As with giants, there is different types of trolls. In some stories, they seem related to the giants of the Folklore – large, brutal and rather stupid. But actually, in most Folktales, trolls are not so different from humans. They can look so like us that if you met a troll you might not even notice.
The troll women are often described as very beautiful. However, for the observant, there was always something sort of ”off”, like irregular facial features, unibrow or, most obviously, a tail.
Trolls can also change their appearance, and shapeshift. For some reason they seem to enjoy turning them selves into balls of yarn, and then roll away when people would try to grab them.
But over all, trolls lived rather in the same way as people. They were farmers and miners, and often lived in relative harmony with their human neighbours. But as with other supernatural beings, you would do best not to antagonize them.
One of the most dangerous things about trolls in the Nordic Folklore, was that they kidnapped people and brought them inside the mountain where they lived. The trolls could take anyone, but unbaptized children and newly delivered mothers were particularly at risk.
Sometimes, the victim had to work hard inside the mountain, sometimes they married a troll and had children with them. The inside of the mountain could seem very luxurious, filled with light and treasures, and with an abundance of food. But this was just a illusion. If the victim said God’s name or made the sign of the cross, the illusion vanished and it would turn out to be a dirty old cave and the food was worms, snakes and toads.
If someone had been taken by the trolls, he or she could be freed if the church bells were rung loudly enough, or if the priest read from the bible outside the mountain. The trolls were not part of the Christian community, and hated all things Christian.
However, even if you were released from the mountain, the stories of bergtagning seldom ended happily. Those who returned were never really the same again. Some had lost their memory, forgotten how to speak or even spoke a whole new language. Some became sick or insane.
Sometimes, they had been away for so long that their loved ones had moved on. A common element in the stories is of wives returning only to found that their husbands had remarried.
And sometimes, they would willingly go back to the trolls, since they had children with them.
Next post will also be about trolls and children – the legends of the changelings.
Sources:
Egerkrans, Johan. ”Nordiska väsen”
Schön, Ebbe. ”Älvor, vättar och andra väsen”
Wall, Tora. ”Folktrons väsen”