Troll !

The troll is ancient. A fearsome 3-headed troll is mentioned in one of the earliest poetic texts, the Edda, from about 1220. And Norse mythology is full of jötnar: supernatural troll-like beings. There are several thousand place names in Norway that start with the word Troll, most because of some ancient legend or folk tale that may now be lost. Over 300 valleys are called Trolldal. Rockfalls and groups of huge boulders that no human could have moved – people suspected these inexplicable formations in the mountains to be the work of superhuman arms. Even today, whenever we tremble on a dark path, when something stirs in the gloom of the forest, whenever our insecurity sets our primal instincts at odds with our over-hyped ration – the troll will be just behind us, just out of sight.


EPISODE PHOTO
The Forest Troll, by Theodor Kittelsen (1906)
Public domain

CONTACT
Twitter: @northbynorway
Email: northbynorway@gmail.com

LINKS & SOURCES
Odd Hølaas: Troll i Norge som Th. Kittelsen så dem
Norsk kunstproduksjon, 1962

Birger Sivertsen: For noen troll: vesener og uvesener i folketroen
Andresen & Butenschøn, 2000

Henrik Ibsen: Peer Gynt, translated by John Northam
ibsen.net, 2007
https://www.hf.uio.no/is/tjenester/virtuelle-ibsensenteret/ibsen-arkivet/tekstarkiv/oversettelser/114049.pdf

Hulder story
Hermundstad, Knut (1961). Kvorvne tider : Gamal Valdres-kultur VII. Norsk folkeminnelags skrifter ; 86. Universitetsforlaget. p. 212-213.

Story about song I Ola-Dalom
Valdres Bygdebok VII: Valdrestonar ved Øystein Gaukstad
Valdres Bygdeboks forlag, Valdres, 1973

MUSIC
00:00 North by Norway
written on GarageBand by Andrew J. Boyle, using the Norwegian folksong ‘I Ola-dalom, i Ola-tjønn’

00:50 I Dovregubbens hall (In the Hall of the Mountain king)
Edvard Grieg

03:10 Sarpefossen
Andrew J. Boyle, using GarageBand loops

06:40 Trolltog (March of the Trolls)
Edvard Grieg

22:10 Klokkeklang
Edvard Grieg

24:10 I Ola-dalom, i Ola-tjønn
Edvard Grieg

Music performed on GarageBand by Andrew J. Boyle