Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.01.2007, Síða 11

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. janúar 2007 • 11
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Have you ever seen a troll?
They can be found in the Icelandic sagas, in Ice-landic folktales and also
in landscape and place names
in Iceland. They are the tröll, or
trolls.
Their ancestors can be
found in the Poetic Edda, and
they are called jötnar, or gi-
ants. The Poetic Edda has many
things to say about the interac-
tions between the Norse gods
and the giants, both as friends
and foes. In ragnarök, when the
world ends, they meet to fight
against one another.
The trolls in Iceland are
creatures of the land, and some
people say that they are one of
the many guardian spirits that
dwell in Iceland and take care
of the land.
Dwelling places
Trolls live in high cliffs both
by the ocean and in mountains.
Most of the time they live in a
big cave in such cliffs or moun-
tains.
Troll food
They have been said to be
cannibals. Trolls also eat fish,
sheep and horsemeat. They
have even sometimes gone fish-
ing with their human friends.
Characteristics
and appearance
Trolls look like humans, but
they are much taller and stron-
ger than men, and most of the
time they are stupid, greedy and
malicious.
Some say trolls are also
helpful to humans and there
are few trolls that only want to
be malicious to us. But when a
troll promises you something
it sticks to its promise, and we
have this saying in Iceland:
“Mesta tryggðatröll” (“Faithful
as a troll”).
When somebody does
something to harm a troll, it
gets very angry, and seeks re-
venge. But on the other hand,
trolls thank and pay well when
somebody helps them and does
something nice for them. There
are many cases regarding trolls’
love toward humans; and trolls
have kidnapped many humans
to their caves solely to marry
them.
Trolls didn’t at all like the
acceptance of Christianity in
Iceland, and they tried very
hard to stop it from spreading
all over country. They tried to
stop the building of churches; a
few trolls even threw big rocks
at the churches when the priests
were ringing the church bells.
Nátttröll (Night trolls)
Some trolls are called “night
trolls,” who can only travel at
night and have to stay inside
during the daytime. Once the
sun touches them, they turn into
stone. That’s the reason, when
you travel around in Iceland to-
day, that you can see many trolls
that have turned into rock.
There is a different story to
each rock, for example about
troll women, troll men and the
things that they had with them
while they where travelling,
such as a cow or a boat. These
rocks become more alive when
you know the story and you can
touch the rock that once was a
living and breathing troll.
Today its very hard to find a
living troll; they are said to hide
very well from all the busy hu-
mans in Iceland. But sometimes
people think they have heard or
a seen a troll — we never know
what is out there in the dark and
the mist of the Icelandic high-
lands.

Djúpir eru Íslands álar —
Deep is the ocean
around Iceland
There is a story that tells
us about one troll woman who
was going to walk a cross the
ocean from Norway to Iceland.
But she knew that there were
a few very deep places on that
way that she would have to
wade through. A friend of the
troll woman told her not to go,
it would be too dangerous.
But the troll woman was
stubborn and said that even if
the ocean was deep on the way
to Iceland, she would be able to
cross it on foot. And there was
one place that the troll woman
knew that was so deep that her
head would get wet when she
waded across it.
Finally she started her jour-
ney to Iceland from Norway.
And when she came to the place
that she was scared of, she saw
a ship that she could hold onto
while she was crossing that
deep place. But she missed the
ship and lost her balance and
feel into that deep place. And
there the troll woman drowned;
we still don’t know where, but
it was between Norway and Ice-
land. After some time her body
drifted up in Iceland on the sea-
shore called Rauðisandur. Her
body was so big that a man who
rode a horse under her leg could
not touch her knee where she
lay dead on the seashore.
References:
Bergmál, Guðrún Bjartmars-
dóttir, 1996, 57.
Nátttröllið — The Night troll
In one farm in Iceland a long
time ago, it had happened many
years in a row that the person
who took care of the farm on
Christmas Eve while the other
people went to church was
found either crazy or dead. The
people at the farm didn’t like
that at all, and very few people
became willing to stay alone
on the farm the next Christmas
Eve.
But one girl offered to take
care of the farm that coming
Christmas night. The other peo-
ple were glad that they could
get away so they could attend
church.
The girl sat in the living
room of the farm and she sang
for a child she was taking care
off. Late at night she heard and
saw that somebody had his or
her face at the window. That
somebody and the girl started
to throw little verses back and
forth. (I put the verses here in
Icelandic, because they sound
better that way, but if somebody
out there wants to translate
these verses into English you
are more than welcome.)
The voice on the window
says:
Fögur þykir mér hönd þín
Snör mín en snarpa, og dillidó.
The girl says:
Hún hefur aldrei saur sópað
Ári minn Kári og korriró.
Then there is an answer
from the window:
Fagurt þykir mér auga þitt,
Snör mín en snarpa, og dillidó.
Then the girl says:
Aldrei hefur það illt séð
Ári minn Kári, og korriró.
Then from the window:
Fagur þykir mér fótur þin
Snör mín en snarpa, og dillidó.
Then the girl says:
Aldrei hefur hann saur troðið
Ári minn Kári, og korriró.
Then from the window:
Dagur er í austri,
Snör mín en snarpa, og dillidó.
Then the girl answers:
Stattu og vertu að steini
En engum þó að meini,
Ári minn og Kári, og korriró.
Then the creature disap-
peared from the window. But
the morning after when the peo-
ple came back from the church,
there was a big rock close by the
house, and its still there today.
The girl told the people what
she had heard and what she had
said to the troll. This had there-
fore been a night troll that she
had been talking to.
References:
Bergmál, Guðrún Bjart-
marsdóttir,1996, 57-58.
Pictures for this column are
from the book: Tröll, sögur og
teikningar úr íslenskri þjóðsa-
gnaveröld. Pictures by Haukur
Halldórsson, Bókaútgáfan Örn
og Örlygur Hf, 1982
Björk Bjarnadóttir
Hollow Water, MB
Minnist
Remember
Í ERFÐASKRÁM YÐAR
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ILLUSTRATIONS: HAUKUR HALLDÓRSSON
Trolls look like humans, but they are much taller and stronger,
and most of the time they are stupid, greedy and malicious.
“Her body was so big that a
man who rode a horse under
her leg could not touch her
knee where she lay dead on
the seashore.”