Carolyne Larrington is an Emeritus Professor of Medieval European literature at Oxford University. She has published a book of Dragons in this series now followed by The Little Book of Trolls whichbegins with the question, “What is a troll?” We are told that a troll is a “Scandinavian folkloric being, usually imagined as very large, ugly and malign.” The creature usually lives in the wilderness but often has contact with humans.
The troll tales have been passed down through the generations as oral poetry and recorded in Iceland in the medieval period. Recently the stories have been collected and published in Scandinavia and these stories were then translated bringing the idea of a troll into the English language. This become widely spread then after the story of the ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’.
Inspired by the ‘Tales of the Brothers Grimm’, Jon Arnason brought the Icelandic folktales together in a collection which was published in the 1860s.These tales helped to form a national identity in Norway and Iceland which were subordinate to the Danish crown.
This motivated others to emulate the stories and a Swedish Annual (Among Brownies and Trolls), which began in the 1970’s is still published. This contains stories which are new as well as older tales.
The Norwegian, Theodore Kittelsen is famous for his troll illustrations. This book tells of trolls in contemporary society, in movies, as collectibles and fantasy literature. There are also trolls who hide in social media and may cause a threat.
A legendary Icelandic tale tells of a hero called Ketill. He discovers a troll’s storage pit which holds salted meats stolen, and human remains. Our hero is so disgusted that he empties out the pit.
After many incidents, Kettil finds himself in bed with an ugly troll woman who he must kiss. On awakening the next morning, he discovers the woman is his lost and lovely fiancé. There are so many delightful stories in this book and they are wonderfully enhanced by the splendid ancient illustrations.
