The Genre of Trolls - Doria

distance he met another student, who asked: “How much is the goat, father?” The student
hardly had the time to ask “How much is the goat” before the old man started
thinking; maybe it is a goat, when all three of them have asked: “How much is the
goat” and he named his price, and sold the cow as a goat.
These students live up to their reputation, cheating the old man of his cow,
but he takes a magnificent revenge, duping them in their turn. This conforms
to another narrative stereotype concerning academics: they are gullible,
especially when the ruse involves the prospect of free drinks and the
learning of foreign languages. The story cited above continues with the
following episode:
12) To ’an kom ti’ stán, so merkt ’an at ’an ’va’ narra’, “men nó ska’ ja’ dra’ dem om nesan
tibak” tykt gubbin. Han jég sedan in på trí króstell’ o bistelt likörer o bitála alt fédit.
To ’an ’a’ jórt he, so jég ’an o lejta upp tejdi studentren o böjd dem o drikk’ me’ se líti.
Ti jég me’ ’an föst på e stell: To di ha’ drotsji, snurra’ gubbin om hatten sen o fråga’:
“ä’ de’ int’ alt bitált?” “Jó” svara védin. Sedan jég di på e anna stell’ o to di tér ha’ drutsji
’va’ gubbin böjd dem, fråga’ han, i he ’an snurra’ om hatten sen: “ä’ int’ alt’ bitált?”
“Jó” svara’ di ’an o studentren förundra’ se’. Tedan jég gubbin me dem til’ e tridi’ stell’ o
böjd dem drikk’ me’ se’. Ti jég. To alt va’ drutsji’ ’va’ gubbin böjd dem, so snurra’ han
ókring hattin o fråga: “ä’ int’ alt bitált?” “Jó” svara’ védin, o studentren förundra’ se’ ’va’
he sku’ va’ för sla’, to int’ gubbin bihöva’ bitál ná, anna to an bara snurra’ omkring hattin
sen o fråga: “ä’ int’ alt bitált?” so svarar védin jó”, fast ’an int’ får na pengar. Ti vila
to tsjöp’ óv gubbin hattin hans, men han svara: “ja’ vil’ int’ säli’ ’an, han je’ brá’ ti há; för
ja’ får drikk’ va’ ja’ vil’, bara ja’ snurrar ókring hattin, o frågar: “ä’ int’ alt bitált, så svarar
di jó”. To studentren hört’ he, so vila di ännu mejr tsjöp’ han di hattin óv gubbin. Ti
slút so sold’ gubbin hattin sen åt dem, to ’an fi’ brá bitált för ’an. Nög skildes di åt. (R
II 64)
12) When he came to town, he noticed he had been cheated, “but surely I’ll fool them
in their turn”, the old man thought. He entered three bars and ordered liqueurs and
paid for everything in advance. When he had done this, he went looking for those students
and invited them to drink with him a little. They followed him first to one place:
when they had drunk, the old man spun his hat [on his head] and asked: “Isn’t it all
paid for?” “Yes”, the proprietor answered. Then they went to another place, and when
they had drunk what the old man offered them there, he asked, as he spun his hat, “Isn’t
it all paid for?” “Yes”, they answered him and the students were astounded. From there
the old man went with them to a third place and invited them to drink with him. They
went. When everything that the old man offered them had been drunk, he spun his hat
and asked: “Isn’t it all paid for?” “Yes”, the proprietor answered, and the students wondered
what it was when the old man didn’t have to pay anything, but when he just spun
his hat and asked: “Isn’t it all paid for?” the proprietor answers [“]yes”, even if he doesn’t
get any money. Therefore they wanted to buy the hat from the old man, but he replied:
“I don’t want to sell it, it’s good to have; ’cause I can drink what I want, if I just
The Sins of an Exorcist 193