The Genre of Trolls - Doria

negation, however, it functions in the same way as in the previous chapter:
when the trolls’ request to be allowed to move to another place and the disease
demon’s planned action are denied by the parson (text 1) and Christ
(text 8) respectively, it is a negation of precisely texts, namely the account
of the Gadarene swine (text 8) and other folk narratives dealing with the
topic, and not necessarily a negation of the value of mercy as such. Correspondingly,
the failure of Dean Hartman to convert the son of the witch
(text 14) is a negation of the story of the Good Shepherd (text 17) and the
parable of the Prodigal Son (text 26 in chapter 4.1).
Thirdly, the relation between folklore and the Biblical tradition is focused
on the social aspects of the latter’s dominance. While certain doctrines
were challenged in the preceding chapter, it is the authority of the
priest that is being contested here. That authority was both economic and
social; he imposed taxes and fees for his services, and prescribed a particular
moral code and ideology. In the eyes of the parishioners, he chiefly represented
the central administration, and was less concerned with the other
facet of his role, acting as the spokesman for the parishioners in their relations
with the authorities (Apo 1989: 204–205). Hence the religious tradition
is not the real butt of the joke in the folk narratives, except as the vehicle
for the exercise of social power; it is rather recruited as a means for
expressing critical viewpoints on social reality. Christ is not the principal
target of critique when trolls or devils imitate him in his role as exposer of
error (texts 14, 18), but the fallible clergyman who is not as virtuous as he
pretends to be. If he had been rebuked by Christ, it would not have been
such a disgrace—Christ has the moral authority to do so, after all—but to
be upbraided by a pagan, perhaps even anti-Christian supranormal being
might not be as glorious. The degradation of the parson is congruent with
the treatment of clergymen in many narratives. In her study of class relations
in Southwestern Finnish magic tales, Satu Apo notes that the priests
are consistently portrayed as debauched, greedy and hypocritical (Apo 1989:
204): the troll texts fit well into the context of anticlerical folklore. Yet all
clergymen are not dragged in the dust; the pious parson capable of performing
a banishment without incident is as high-principled as he seems to
be (text 5).
As Stanley Brandes has observed on the topic of clerical stereotypes,
control is the key word here (Brandes 1990: 191). Anticlerical folklore can
be construed as a way of exercising social control over a person exerting
Intertextuality, Interdiscursivity and Power 207