The Genre of Trolls - Doria

lation) (SLS 56: 153), or a woman with an abnormally large head (SLS 280:
357), if it is a changeling. Another description portrays the changeling as
very deformed and decrepit, and though it resembles a human, it is incredibly
stocky, and the skin is said to have been like the back of an old frog, or
even coarser (SLS 220: 67–69). The monstrous physical traits reveal the
true nature of the changeling (Lönnqvist 1996: 152).
The power of shape-shifting is one of the most salient talents of the troll.
A troll in the parish of Pellinge, for instance, always appeared in the shape
of a white horse (SLS 374: 10), and when the parson banishes the inhabitants
of the Troll Hill in the parish of Vörå, they fly away as black ravens
(SLS 280: 635–636). A pregnant female troll is encountered in the guise of
a very fat and black frog (R II 336), and a troll prince metamorphoses into a
dog to make a human prince follow him (SLS 202 Sagor II, 1). One troll
from the Åland Islands shows itself as a he-goat with terrible horns and a
beard enveloping the entire hill where it lives (SLS 59: 48–49), and another
troll transforms itself into a bird to entice a young girl to its dwelling (SLS
202 Sagor II, 61: 869). In one text, the troll takes the shape of a white bear
in order to carry off a sleeping girl (SLS 37, 8).
Other guises favoured by the trolls are those of natural phenomena, like
clouds, skies and hurricanes (SLS 31, 146; SLS 137 II, 1; SLS 137 I, 1). They
may also be invisible (R II 70; SLS 280: 503). Another characteristic of
their kind is regeneration, exercised to the dismay of both supernatural
helpers and humans. The bull bringing the heroine through the troll’s
forest is exasperated by the propensity of the troll to breathe new life into
each head he laboriously manages to kill (Nyland 1887, 19), and a troll, who
gets its finger cut off, returns the next day to display its regenerated member
(R II 338). On the same occasion, it demonstrates its possession of
second sight, as it immediately knows the location of the basket of butter
hidden away by the mistress of the house. One troll can talk despite its
recent decapitation (SLS 137 I, 1), and a demi-troll, i.e., a character with
one human and one supernatural parent, is able to fell the whole forest
with a single cut and stack the wood on its sledge with just one throw (R II
295). Moreover, trolls may have influence over animals and objects: an old
troll woman detains a boy’s sheep near its dwelling for the duration of their
encounter (SLS 202 Sagor II, 28), and a troll prince possesses a similar gift
for controlling ships (SLS 202 Sagor II, 1). Finally, some trolls dazzle humans
with their cultural accomplishments: two troll girls impressed a boy
The Troll and Its World 95