The Secret Life of Trolls

Trolls are much bigger than us, somewhat like a huge, ugly, mossy giant, and much stronger, awfully, terribly, horribly strong.

If you are unfortunate enough to bump into a Troll and have one shocked moment to see his face (or faces), you will notice the long, warty nose, the grotesque reddened eyes and the twisted, slavering mouth.

You may also notice that the Troll has more than one head.

If this isn't enough to turn your heart inside out and your bowels to water, remember that Trolls eat people!

Your only hope (if your legs haven't turned to jelly) is to flee forthwith.

John Bauer Museum

John Bauer: wikimedia commons

In all Scandinavian languages there is a word which literally means 'taken to the mountain', used, in modern parlance, in the sense of 'bewitched', and the theme of being stolen away to the Troll Mountain is very popular in literature and art. An English equivalent is "taken by the fairies".

If a villager disappeared in the woods, it was quite obvious that the Trolls must have taken him.

It has been said that Trolls represent the last vestige of an ancestor-cult, common throughout Skandinavia until Christianity came to the region.

Family forebears were worshiped in sacred groves, by altars, biers and gravemounds. One of the customs associated with this practice was to sit on top of a gravemound at night, possibly in order to make contact with the deceased, But, when the priests arrived with the new Christian religion, all reference to these earlier long-held beliefs was demonised.

In the 13th century it was decreed illegal to attempt to wake the "mound-dwellers" in the sacred groves. (Warning : Don't even think of trying ......)

Disregard these modern theories. Or the Trolls will get you!

After some bizarre actions and their consequences, Peer, the anti-hero, wanders the wild mountains of Norway. He meets three amorous dairy-maids who are waiting to be courted by trolls, gets drunk with them and spends the next day alone with a severe hangover.

He comes across a woman clad in green who turns out to be the daughter of the Troll Mountain King. Together they ride into the mountain hall, and the Troll King gives Peer the choice of becoming a troll if Peer is to marry his daughter. Peer agrees to a number of issues, but withdraws in the end.

The music In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt is a well known melody although many may not know the actual name of the piece. Did you?

These days the Troll is seen as a humorous phenomenon, a childish symbol of fears, or the subject of doctoral dissertations.

But don't be fooled. They are as malevolent and wicked as they ever were.

Once a troll, always a troll