How do you recognize a troll?
If you go into the deep dark forest one night, preferably during late October or early November, and suddenly get the feeling that you are followed by something which just wants to follow you for a while, then it's probably not a a bear or a wolf or another human, but a troll, because trolls are always on the lookout for friends in the most impossible places. Although they've had bad experiences with some members of the human race (city planners etc.), trolls actually like people, they just don't know how to make friends with us because we're so easily scared by anything which is different and outside our control. The sad thing is that trolls, despite their frightening appearance, actually are very gentle creatures who like to watch the midnight sun from a mountain peak or listen to the rain while resting in a cave after a long day's walk.
Trolls' physical characteristics are rather difficult to describe, as there have been so few contacts between trolls and humans since people stopped believing in folk tales and began to trust only their reason. The few modern eye witnesses were therefore either locals who look at trolls as they would a rare kind of bear or moose and see no real reason for reporting this to anyone (and especially not to the media), or children and artists who noone believes anyway.
One of the few conclusions that can be drawn from the rare observations is that trolls are big - with big noses, big ears, big hands and feet, but that they are not clumsy in any way - they might have small and sleepy eyes, but they know their way through the forest . According to some legends trolls are equipped with a long bushy tail, but the evidence is very weak on this point and it seems likely that this belief has to do with Christian imagery of the devil, as a tail would not be very useful for a troll moving through dense shrubbery. They wear clothes made from hides (mostly moose) and have a preference for shiny things like golden ear rings.
Trolls love early November mornings when the sun shines from a clear blue sky, the ground is covered with frost and the air is full of expectation of snow. But they also love late summer evenings when they meet up with trolls from other tribes to sing and dance on the shores of some small forgotten lake in the forest. Of course trolls can also be sad, but to them happiness and sorrow depend on each other. If their life companion dies or has a terrible accident, they will be very sad and cry, but they accept life as it is and because of their unselfishness never ask for an answer to their personal grief.
Certain trolls, especially the small forest troll(which is very rare), can be quite aggressive to humans, but this is more out of fear than evil. There is no evidence for the old myth that trolls eat people. Trolls have, however, been known in olden days to swap human babies for their own newborn, but it seems that this was because of trolls' love of all beautiful things. And although some trolls like to tease their human neighbours, they have also in some places been known to help in times of need, leaving freshly baked bread and beautifully woven clothes for the poor peasant and his family.
Words and Pictures by John Botofte, 1998, 1999
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