The Genre of Trolls - Doria

sacred text, which belongs to the celestial sphere, that causes the transgression
of the boundary between the human world and the otherworld, as
it is read by the parson, i.e., embodied by him in his reading of it. In the
same manner, it effects the dissociation of the human and the supranormal
realm, and the parson is the physical instrument of this disengagement.
Clergymen may also assist in consummating a separation initiated by another
man lacking the ability to finish it. An abducted man slipping under
the parson’s coat is thus freed from the trolls (SLS 280: 136), and in contrast
to the women in a similar plight, he actively works toward his own deliverance.
He sneaks under the coat of his own accord, while the women seem
to be rescued more or less by accident. Somehow, they do not appear to be
particularly anxious to get away. However, it should be noted that the man
has something to spur him on, a wife he loves in the human world; the women
have no sweetheart waiting for them at home.
In a variant of the legend of the stolen drinking vessel, a dragoon begins
the dissociation, since he is physically leaving the otherworld, but being
pursued by a host of trolls, he fails to complete it. The trolls lose their
power only after the intervention of a priest, and the two spheres are disentangled
(SLS 166e, 2). Humans need the aid of the divine sphere, momentarily
joined to the human world through the benediction, in order to withstand
the onslaught of the trolls.
3.4.2 Women, Children and Animals Dissociate
The separation of the worlds is often effected for the benefit of a woman,
but she rarely performs it herself. Nevertheless, there are some examples of
female initiatives to disconnection. One girl departs from the world of the
troll without the help of a male hero, but the breach is incomplete as the
troll still moves freely between the spheres, inspiring great fear in the girl
and her mother. The dissociation is completed by the sun, which causes
the troll to explode, and the women can finally feel safe. The girl’s encounter
with the troll was unintentional, and it occurred while she was
looking for the family’s lost animals (SLS 202 Sagor I, 8).
Another girl executes a separation by saving her brothers from an enchantment.
Her patience and courage are all the resources she has, but they are
sufficient to ensure her success (SLS 202 Sagor II, 66). The initial contact
was induced by her mother, who attracted the attention of the troll by voicing
her resolve to abandon her boys in favour of giving birth to a daughter.
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Description of the Troll Tradition