. And, while not exactly accurate, wasn’t

from the truth.

One day, word reached the brothers that a wicked troll had come

from the mountain and was terrorizing the local farmers. This trol

eating all of the food, destroying the crops and making life misera

everyone— typical wicked troll behavior. This was, of course, a m

troll, one of a family that lived in the high mountains. They usuall

to themselves but, every now and again, one would come down fro

mountain cave and cause trouble. After eating everything and ever

in sight, it would go back up the mountain leaving a trail of destruand tears. It was considered one of life’s many misfortunes like dr

or flood or avalanche. There wasn’t much anyone could do to get r

the trolls. Humans are weak, puny creatures compared to trolls, es

mountain trolls who are the biggest, meanest and most wicked tro



The villagers appealed to the king for help, but the king was far

away and troll prevention was not high on his list of priorities. The king

passed the problem to the Duke who, busy with other matters, passed the

problem to the Earl, who passed it to the Count, who told the Marquis

who pestered the Viscount. All of these officials tut-tutted and shook

their heads in sympathy with the villagers but, took no action. To be fair,

there wasn’t much anyone could do. By the time they raised an army to

chase the troll away, the troll would already have done his wicked worstand disappeared back up the mountain.

The troll problem fell to the Baron whose castle rose above the

village. When the Baron’s own farm was trampled by the troll, he

forced to act. He offered a reward of a thousand guilders to anyon

who could drive the troll away for good and, as an added incentiv

promised the hand in marriage one of his three beautiful daughter

The daughter’s names were Butterscotch, Vanilla and Hazelnut, n

after their mother’s favorite flavors. The sisters were a pretty as th

names and, like all young people, hoped for some romance in thei

lives before their father, Baron Eclair, could marry them to some nobel or other.



The brothers talked amongst themselves as they worked in the candy

kitchen. It was Clyde, the youngest brother, who first raised the subject.

He was stirring a big pot of dark chocolate and letting his imagination

take flight. “Wouldn’t it be something if we could solve the wicked troll

problem and collect the reward? Then the Brulee family would be

remembered for something more than causing cavities. We’d be heroes.

We’d have enough money to keep the business going for many years

plus we’d get to marry one of the Baron’s beautiful daughters. I can see

it now. Candy makers save town from troll.”

“And live happily ever after. It’s a nice story, brother, but quite

frankly I don’t see how candy making prepares one for battling trolls,”

This little speech was delivered by Bartholomew who was just filling a

huge tray of fresh nougat and setting it out to cool.“That’s true,” said Aaron, “we’re not really fighters despite our

swashbuckling nickname. What, you think I could run the troll through

with a peppermint stick? Or maybe you could imprison it in chocolate,

Clyde. How does chocolate covered troll sound?”

“That’s not a totally ridiculous idea,” said Clyde. “I mean abou

our skills against the troll. I hear they have a powerful craving for

I’ll bet a troll would drop everything for a taste of my mousse truffl

“So you’re suggesting we feed the creature until it falls down d

asked Bartholomew who was shooing flies away from his freshly

tray of toffee. One fly landed on the gooey sweet and got itself stu

Bartholomew pulled it off and tossed it in the sink with a disguste

“My sticky candies are like flypaper.” he added.“Now that gives me an idea,” said Aaron, “I just thought of a w

can use our skills to rid us of the troll.” And he outlined his idea t

brothers. They talked and argued the rest of the afternoon, but wh

were through and the day was done, the Three Chocolatiers had w

out a clever plan to drive away the wicked troll.



The troll was enormous, fifteen feet tall and as broad as an oak tree. This

was no nasty little bridge troll that sleeps under a foot bridge and pops out

to scare travelers, no this troll was bigger and meaner than anything and he

knew it. He stomped around in some poor farmer’s wheat field, ate all the

livestock in the barn and would have eaten the farmer as well if the poor

wretch hadn’t run off with his family. The troll’s name was Storm and he

was about to take a short nap when he noticed three funny looking humans

in big white aprons approaching. It was the three chocolatiers dressed intheir best white aprons and toques. When the Troll saw them he gave them

a fierce look then he threw back his head and laughed. “And what do you

three humans want? A thrashing? Or should I just eat you now?”

“Oh no good sir,” said Clyde. “We are three candy makers from a small

village nearby. We’ve come to offer you some of our fine candy in hope

you will leave us in peace.”

“Candy, you say? Storm likes candy, give it here.” Storm got to his

feet and held out an enormous hand. Aaron put a huge chocolate bon bon

about the size of a birthday cake in the troll’s outstretched hand. The troll

finished it off in three bites and licked his lips. “Mmmm, good. Storm like

chocolate. More?”

“Oh yes, Mr. Storm, we have brought much more. If you’ll follow us

we’ll take you to it.”

The great troll lumbered after the three chocolatiers. They led Storm

through a flower filled field to a shady spot besides a stream and there, set

out on a big caramel colored blanket, was an amazing assortment of

candies made extra large for the big troll. When Storm saw the pile of troll

sized candies, he ran ahead of the brothers and plopped himself down on

the blanket and greedily began stuffing the confections into his mouthwithout even stopping to admire their beautiful craftsmanship. So intent

was he on his eating, he didn’t notice that he was slowly sinking into the

blanket. When he finished the last bite and his sweet tooth was satisfied,

Storm realized that he was stuck and was slowly sinking deeper into the



blanket. Already caramel covered his thighs and was creeping up to his

waist.

“What’s this??” the troll hollered, “What have you humans done? You

think you can trick me?” And he gave a mighty heave with his giant arms

which promptly sank to his elbows in the sticky stuff. “What is this stuff?”

Storm bellowed pulling his arms out one at a time.

“It’s caramel,” answered Bartholomew.

“You’re sitting in a vat of it”, added Aaron.

“We thought you liked caramel,” said Clyde.“Do I?” asked Storm tasting the gooey stuff for the first time. “Mmmm,

I do like caramel,” and Storm began licking the candy from his hands.

“Mmmm,” he said and began eating handful of Bartholomew’s famous

caramel. In no time he had eaten a large hole in the blanket and was

shoveling down the candy as fast as he could swallow.

“Egad,” said Clyde, “I hope you made enough caramel, brother. How

much candy can one troll eat?”

“It’s time to finish him off,” said Aaron and he dug out a bow and

arrows he had hidden behind a bush. These were no ordinary arrows. Aar-

on had made them from hard sugar candy in several flavors. The bow he

made from candy cane with a licorice string. He mounted a lime flavored

arrow on the bow and...well, I won’t describe what happened next but

suffice it to say that Storm and the rest of his family were never seen in that

part of the world again.

The word of the troll’s defeat spread quickly throughout the lan

The three brothers were celebrated as heroes and a big dinner wasin their honor by Baron Eclair. The brothers sat at a big table alon

the Baron’s lovely daughters, Butterscotch, Vanilla and Hazelnut.

Before the meal was over, the sisters and brothers were in love. Th

Baron presented a chest filled with golden guilders to the brothers

the assembled dignitaries cheered wildly. Then the Baron raised h

glass and made a toast, “Long live the three chocolatiers; long live

Brulee family, long live our little village.”

“Hooray,” cheered the assembled guests.

Well, I suppose you can guess how this story ends. The Brulee

and the E’Clair girls were married. With six hands making and secandies, the shop did better than ever and when the king himself s

in to buy a box of truffles one day, well their fortune was assured.

so the Three Chocolatiers and Butterscotch, Vanilla and Hazelnut

lived happily ever after. Mmmm.

The Three Chocolatiers

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