The Genre of Trolls - Doria

240
rummet, stodo utmed dörren ett blankt koppar käril, om en såfs storlek fyldt med vatten,
och vid spislen voro flere qvinspersoner likasom i brådska sysselsatte med någon
Matlagning, och vid bordet har suttit någon, jämte en välklädd qvinsperson, gåssen
stannade så vid dörren nära till det nämnda vattu kärillet af förundran, i detsamma kom
en qvinna till honom, och afviste gåssen med orden: laga dig ut pojke, Bötesmor är här
och gästar. Gåssen begaf sig så genast der af, men kom så med sin knif att röra vid det
nernämnda vattu koppar (?) kärillet, men som knappast var han utkommen, förrän han
blef överskjöld med vatten, samt kastade de samma vattukärillet efter honom (?); Gåssen
kom då till det nära belägna Kukkus hemman och befanns han vara mycket förskräckt,
med berättelse om hela denna tilldragelsen. Gåssen blef deraf sedan sinnessvag
för all sin tid; och lefde likväl till någon högre ålder. (SLS 299: 34–35)
9) In the old days, by this very hill, an adolescent boy from the village of Tuckor, who
had been herding cattle and been equipped with a knife, with which he had cut loose a
stick for himself, carving this stick during the walk, and thus coming to the Great Hill,
had suddenly happened upon a manor in that place. There he entered the courtyard
and came to take note of a well with a winch which was situated there, and since the
well bucket was made of polished copper and he felt thirsty, he entered the building in
order to get something to drink. Having come into the room, a shining copper vessel
the size of a tub filled with water was standing by the door, and by the hearth several
females were, as if in haste, occupied with some sort of cooking, and someone was sitting
by the table, as was an elegant female. In awe the boy therefore stayed by the door
close to the abovementioned water vessel. Immediately a woman came to him and
turned him away with the words: get yourself out boy, the Böte matron is here visiting.
The boy left at once, but chanced to touch the abovementioned water vessel of copper
with his knife. He was scarcely out [of the door] before he was showered with water,
and they threw the selfsame water vessel after him; then the boy came with an account
of the whole event to the Kukkus homestead situated in the vicinity, and was found [to
be] very frightened. The boy was then feebleminded because of it for the rest of his days, [but]
nevertheless lived to some advanced age. 30
The boy loses his sanity because of this experience, and one question raised
by this intertext is whether the prince escapes that fate. In other word, is
he quite as sane as he appears to be? Or alternatively, is he wholly duped by
the troll/mouse, and incapable of breaking free from her spell? The potential
instrument of enchantment is indeed present in the text, in the form of
the food she cooks for him. The boy in the previous record never got any
30 Due to the awkwardness of the Swedish original I have felt compelled to disregard my
otherwise fairly literal translation practice in this case in order to provide a more enjoyable
English rendition. I have occasionally changed the punctuation, and in some instances the
grammar of the text, but I have nevertheless attempted to stay as close to the Swedish as
possible, given the circumstances.
Genre, Parody, Chronotopes and Novelization: the Wonder Tales of Johan Alén