The Genre of Trolls - Doria

this narrative: the first form is predicated on irony and its effects on the
interpretation of the text. As a specimen of figurative language, it is a key
to performance (Bauman 1984: 17–18), and plays a role in the entextualization
of the narrative. The second relies on the narrator’s metatextual
comment on the real identity of the mouse, functioning as a textual element
referring to the text itself (Hanks 1989: 107). Bauman and Briggs note
that the metalingual function is fundamental for entextualization (Bauman
& Briggs 1990: 73), and the example of Alén’s text confirms it. His
comment furnishes the final denouement of the story, which is rapidly
drawing to a close. The text is being disengaged from the flow of speech at
the other end, so to speak.
As I mentioned before, this variant of the tale goes against the grain of
tradition, as it conflicts with the general construction of overtly marital relations
between man and troll. If we juxtapose Alén’s narrative with a variant
recorded from Berndt Strömberg, we can see how Alén has decontextualized
and recontextualized the tale. Berndt Strömberg’s story represents a
more traditional telling of the tale, and in the absence of information on
previous contextualizations of the narrative as encountered by Alén, it will
have to serve as a point of reference. The most obvious object of recontextualization
is the role of the troll in the story: in Strömberg’s tale, the
troll caused the heroine’s metamorphosis into a mouse (SLS 202 Sagor II,
15: 462). Alén has decontextualized this aspect and transformed the opponent
into the heroine. This recontextualization is at odds with the conventional
assignment of structural slots: a troll cannot really occupy the slot of
heroine, especially not when marriage is involved, and get away with it.
Amorous relationships between men and supernatural beings are numerous
in oral tradition to be sure, but they tend to develop into tales of parting
and abandonment (e.g. SLS 215, 248–250: 80), or poverty and misery (e.g.
Bygdeminnen 1909: 38), in legends in particular. Extant wondertales do not
incorporate this theme to my knowledge. Male trolls may abduct girls in
order to marry them, but they do not get to keep their intended wives (e.g.
SLS 37, 6; SLS 202 Sagor I, 8).
The last intertextual gap is also connected to an intertext, as the comment
is a refutation of the proverb “Han som tar trull fö gull, får gråt sina
nävar full” (‘The one taking trolls for gold will cry his hands full’) (SLS 37).
The prince does not woo the mouse/troll out of greed, the wealth he acquires
by his marriage is a happy coincidence, but still his choice of bride
Genre 225