The Genre of Trolls - Doria

The everyday world – application of the ointment – second sight – revenge – blindness
Persons otherwise not endowed with supernatural abilities may catch isolated
glimpses of the beyond by performing a ritual. I will give an example
related to witchspotting on Easter Eve:
164
17) För att få se trollkäringar om påsknatten, så skall man sätta sig på ett hus, som blifvit
tre gånger flyttadt, samt tillika hålla sig tyst, om man ser hvad som helst. Skrattar man
åter så faller man ned till jorden, om stället der man sitter än är huru så högt.
Ejngang so samblast ungdåomin på in kvänvíppu (bommen) fy’ ti’ lyss på trulltsjernguna.
To dem ha’ siti’ in stond, so kom in gubb rídand’ på in suggu oppneder (fötterna
voro opp) o há’ in smörgås i handin. Som ’an rejd jínt fyr ’un di kvänvippun, so slåo’ ’an
smörgåsin suggun i endan. To tem som sat på vippun så he, so kunna’ dem int’ hald’ se’,
annan byra’ gap skratt; men me’ ti sama föll dem neder allihåop, o to va’ alt fy’svonni’. (R II
178)
17) To get to see witches on Easter Eve you should seat yourself on a house that has been
moved three times, and you should keep quiet, even if you get to see just about anything.
On the other hand, if you laugh, you fall down to earth, regardless of whether the spot
you sit on is high [above the ground].
Once the youth gathered on a mill beam to listen to witches. When they had sat for
a while an old man came riding upside-down on a sow (his feet were upward), and he
had a sandwich in his hand. As he rode just past the beam, he hit the sow on the butt
with the sandwich. When those sitting on the beam saw it, they couldn’t contain themselves,
but started laughing; but immediately they all fell down, and then everything disappeared.
The place of the achievement of illumination is carefully designated, the
thrice-moved house, as is the time, Easter Eve. The notion of favourable
circumstances is articulated in the injunction of absolute silence. Thus,
time, space and human behaviour meld into a ritual perfection temporarily
enabling clairvoyance. But as soon as the silence is broken, the ritual moment
is deconstructed, “and then everything disappeared”. Illumination is
palpably volatile, wholly dependent on the proper fusion of factors both
external and internal to the individual, and the maintenance of the balance
between them.
Neither the object of curiosity nor the experience itself evoke particularly
paradisical associations, in agreement with the story of the midwife. This is
a different sort of topsy-turvy world, in which trolls ride their sleigh up the
hill in the heat of summer (SLS 324: 296), bathe when the sun shines while
it is raining (SLS 56: 153), and men ride upside-down on sows. Another
Intertextuality as Ideological Critique