The Genre of Trolls - Doria

y Bolstad Skjelbred, and she regards stories of changelings as a tool for
categorizing human versus non-human characteristics (Skjelbred 1998: 74),
in the same vein as Bo Lönnqvist (Lönnqvist 1996).
The apotropaic measures touched upon in my material are concerned
with preventing the exchange of human and supranormal children. For example,
a candle should always be burning in the room in which the infant
resides, and it should never be left alone or unwatched by a wakeful eye.
To diminish the power of the troll, steel ought to be placed in the cradle
(Thurman 1891: 111). A gold ring could also be put in the cradle at the child’s
feet (SLS 226: 462), or a hymnal might be laid in its cradle and above its
head. In addition, the baby should be carefully watched (SLS 220: 67–69;
cf. SLS 192a: 141). Furthermore, some pieces of coal ought to be placed in
the water used to bathe a newborn child, as it protects against trolls and
other evil creatures. It is also advisable to spit in the first shirt in which the
child is to be dressed, and to lay a hymnal and a pair of scissors under the
pillow in the cradle (SLS 320: 80). The first bath of the child and the handling
of the bath water were surrounded by many taboos. The text does not
say whether the custom of spitting into the child’s first shirt applied to both
sexes; in some areas, a boy was first dressed in girls’ clothes and a girl in
boys’ garments to make them interested in the other sex as adults Finlands
1952: 66–67).
3.4.6 The Fateful Encounter
Some texts depict a particular form of confrontation, which merits our attention
as it brings the common framework of encounter into sharp relief
by focusing on its collapse. I will quote and analyze two of these narratives,
both of which were recorded in the parish of Vörå:
132
Storberget beläget i skogen mellan Karfsor och Kimo byar är beryktadt för bergtroll,
“rådan”, som tid efter annan skall hafva visat sig derstädes och skrämt folk, hvilka kommit
att färdas förbi detsamma. Så berättas om en man som för något 50 år sedan träffade
på en vacker stuga “rådstugu” i närheten af nämnda berg, då han skulle gå genom
skogen från Karfsor till Kimo följande: “Ejngang to in kár från Karfsor fy 50 år sidan
sku gá jinast från Karfsor ti Kimo jinom skåojin o kom til Ståorbjerji, so så an in ‘råstugu’,
som va römåla me vit fönsterkarmar o fåoderbre. Alt så iut som e sku a vari in
stior herrgål. Kárin jig in, o alt va snygt o tär va ba silver o kopar. Injin mensk så an
iutom in pigu, som ståo me spísin o kåoka o rörd i grytun. Hun tala int e åol til an, annan
ståo o knöjt navan åt an so an tärijinom sku fysta ti ga iut. Me dörin ståo in koparsóv
me skåopun i täri drakk an förr än an ji bort. To an jig iut o vendis okring, so tåo
Description of the Troll Tradition