The Trolls
This is the story of the Trolls.
In the beginning...was darkness...and in darkness trolls are born!!! For Millions of years Norway was covered in darkness, snow and ice. When finally, the darkness lifted and most of the snow and ice had melted away, The Trolls were there!!!
They were still there when the first Norwegian came strolling along with his belongings. He found them in different colours shapes and sizes. There were big ones, tall ones, standard sized ones and mini ones, all with tails and only 8 fingers and 8 toes. At first the Norwegians were not too particular about housing; they lived in caves. But as the trolls too preferred to live inside the mountains, they had to fight the Norwegians for it. Now and then the Norwegians won....but just as often they lost.
Fairly soon the Norwegians discovered that the trolls always rule at night with a free go at any human soul who dares to wander around in the darkness. But the Humans rule by day, and every troll caught by the sunshine is turned into stone, and bursts. The remains of unfortunate trolls can be seen all over Norway.
As time went on the Norwegians turned into Vikings. Brave people, their greatest fun drinking mead, rape, pillage, and lopping peoples heads off with big axes and swords.
The Vikings were great sea-faring people, roaming all over the oceans. The Vikings dreaded only one thing, the Sea Troll , a seacousin on the land Troll. It was a huge monster that would crush and swallow huge ships whole! Then there was his brother, Nokken , who lives in the slimy dark bottomless pools. Or his other brother, Fossegrimen , who lives in the waterfalls. He is the musical one of the bunch, and the one who teaches the fiddle players of Folklore who to play their tunes. But to do so they must offer him a goat, the fatter the better.
As time went on some very brave monks came over from England to bring Christianity to the Vikings. But knowing their reputation, they didn't believe that they could convert them with godliness, so they brought with them a rather sinister character and planned to use him to scare Christianity into the Vikings. But the Norwegians took this sinister character to their bosom, named him Old Erik , dressed hi up as an official (tax collector?) and in this way he wonder about collecting souls. He is easily recognizable, having horns and a beard like a goat, one normal foot, and one cloven hoof. He is believed to be closely related to the trolls, maybe the master of them all.
The Norwegians try to cheat and fool Old Erik as often as they can. But usually Old Eric gets what he is after.
As time went on the standard of living improved, even for he trolls. Many of them moved out of the hills and into castles, far away over the mountains, east of the sun and west of the moon. But the trolls felt kind of lonely living on their own, so they took up the habit of kidnapping princesses. They hold them as hostages, until the Ashlad, or some other prince, comes along. He cuts off the Trolls 1,2,3,6,9 or even 12 heads, rescues the princess, and in due course gets her and half the kingdom as a reward.
As time went even further on, the small trolls, living in the hills and under the ground, became envious of the Norwegians and formed their own world, a copy of the human one, complete with cattle, farms, churches, etc., etc., etc. They are called The Underground People . They are small, not very beautiful themselves, but they have very beautiful daughters, called Hulder . She is very well equipped where it counts to lure any innocent farm boy underground, where he is bewitched, and must stay as her husband forever. But just as a coin has two sides, so does a hulder. She has a tail like a cow. Once in a while a hulder falls so much in love with a boy that she is willing to marry him in a Christian church. She then loses her tail, and becomes the best wife a man can have. When the Hulder grows older (some 400-500 years) she changes and becomes a Trollkjerring . She is then able to take her head off and carry it under her arm, why she does this no one knows.
Now some of the underground people installed them selves as house Gods in the Norwegians homes, they harass the homeowners quite a bit, but look after cattle well. So if you meet a very small, strange person in a Norwegian home, you may have just met a Nisse . At Christmas the Norwegians give him a bowl of porridge, he is on Christmas known as the Julenisse .
If a troll attacks you there are several thing that you can do:
1. If you are smart you can outwit him.
2. You can use your faith and the cross against him.
3.The old silver bullet trick works as well.
4. You can also throw steel over his head so he disappears.
5. If methods 1,2,3 and4 fail your only hope is to run until daybreak, the troll will either stop chasing you or burst.
Stupid tourists often ask if they still exist. Just take a trip out into the nearest wood some dark and a stormy night, and then you will make up your mind, so Beware!