The Genre of Trolls - Doria

All possessors of second sight are not as traumatized by it, however. The
midwife in one of Mårten Thors’ other records from the parish of Vörå
does not appear to mind her ability at all; the problem is rather that it is
unjustly obtained, and hence not meant to last. The story represents an inversion
of both the Pauline scheme (text 12) and that of Mark chapter 8
(text 11):
16) he va in kvinnu, såm vart taji åv i trull å fört ti trullstugun. trullis tsjärngdjin sku jyst
få bån å tärfö va trulli et hundi kvinnun. trullis tsjärngdjin föd bån å kvinnun löuva e så
gav trulli inar in smörju, såm un sku smit pu bånis ögun, men un sku int få smit pu sin
ögun. men kvinnun kunna int hald se, utan smita pu sin ögur å. tå un ha laga allt i åning
i tullstugun [sic], fikk un mytsji pengar å trulli fört bårt inar sölv, men int visst un,
hur un kåm se heim. nain tid bakett så un rådi i in handilsbåud. hun helsa på e. så
fråga rådi: “hur si tu me?” – “ja småurt öguna me hundi smörjun, såm du gav me”, sa
kvinnun. rådi vart arg å stakk öguna kvinnun ur huvu. å blind vart un. (SLS 28, 12: 79–80)
16) There was a woman who was taken by a troll and brought to the cottage of the troll.
The troll’s wife was just about to give birth and that’s why the troll fetched that woman.
The troll’s wife gave birth and the woman bathed it [sic]. Then the troll gave her an
ointment that she was supposed to smear on the child’s eyes, but she was not allowed to
smear it on her own eyes. But the woman could not contain herself, and smeared onto
her own eyes as well. When she had put everything in order in the troll house, she received
a lot of money and the troll itself escorted her home, but she had no idea how
she got home. Some time afterwards she saw the rå in a shop. 24 She greeted it. Then
the rå asked: “How can you see me?” —“I smeared my eyes with that ointment you gave
me”, the woman said. The rå was angered and poked the woman’s eyes out of her head. And
blind she became.
The point of departure is the everyday world, which is converted into a
variety of otherness, second sight, through the application of the ointment.
This gift is then in turn withdrawn in the blinding; the narrative reverses
the sequence of the Gospel text (text 11). Notwithstanding, it is important
to remember that while the woman benefits by her supernatural vision, she
retains her normal sight, negating the story of Saul (text 12) and agreeing
with that of the inveterate drunkard (text 14). In this case, the original state
cannot be regained—the woman is trapped between different versions of
otherness, first a supranormal otherness, then a socially defined alienness.
Both the supernatural and the normal human world are beyond her reach.
Schematically, the chain of events may be represented as follows:
24 I.e., the troll; the designation varies in this narrative.
Blindness and Illumination 163