Pratchett, Terry - Troll Bridge

Quite often I forget the troll lore and the charming image of a massive beast crawling out from under a bridge forcing the passer-by-er to answer a riddle or trade him something. It's a standard design, monster impeding on the good armor clad hero for no good reason. Like a dragon or a cruel emperor, the hero needs to gather his/her courage and push on in the face of one of Earth's most dangerous fiends. Troll Bridge decides to create a realistic picture with this fantasy cliche and give the troll a bit more depth than just a snarling monster under a bridge.
Troll Bridge kicks off to what its about a few paragraphs in when the determined hero who wants to kill a bridge troll (which are apparently rare as most trolls found the business unsuccessful) finally takes the moment to talk to one. The troll, a well talking individual with a family and home tells of his reason why he is a bridge troll and how the current economy and change of society is affecting other trolls like him. All of this comes off funny because generally readers see this as two enemies who want nothing more than to kill eachother off but instead it seems like one big job to them. It reminds me of WWI stories and old Roman war stories where if soldiers on the other side were injured or knocked down people woudn't take that opportunity to kill them and instead just leave them be and prisoners were released in time (at least on certain accounts). It's like there was a mutual understanding that they both have their life to live and a reason to do what they do and they respect eachother for that which in the end would throw a reader off a bit. To me though all of this was great because that shock is what made the story interesting and different from the other fantasies in the world.