What are the Scandinavian folklore Stories of Christians warding off trolls?

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll
These trolls have a human-like appearance. Sometimes they had a tail hidden in their clothing, but even that is not a definite. Many of these trolls had a single lock of hair that no human could comb, whereas the rest was generally messy. A frequent way of telling a human-looking troll in folklore is to look at what it is wearing: Troll women in particular were often too elegantly dressed to be human women moving around in the forest. They could attract human males to do their bidding, or simply as mates or pets. Later these would be found wandering, decades later, with no memory of what had happened to them in a troll woman's care.[citation needed]

More often than not, though, the trolls kept themselves invisible, and then they could travel on the winds, such as the wind-troll Ysätters-Kajsa, or sneak into human homes. Sometimes you could only hear them speak, shout and make noise, or the sound of their cattle. Similarly, if you were out in the forest and smelled food cooking, you knew you were near a troll dwelling. The trolls were also great shapeshifters, taking shapes of objects like fallen logs or animals like cats and dogs. A fairly frequent notion is that the trolls liked to appear as rolling balls of yarn.[citation needed]

Whereas the large, ogrish trolls often appear as a solitary being, the "small" trolls were thought to be social beings who lived together, much like humans except out in the forest. They kept animals, cooked and baked, were excellent at crafts and held great feasts. Like many other species in Scandinavian folklore, they were said to reside in underground complexes, accessible from underneath large boulders in the forests or in the mountains. These boulders could be raised upon pillars of gold. In their living quarters, they hoard gold and treasures. Opinion varied as to whether or not the trolls were thoroughly bad or not, but often they treated people as they were treated. Trolls could cause great harm if vindictive or playful, though, and regardless of other things they were always heathen. Trolls were also great thieves, and liked to steal from the food that the farmers had stored. They could enter the homes invisibly during feasts and eat from the plates so that there was not enough food, or spoil the making of beer and bread so that it failed or did not end up plentiful enough.

The trolls sometimes abducted people to live as slaves or at least prisoners among them. These poor souls were known as bergtagna ("those taken to/by the mountain"), which also is the Scandinavian word for having been spirited away. To be bergtagen does not only refer to the disappearance of the person, but also that upon returning, he or she has been struck with insanity or apathy caused by the trolls. Anyone could be taken by the trolls, even cattle, but at the greatest risk were women who had given birth but not yet been taken back to the church.

Occasionally, the trolls would even steal a new-born baby, leaving their own offspring – a (bort)byting/skifting ("changeling") – in return.

To ward off the trolls you could always trust in Christianity: Church bells, a cross or even words like "Jesus" or "Christ" would work against them. Like other Scandinavian folklore creatures they also feared iron. Apart from that they were hunted by Thor, one of the last remnants of the old Norse mythology, who threw Mjolnir, his hammer, causing lightning bolts to kill them. Though Mjolnir was supposed to return to Thor after throwing, the imprints of his hammer could later be found in the earth (actually Stone Age axes) and be used as protective talismans.

Trolls in America
In the US and Canada, the old belief in trolls is paralleled by a modern belief in Bigfoot and Sasquatch.[citation needed]

Many statues of trolls adorn the downtown business district of Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, leading to the town being dubbed The Troll Capital. There is also a park on the northeast side of Fargo, North Dakota which is named Trollwood.[7]

Residents of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, known as Yoopers, refer to their lower-peninsula counterparts as "trolls," because they live "Under the Bridge" (Referring to the Mackinac Bridge.)[8][9]

Northern Central California (Sacramento, Stockton, Lodi, Modesto, Yuba City and Marysville) Hispanic residents tell their children tales of the "Colupe" (KOH-LOO-PEH), the little man that lives in the walls who comes out at night stealing away the breath of its sleeping victims. This story was made famous in Stephen King's movie "Cat's Eye".



ME!


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i am Sirius · Accepted Answer

You are, indeed, an artful researcher and mischief-maker (an unspoken definition of a troll????...just pulling your lego).  By definition, then, i, too, am a troll, for i live "below the bridge" in Michigan.  Those, Yoopers...doggone 'em anyway...scarifying the little ones with their tales of non-belongers, outlanders, otherings, unlikers, etc....just to keep the UP (Upper Peninsula) all to themselves...but who wants to live in 200 to 300 inches of Wintersnowfall per year?  i for one have had my fill of shoveling snow & it only snowed 2 days ago here. 

By the way, the official and sanctified Troll Song is:  Troll-LOL-LOL...sung by the Trollopes of Troll Toll Tenders Under the Bridge, which by the way spans 5 miles over Lake Superior ( if i 'member c'reckly), making it the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere (anchorage to anchorage).  

Now we trolls don't mind tourists visiting the UP, but we do mind them staying on the other side of the bridge...we trolls need those tolls, so please visit, but don't stay.  Those Yoopers can't be trusted anyway...after all they stripped the forests and earth with their logging and mining.  Of course, that's another subject altogether, but trolls have opinions on EVERYTHING, haven't you noticed??????

Trolls aren't such bad folk...after all, don't they entertain us with their antics?  i'm quite of the mind to hum the Troll-LOL-LOL Song as i sign myself...

Siriusly Silly

claptic · Answer

At the age of 7, I was stuffed into a costume with two other kids and crammed under an assortment of chairs and desks (a bridge) and made to play the troll in "Three Billy Goats Gruff" complete with our song and final demise (I'm a troll foldyroll and I'll eat you for supper). I think the three headed troll was my animated teachers idea.
"Plot:
The story introduces three male goats named Gruff of varying size and age, sometimes identified in the story as youngster, father and grandfather, but more often they are described as brothers. There is no grass left for them to eat nearest to where they live, so they must cross a river to get to a "sæter" (a summer farm in the hills), but the only way across is over a bridge that is guarded by a fearsome troll who eats any who pass that way. The youngest goat, knowing nothing of this, crosses the bridge and is threatened by the troll but is spared when he tells the troll that his brothers are larger and more gratifying as a feast. The middle goat sees that the youngest one has crossed and reaches the conclusion that the bridge must be safe after all, but when he crosses and the troll challenges him, he too tells him of his eldest brother. When the eldest and largest of them attempts to cross, the troll comes out to seize him but is gored by his horns and knocked into the river. From then on the bridge is safe, and all three goats are able to go to the rich fields around the summer farm in the hills.

[edit] Overview
The tale is, essentially, a tale of mind over matter and good against evil. The first two goats save their own lives by using their wits. It could also be said they act somewhat rashly and carelessly in the first place by crossing paths with a troll and then afterward by putting their eldest brother at risk by telling the troll to wait for him instead. Ultimately, the eldest goat, who is older, stronger and more intelligent than both the younger goats and the troll, emerges as the story's hero.

Another perspective is that the protagonist is the troll and that the moral is to accept a good deal, rather than to wait for a better one."   Wikipedia
I have to believe these stories are just a different side to the same coin, the demonization of a universal principle of life that consists of centrifugal, away from the center we are lead, and centripetel, back to our origins, forces known to some as Lucifer or the Astral Light.   What would the world do without a personal devil.... perhaps fire the pope.    thanx

Anonymous · Answer

I confess to knowing little about traditional trolls, apart from the fact that they tended to live under bridges and enjoyed goat's meat.

Terry Pratchett, my favourite author, has invented a whole mythology of Trolls. His are basically walking rocks with room temperature IQs. They inhabit the same world as humans, dwarves, witches and the whole Dscworld crew but only city trolls take much interest in other species.
Some trolls, by keeping their brains as cool as possible, are able to take a limited part in 'normal' society and have a rudimentary sense of morality. As in Sergeant Detritus of the Watch who refused to cary out a direct but wrong order, saying, "I may be fick but I ain't stoopid." (I sometimes know how he feels.)

My favourite Scandinavian person is the Danish comedienne and wit, Sandi Toksvig. She is very short and squarish and I love her to bits, but she does have a tendency to look out at you from under her eyebrows in a manner which is really quite disturbing. I suspect that the troll which crossed Sandi would be one very sorry troll indeed.

And that, I fear is the limit of my knowledge on trolls, stout fellows underneath it all no doubt.

? · Answer

Clever!!..It appears that  the Scandinavian and the Christian version of troll were both conceived by men in their futile attempt to subdue and humiliate women...The sentence "You can spot a female troll by the way she is elegantly dressed" is just restated in the Bible...In fact, the God Thor was replaced by the Christians with their version of God...Maybe that accounts for the Old Testaments version of God with all his wraith..
I like the sentence "you can sense a troll by the smell of cattle"..SO true, I have often smelled "bull droppings" and I have known that a male troll was near...:)

Alone Guy · Answer

"""""""To ward off the trolls you could always trust in Christianity: Church bells, a cross or even words like "Jesus" or "Christ" would work against them."""""""


I loved this line..

Dead man is lying on the bottom of the graves
wondering when saviour comes, is he gonna be saved.

............~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.................

Edit :
STD is not Sexually transmitted diseases

It can be 
S - Standard
T - Trolling
D - Diseases

Why don't u use this new expanded form of STD ?

This could be a trolling disease That fits a troll and communicates throughout the life and is neverending.
...And and its a VD - violent disease which is horrible in its effects on the patient.

Pastor Art (((SFECU))) · Answer

You already know this is "folklore".

When the Gospel reached Scandinavia and people learned to read and the printing press had been invented, people learned the truth and their belief in "trolls" was pushed further away from reality just like a similar belief in Leprechauns was pushed further away from reality when the folks in Ireland were led to the Truth in Jesus.

Mature Christians know the difference between facts, meaning the Bible, and fantasy, meaning folklore.

Karen · Answer

Interesting.  When I was eight, this would have had me wandering out into the woods to try to find them.  Hmmm.... Can a ??-year-old still use it as an excuse to take a week off and go hiking?

Just Be · Answer

I found this to be interesting new info on a new breed of trolls.
Many Blessings!
http://www.flayme.com/troll/#What

EDIT:
Susanna's comment about the "smell of cattle" to know when trolls  were about  & bull droppings indicating the gender of trolls made me wonder about 2 Q's about modern day trolls. Are there any reports that trolls ever carried & spread disease & I didn't didn't realize gender was important when it came to trolls!
Many Blessings!

KitKat · Answer

This makes my day. I am a Troll aspiring to Snowy Yooperdom. Yes, I am.

Becki D · Answer

I thought Music could tame the savage beast, but bells and trolls... that's a new one for me!

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What are the Scandinavian folklore Stories of Christians warding off trolls?

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