Troll The Original Book Of Norwegian Trolls

Travel Guide

Norway

A troll is a creature popular  in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. According to old Norse traditions, trolls are beings who often dwell in isolated rocks, mountains, or caves, but they also live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings.

Depending on which book you read, which story you believe and which illustrator draws them. Trolls are often ugly with big noses and faces like giants with big black eyes. They sometimes look like exaggerated human beings with big features, long noses and coloured or very shaggy hair.

Trolls are sometimes associated with particular landmarks  – trees, mounds etc which are often thought to have been formed when a troll was exposed to sunlight.

In Old Norse, the words  troll and tröll  mean “fiend, demon” and similar.

The verb trylla  means ‘to enchant, to turn into a troll’