Trolls

The giants of the Scandinavian wilderness, who live in the forests, mountains, and moorlands. Some never emerge from caverns deep underground and are belived to be Lords of the Goblins. Occasionally a lonely wanderer may hear their subterranean growls and grumbles as they direct their mischievous subjects on one mission or another.

Trolls appear most frequently during the 'light nights' of the northern summer, when the sun rests only a little away below the horizon and the whole land reposes in a mysterious silent twilight. The birds do not sing, the breezes do not blow, and even the rivers and cascades seem to run more quietly. It is then, when it is still light enough to see but all honest folk are asleep, that the trolls appear and wander over the countryside.

Those who have glimsed them say they are vast amorphous creatures without distinct bodies, limbs, or heads, but somehow seeming to have all these attributes as they drift aimlessly through the silence. There is a theory that they are in perpetual mourning for their distant ancestors, the great giant who held sway over Scandinavia before the appearance of the gods.

Trolls are occasionally antagonistic towards mankind and may snap the neck of any human whom they encounter during their wanderings. At other times they may kidnap sleeping children, but nobody knows why. They have an unfortunate effect on domestic animals. When a troll is in the neighbourhood the cows and reindeer fail to give milk, the hens do not lay, horses are reluctant to work and even the dogs and cats go into hiding.

It is said that a human who sees a troll will never be the same again. For this reason, men and women are reluctant to go outside their homes during those brooding mystic hours of the northern summer nights and they make sure their children are safely tucked up in bed. Some trolls are very curious and they may peep wistfully through windows or even stretch attenuated arms into houses to finger human possessions. The best safeguard is to close all doors and windows firmly, draw the curtains, and sleep soundly until the first rays of the sun send trolls back into their hiding places. They dare not linger until the sun rises because sunlight turns trolls into stone.