~ Excerpt from draft of "EOTEN" (06/30/2026) ~

(excerpt from a draft of)

~ "EOTEN" ~

~ by Yeof ~

~ writing began 11/18/2024; edited/added-to (at-least) 06/30/2026 ~

~ “I greet whosoever lays eyes upon these words with hwætever honor is deserv'd. More likely than not, it is none, for if thee witness this ink, I have surely been put to death - my blood spill’d by thine own blade. 

Know me only as Eoten. I have no name I wish to share with those who will my death. I am what ye say I am: a beast, & nothing more or less. What thee make of me, so I be, for it is ye men who rule this good Earth.

Yet, I have a name known to my kin & kind, my family & friends. Men have never sought to know it, so it shall never be known to men. It shall die & fade from this world with me & mine. 

‘Eoten’ is a word of men’s tongues; my kind does not use it. To ye mankind, we are but eotenas, trolls, giants, ogres, beasts. To ourselves, we are loved-ones. I am myself - a person, a being, kin to many & friend to more. 

I spend my days careful to tread far from the halls of wer-folk who shine their blades t’ords my eyes when they gaze upon me. Many years I have succeeded in avoiding thy dreadful kind who hate me & mine. 

I dwell in solitude, but I have sought to content myself as well as I am able. I cannot visit those I love, for I seek-not to imperil their safety without heed of hiding. I spend my days alone & lonely in my fen-den, tending to the critters, plants, & parchments I consider friends." ~