The Genre of Trolls - Doria

a restoration of inherited privileges. It is important to remember that
clothes were of great significance as a marker of social status, as they were
one of the few things immediately distinguishing members of the upper
and the lower classes in a local community. There is also an element of
alienness and indeterminacy in these girls, resting on the fact that they
remain unrecognized by their social peers or superiors.
In a tale narrated by the shoemaker Svendlin living in the village of
Lotlax in Vörå, these ingredients receive an expressive articulation. The
princess is being mistreated by her stepmother, the queen, but in her moment
of distress, she is aided by an old man:
2) Var sondasmorun to dem fåor ti tsjyrtsjun, so la dem in kappa gryn och in vakka
(fyra kappar) sand i la me som un sku lag rejnt o kåok, tert dem sku kom från tsjyrtsjun.
Sidan so hend e se in sondas morun to ti áder ha fari ti tsjyrtsjun, he in gubb kom in til
in, tär un sat o grét i stugun o fréga va un gråter åt. Hun birätta to fyr an va un sku mott
jer o int vist hur e sku vál jåort. Gubbin gáv in to in tsjepp, o sá he un sku gá på gålin o
slå i stejnin so sku un få önsk se grann kléder o e par gullskåor, so sku un få gá ti tsjyrtsjun,
men kom tedan, förr än prästin leser “Herren velsine oss”. Hun jåol som gubbin bád in: tåo
tsjeppin an gáv in, o jig o klappa i stejnin på gålin, o fig se grann klénin o gull skåor. Sidan
so jig un i tsjyrtsjun o sestis i bentsjin framfyr drottninjin. All fyrundra se yvi hennar, fy
in so grann kvinnu ha dem aldri sítt i tsjyrtsjun, o injin tsjend in. Förr än prästin las
“Herren velsine oss”, so jíg un iut. To un kom hejm, so klédd un óv se tem di klénin, o
gull skåor, o tåo gambel klénin sín tibák o på se. (R II 188)
2) Every Sunday morning when they went to church, they put one peck of grain with
one bushel (four pecks) of sand added to it that she was to cleanse and cook until they
returned from church. One Sunday morning it so happened, when the others had gone
to church, that a man came to her, where she sat crying in the cottage and asked what
she was crying for. Then she told him what she had to do and she didn’t know how it
was to be done. The man gave her a staff, and said she had to go out onto the yard and
rap on the stone, and she would be allowed to wish for splendid clothes and a pair of golden
shoes, and she would be allowed to go to church, but [she had to] return from it, before the
parson pronounces “Lord bless us”. She did as the man asked: took the staff he gave her,
and went rapping on the stone in the yard, and got splendid clothes and golden shoes. Then
she went to church and sat down in the pew in front of the queen. Everyone marvelled at
her, for such a fine lady they had never seen in church, and no-one knew her. Before the
parson pronounced “Lord bless us” she left. When she came home, she removed those
clothes, and [the] golden shoes, and took her old clothes back and dressed in them.
The helper ensures that the princess acquires the raiment appropriate
to her station and withheld by her wicked stepmother; the outer splendour
is also a confirmation of her inner virtue. Nevertheless, the exaltation
is subject to a condition: she is not to stay in church while the parson
Blindness and Illumination 145