The Genre of Trolls - Doria

was married to the eldest and after the king’s death [he] ruled in his city and [in
his] stead, and ruled for seven hundred years after his death signals its end. As
for the distinguished position of Little Matt, it is, interilluminated by other
variants of this taletype recorded in the Swedish-speaking areas of Finland,
a departure from the common construction of the tale. For example, a narrative
collected from Henrik Lilljans in the village of Dagsmark exhibits a
more conventional approach to the story. Lilljans stresses the super-human
strength of the demi-troll and the sheer impossibility of providing it with
the amount of food it craves. Not even the substantial resources of the king
suffice, and the troll is continually manipulated into situations to finish it
off, a point the narrator is quite explicit on:
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3) To konunjin it op na vís fí líve ov an laga’ han an út op fälte o lág mátin åt an i shú
oxhúdar, o skikka in hél krigshér mót an. Når an kom op fälte, so säst an nér o jét o to
dom sköt o kúlor störta i an o nager flög i smöraskin, ság an: “kva’ je he för blåbär, som
stuntar okring me’ sher?” So snart an ha jeti, to’ an mátsätsjin o sló okring se’ o slo’ ihél
kvarénda man. To alt hitsje va’ jót, fór an hejm. Som an kom hejm froga’ konunjin
léver et än? Jó nó léver ja’, men ja’ ha haft ihél all áder. Sedan börja an bygg’ en tsjörk,
to un vór färdi, so lemna’ an bare e hål, ter an kona slipp’ in; men to an va’ i tsjörtsjun o
spasera’ ter, let konunjin krighérin sloss op un o sonder un. Sedan kasta dom stejnan in
o to hinda’ an it försvára’ se o kast út stejnan tibák, utan ter vór an död. (R II 295)
3) When the king in no way managed to kill him, he ordered him out in the field and
put food for him in seven oxhides, and sent a whole army against him. As he came onto
the field he sat down to eat, and when they fired and bullets hit him and some flew into
the butterbox, he said: “What blueberries are these flitting around me here?” As soon
as he had eaten he took the lunch pack and hit out right and left, and killed every man.
When all this had been done, he went home. As he came home, the king asked[: “]Are
you still alive?[” “]Oh yes, I’m alive, but I’ve killed all the others.[”] Then he started
building a church, [and] when it was finished, he left only a hole through which he
could get in; but when he was in the church and strolled around there, the king let the
army break it open and down. Then they threw in stones, and he didn’t have the chance
to defend himself and throw the stones out again, but was killed there.
The reward for being a halfling and a monster is death, at least in this text.
Isak Rön[n]holm in the village of Helsingby in the parish of Korsholm
opted for a less lethal ending; he allowed his son of a smith and a hill rå to
return to the otherworld in the arms of his mother (R II 62: 21). In recontextualizing
the tale, Alén allows Little Matt to retain the unnatural strength
and gargantuan appetite of his counterparts, but whereas the latter are sent
to war in order to be conveniently disposed of, Little Matt’s martial experi-
Genre, Parody, Chronotopes and Novelization: the Wonder Tales of Johan Alén