The Genre of Trolls - Doria

tion in relation to the supernatural: they give the troll free reins to unfold
its personality, in this instance a rather kindly one. By constantly stressing
the potential unexpectedness of the male troll’s actions, the performers embrace
the ideal of unfinalizability prevalent in the genre of narratives of the
supernatural.
The next story to be discussed differs from the ones hitherto examined
in its exclusive focus on the arbitrary and inexplicable nature of the actions
of supranormal beings. Part of the effect is probably due to the narration,
which is not entirely skilful, but most of it springs from the events described
in the text.
3) flikkun, såm vart taiji åv trulli
he var in flikku, såm vart tröytt å såmna. så kåm in vit bjön åsta lig la me inar. bjönin
va i trul. dem tsjört bårt an, men an kåm tibak, tåu flikkun å kasta un åp på i bjärg. tär
byra un ga. hun kåm til in flikku, såm spann pu in gullråk. så fråga un, vart öster å
vester va. hun visa, men visa åurett så flikkun kåm til in jänbyggning tär jik un in å åsta
fråg. så kåm in kar ut åsta vis inar, men i stelli fö ti vis, så byra an dans me inar pu bråutrappun
å dansa ihäl un. (SLS 37, 8:29)
3) The Girl Who Was Taken by the Troll
There was a girl who became tired and fell asleep. Then a white bear came to lie beside
her. The bear was a troll. They chased it away, but it returned, took the girl and threw
her up on a hill. There she started to walk. She came to a girl who was spinning on a
golden spinning wheel. She asked in what direction east and west was. She showed
[her], but showed improperly, and the girl arrived at a building of iron. There she also
went in to ask. A man emerged to show her, but instead of showing [her] he began
dancing with her on the stairs and [he] danced her to death.
The narrative begins with the attribution of a definite physical form, that
of a white bear, to the troll. It is doubtful whether the narrator actually had
a polar bear in mind; the white colour may signal the supernatural identity
of the bear, as the colours white and black often function as markers of a
metaphysical character. They denote the abnormal and the sacred, the unusual
and the unnatural, as Jochum Stattin, referring to the theories of
Edmund Leach, has observed (Stattin 1992: 98–99; Siikala 2002: 234). Yet
in spite of the concrete shape of the troll, unfinalizability is enhanced rather
than diminished because of the symbolic implications of the material form.
The spatial frame of the troll is thus finalized, but the temporal one, its
soul, is not. Once again, the position of outsideness is to no great avail for
the human characters; it enables them to perceive the body of the troll, but
The Terrors of Unfinalizability 267