Far to the north, where winter storms crash against coastal cliffs, lies a long and narrow country. It is covered with endless dense forests where lakes shine on moonlit nights, the majesty of the gloomy mountains is breathtaking. As you sail in a small boat between the gloomy cliffs of the Norse fjords, it's not hard to understand how the legends of Valhalla and the harsh Scandinavian gods were born. On a cloudy, foggy day, it is easy to imagine boats of proud Vikings in these mysterious backwaters. Norwegians are very proud of their ancestors.
Today, snow and ice cover this country six months a year. But this has not always been the case. Once upon a time, a huge glacier lay in its place, covering the entire territory of the country for thousands of years. Gradually, with the warming of the climate, the glacier retreated to the north, followed by the People. Seeing the splendor of this country, they stayed here and called themselves "Normans" (People of the North).
However, soon, they noticed on this land numerous strange creatures that possessed supernatural powers, but at the same time were very careful and did not allow themselves to be discovered. People began to call them Trolls. Gradually, Trolls began to appear in fairy tales. Interestingly, the legends describe them in very contradictory ways.
Trolls can be small varieties of gnomes, or they can be huge as mountains (of course, they are distant relatives of the titans, who were born from rocks and fed on stones). The only thing the legends do not contradict each other is that the trolls were disgusting and ugly. There are stories about two-headed and even three-headed trolls, there are one-eyed trolls, like cyclops, many have moss and even trees on their heads. Despite their frightening appearance, there are good trolls, but they are all so naive and stupid that even the village boys could easily outwit them. All Trolls live inside the mountains, or nearby, in caves where they hide their untold treasures, they go out only at night, waiting for unlucky travelers under the bridge. They feed on meat, abducting livestock and people. Most of them happen, live up to a hundred years, but the sunlight is destructive for them, and in the morning, if the troll does not get to the shelter, he will die, turning to stone.
There are also quite creepy stories. Trolls are cold creatures, and only the warmth of human blood can warm them. But trolls do not always kill and eat their victims. They could grab and drag a woman to their cave in order to turn her into a slave, forever buried in the darkness and dampness of the underground lair. She could also become the wife of a troll. She was smeared with a disgusting ointment, her skin was rough, covered with blisters and hair, her face changed, and she became as ugly as her husband.
Trolltress from France
Veronica's collection
Our cutie Trolchikha was not expecting us in Norway, but in France. In a small town not far from Strasbourg, we came across a small shop. Everything it sold was related to Norway. There we found this bell, with not scary at all, but funny troll.
But the trolls have authority. If you ask the troll a riddle, then he will have to solve it. If he cannot figure it out, he will die, but if he can figure it out, he will ask his own answer, and so it will be until someone loses. In such a situation, you need to try to occupy the troll with riddles until dawn, because with the first rays of the sun the troll will immediately turn into stone and this will be your salvation, otherwise it will tear you apart.
Troll Wall. The highest vertical and overhanging rock wall in Europe with a height of 1000 meters. Eldorado for select climbers, both summer and winter, with the most challenging climbing routes in the world. This is where the origins of mountaineering in Scandinavia. This amazing place is located on the West Coast of Norway, in the Ramsdal region. According to legend, the trolls, who once lived in these parts, were turned into bizarrely indented sheer cliffs of strange outlines. Since then, the Troll Wall, teeming with the most difficult, untapped routes, has attracted climbers from all over the world. There is also a Troll Church.
Previously, trolls ate people, but now they do dirty tricks - they steal keys or puncture a tire. But in Norway they are used to them, and no one is offended. Moreover, everyone has their own little troll at home, which helps to cope with "evil spirits", for example, with a tax inspector. Even in our modern world, Norwegians respect trolls, because no one knows in advance where and when you will meet them.
Material prepared by Veronica
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Stories about trolls first appeared in the Scandinavian countries, and each had its own: Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, and later they appeared even in the distant Faroe Islands. And the biggest trolls come from Iceland. According to legends, these creatures have always frightened the locals with their appearance and witchcraft abilities.
They lived everywhere - in castles, underground palaces, caves, forests or under bridges. People had something to fear: some hostile trolls are dangerous enemies, strong and cruel.
They brought the villagers a lot of torment and misfortune, lured people to death or stole sleeping babies from their beds. The troll is an insidious deceiver who lives in constant darkness and attacks defenseless settlements at night.
In Norway, trolls were believed to be strikingly different from each other in both appearance and character; some are giants, others are tiny creatures; some are friendly to people, others, on the contrary, burn with real anger towards them. However, they also have common features, at least outwardly: a large hooked nose, four fingers on each hand and leg, disheveled hair and a ponytail that looks more like a cow's. Trolls can also take on the form of a dog, a black goat, or a friendly man with a tail.
In addition to hair, monsters usually have moss, grass, bushes and even trees on their heads. Yes, and sometimes there were different numbers of heads - the more of them, the older the troll. And not only older, but also more attractive, since the abundance of heads attracted female creatures, who in Norway were called gygrs. The lifespan of the trolls has remained a mystery.
They lived in dense Norwegian and Swedish forests. They also had relatives: in Iceland (they were called warblers there), as well as in the Shetland and Orkney Islands. The trolls hid their homes safely in mountain caves, inside hills, mounds of stones and even in burrows underground. Some preferred to live alone, sometimes occupying the space of an entire mountain, while others created families or united into tribes.
Some trolls formed kingdoms with clear hierarchies and verticals of power. They rebuilt huge underground complexes with palaces and a system of labyrinths, as, for example, in the Dovr Mountains, where the famous Peer Gynt, the hero of the play of the same name by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, visited.
In their caves, the mountain trolls hid countless treasures - gold and precious stones - and loved to show off their accumulated wealth to people. According to legend, on the darkest nights, they raised crystal palaces mounted on golden columns to the surface and rolled out huge chests for everyone to see, then opening them, then slamming the lids, trying to attract the attention of random travelers. Although I would hardly want to see them: bulging eyes, wide-open mouths, swollen noses sniffing in search of a human scent.
The trolls who lived under the bridges kept aloof. As a rule, these were loners who built a bridge for themselves and took a fee from anyone who wanted to cross it. They differed from other fellows by their complete indifference to the sun's rays. It was possible to destroy these creatures only by destroying their bridge, a carefully guarded "shrine". It is also believed that trolls can sometimes leave the old bridge in order to start building a new one.
From time to time they made night forays into the barns and storerooms of nearby villages, from where they carried sacks of grain and kegs of young beer. And sometimes they were unnoticed at feasts, not disdaining to steal food directly from other people's plates.
However, the innocent tricks of the southern trolls were no match for what their northern brothers from the provinces of Sogn og Fyurane, More og Rumsdal and Trende lag did. It was they who were accused of cannibalism and other sins, such as stealing cattle and replacing babies. There was a belief that only human blood, especially Christian blood, could warm these cold and insensitive monsters. And they tried to get it by any means.
However, many people who got to the trolls managed to avoid death. Some could be in captivity for only a few minutes, others for months or even years. The abducted people were called enchanted or carried away to the mountains. The same was said about those who were able to get out of the troll dungeons. True, the person who was saved could no longer return to his usual way of life. He completely lost his mind from the horror experienced in the underground lair.
For men who had their wives stolen, trolls often planted living dolls, similar to those stolen as two drops of water. However, such dolls soon began to wither and die without giving themselves away. And while the husband mourned the death of the impostor, the real wife shed tears, buried alive in the darkness and dampness of the cave. She was forced to cook a stew of moss, bones and pieces of meat; she was mercilessly beaten and scolded at the slightest provocation.
When the troll decided to take a captive as a wife, a magic ointment was rubbed into her skin, from which the face darkened, covered with wrinkles and pockmarks, the nose became like an onion, the body was covered with hair, the voice became coarse, and a tail pecked at the lower back. The character of the unhappy woman also changed: gradually she turned into a voracious, mindless troll, losing the last chance to return to the human world filled with sun and love.
In order not to fall into eternal captivity to the trolls, one should also beware of their closest relatives - huldr. Outwardly, they looked like seductive young maidens with a shock of blond hair. Their only difference from people is their tails, carefully hidden under fluffy skirts.
You could meet huldra high in the mountains or in the thicket of the forest, where she walked with the reindeer, singing songs. It was with her beautiful voice that the seductress lured young people to her, who easily succumbed to her charms.
Huldra's love spell lasted for years, and during this time the young man turned into a real slave, serving the entire magical family. When he bothered the capricious maiden, she let him go free, and the former lover could wander through the dense forest for days and nights, trying in vain to remember where he came from and what happened to him. And if Huldra herself fell in love with a man and married him in church, she lost her tail and became an ordinary woman.
Many Norwegians still believe in the existence of the huldr in the Sognefjord mountains in central Norway. It is there, on the ledges of the picturesque Schossossen waterfall, next to the Flåm railway that theatrical performances are held every summer: girls in huldr costume sing in bewitching voices, willingly or unwillingly seducing visiting tourists.
In numerous legends and tales, trolls never leave their possessions and do not like random guests very much. When the hero meets an evil creature on the forest paths, he can only rely on his ingenuity. The most famous hero of such legends is called Espen Askelad, which means Espen Zamarashka.
Once, when he went into the forest to chop wood, a terrible troll suddenly appeared out of nowhere and threatened to kill the boy if he didn't get out of his forest. But Askelad was not at a loss: he took a piece of cheese out of the bag, squeezed it with all his might and said to the troll: "If you interfere with me, then I will crush you like this stone!"
Seeing how strong the guy is, the stupid troll got scared to death and began to help him cut down the forest. When they had enough firewood, the troll invited the man over for dinner. There they cooked porridge, and Askelad invited the troll to argue which of them would eat the most. He immediately agreed, because he was sure that he had no equal in eating porridge. And the cunning Askelad put a sack on his knees and, when he himself had eaten to the full, began to throw the porridge into the sack.
And when he was full, he cut it in the middle with a knife. Meanwhile, the troll ate so much that he could not swallow a single spoon. Then the man said: “Do as I do, cut your belly! Then you can eat twice as much! " The stupid troll did just that. And then he died. And Askelad took his treasures and went home.
Trolls sometimes appear among humans in human form. When a traveler meets a troll, he may not immediately guess who he is dealing with, but, suspecting something was wrong, in no case should he shake the hand of an unfamiliar counterpart. There is a legend about this. There was a boy named Dove. One day he was sent to herd horses somewhere near Bakke in the Rivedal Valley. On the way back, he met an unknown man. He could not see it in any way, because it was early morning and not yet fully dawn.
When the stranger spoke to him, the boy asked him who he was and where he was from. He replied that he was from Bakke, and his name was Dove. The boy was very surprised and even confused when he heard such an answer. And the stranger gave him his hand to say hello. But Dove got scared and instead of a hand held out a horseshoe to him.
The stranger shook it and immediately disappeared. When the boy looked at the horseshoe, it was completely flattened. So, thanks to his resourcefulness, he was able to return home safe and sound.
In all legends, one of the important features of the trolls is noted: they all have a strength that is many times greater than the strength of ordinary mortals. But there is a right to this advantage too. Even small children know well about her: if you ask the troll a riddle, he will certainly begin to solve it.
If the troll cannot solve the riddle, he will die, and having found the answer, he will ask his own, and if this time you yourself cannot solve the riddle, then there will be big trouble. If you managed to solve the riddle, you should try to keep the troll busy with questions until dawn, because with the first rays of the sun it will turn into stone.
How else can you outsmart a malevolent creature? If it was possible to recognize a troll encountered in the field before he guessed about it, you must run away from him, and so that the tracks form a cross with plow furrows on the arable land. If the meeting took place in the gorge, you must invite the troll to follow you to the light: in the bright sun it will petrify.
But the main thing is to know how to handle it. Firstly, to keep the secret of the name, and secondly, not to accept any treat from him. Once captured by the troll, it is necessary to find out his name, using any tricks to gain power over him and thereby force the release of the captive.
Trolls cannot stand the ringing of church bells. If the church is far away, then the bell is brought closer to the place from where they want to drive them out - there they ring. Many Christian attributes, such as a pectoral cross or a psalter, are also capable of scaring them off. They protect from monsters and any objects made of steel, as well as mistletoe flowers and fires kindled at city crossroads.
It is very rare to meet a troll today. Modern researchers of paranormal phenomena believe that with the arrival of Christianity in the northern European lands, most of the magical inhabitants of forests, mountains and valleys simply disappeared or left somewhere.
“People have lost respect for the poor cave dwellers, barbarously invaded their territory, erected churches everywhere, from the ringing of the bells of which they fled wherever they looked,” says Norwegian journalist and researcher Dag Stole Hansen. He does not exclude that the trolls are still hiding somewhere in the mountains, under the rocks overgrown with moss, protecting their unthinkable riches and amazing knowledge about our world from people. However, not everyone succeeds in finding them and establishing contact.
Another researcher, John Michael Grier from the United States, agrees with the Norwegian journalist. He puts the trolls on a par with the fairies, gnomes and elves who once lived in the forests of Western Europe. Information about them has been preserved not only in fairy tales, but also in historical documents dating back to the Middle Ages. Moreover, in many texts, Grier notes, "there is an ordinary attitude to such phenomena, as if all these creatures were part of people's daily life." So why did they disappear?
According to one version, the magical creatures had their own reasons for leaving. On the other, they could only exist in the wild, so the construction of cities and the spread of agriculture forced them to leave their usual places. With the emergence of scientific thinking, another point of view emerged, according to which there never really was a magic tribe.
Early one morning, before dawn,
When the hubbub of the birds is not heard,
There was a quiet gentle voice of the troll-maiden,
Sweet to the knight who said so:
"Herr Mannelig, Herr Mannelig, be my husband,
I will give you everything you want!
What only your heart loves, you will receive at the same moment,
Just tell me - yes or no? "
(Excerpt from the song)
The tale of the unlucky knight and the maiden troll
The long winter evening in one of the unnamed taverns promised to be boring. The guests sat at the tables with a bored look: someone was picking at the already cooled stew, someone, already with a dull look, drilled a mug of bitter ale, and someone was trying to entertain himself with a game of dice, with openly roguish-looking people. Everyone was in the inn, from pilgrims to robbers, the most important of whom seemed to me to be the innkeeper himself. There were also noble gentlemen who were stuck in this hole, with everyone who set out on a journey in the month of the beginning of frost, there were also a couple of knights from the patchwork duchies, and several mercenaries. I’m already silent for ordinary commoners. Everyone who sat in the tavern was so different, but united and fastened together by those who overtook them by bad weather, whether they like it or not, no one can leave the tavern until the end of the week of storms. Because only a madman or a suicide who wished to freeze to death can go to the raging ice element.
So, this winter evening could have turned out to be completely boring if the storyteller or, as the northerners call it, Skalda, were not in the tavern. Skald sat apart, no one paid attention to him, but then he decided that it was time to tell a story, or he just wanted mulled wine, at someone else's expense. However, this is not as important as the story that he told.
- Dear guests! - Skald addressed the people in a hoarse voice. - It's time to tell you a story.
After these words, the attention of the inn was riveted on the old man, and even those who cut the bones decided to behave more quietly. In the meantime, the old man continued: - My tale will go about the unlucky knight and the maiden, the princess of the trolls. I'm sure each of you knows that if a person falls in love with a troll, and their love is mutual, then the troll maiden will turn into a beautiful girl and will be a faithful and loving wife to anyone who decides on such an act. - The old man smiled, seeing that all the attention of the inn was riveted on him.
- So once, a long time ago ...
Once, a very long time ago, there lived two twin brothers, both hereditary knights who know how to fight and have gone through more than one fierce slash. But they never worked together, because each of the brothers envied each other and fiercely hated each other. One was called Ser Manelling, the other was Ser Caldering. Ser Manneling was the best knight of the Order of the White Rose, but he was angry and cunning, it was with this that he made his way to the very top of the Order, it was thanks to his cunning that he became the Master of the Order. And Ser Caldering was a knight in the service of an unknown and seedy order, he was sincere and kind and respected the laws of honor, unlike his brother. Therefore, he fiercely hated his brother. And it so happened that, having found out about the exploits of his brother, Sera Manelling, the princess of the trolls decided to see what he was like, the great knight of the white rose. And now, seeing him, the troll maiden fell in love with the knight in white armor, so much that she could not imagine life without him. Although she did not know her chosen one at all, their meeting almost became fatal for her. In one of Sera Manneling's campaigns, the maiden decided to confess her feelings to him and ask the great knight to become her husband. But as soon as Ser Manelling saw her, he grabbed his sword. However, he decided to listen to the poor girl, which seemed unheard of nobility on his part, because he was famous for being a cruel warrior and an adherent of the faith. Even though he didn't even smell like faith. Sera Menelling was only interested in wealth, and hiding behind the name of the church, you can collect a lot of gold and jewelry.
So this is what the troll princess promised him: beautiful mares rushing along with the winds, and all the mills in the possession of her father, the mountain king of trolls, and a shirt, as if woven from pure light, and even a great sword from the forge of trolls. But the knight was adamant, he did not like the troll maiden, because she was ugly in appearance. And he decided to take away the gifts by force, which the naive maiden promised him. Drawing his sword, he rushed to her, and only the fact that the trolls could become invisible saved her from the reprisals of the haughty knight. The poor maiden wandered for a long time, rejected by her chosen one and many of her bitter tears were absorbed into the ground, but, quite by chance, she met the brother of Ser Manelling, Ser Coldring. At first she was afraid that the knight would kill her, but then she noticed that this was not Ser Manelling, that this was another person, like two drops of water similar to her beloved knight. And so early in the morning she decided to try her luck again. As soon as the knight woke up and went to the stream, she began to sing a song and so her voice charmed Ser Coldring that he was not even frightened when she suddenly began to sing.
Seru Coldring liked the trollmaiden's voice so much that he asked her to sing more and more. Although he did not see her, he thought she was a wonderful girl. And so he asked her to go out to him so that he could see her and give praise and honor to the owner of such a beautiful voice. The troll princess was afraid that if he saw her, he would run away, or even worse, as his brother grabbed the sword. She asked him to take an oath that, but would not touch her and would not be afraid. Although the knight was alarmed by these words, he swore an oath of his honor to her, and as you know, the oath of a true knight is an unbreakable oath. And Ser Coldring was a true knight. Only after that did the troll maiden appear in his eyes and approached him. The knight, although he was surprised, smiled brightly and radiantly at the troll girl. He asked her name and she told him that her name was Rundga, the princess of the trolls. The knight immediately bowed down, as befits etiquette, to bow to noble ladies and girls. The troll-maiden was greatly surprised by the knight's gallant demeanor, and asked his name. Ser Coldringa introduced himself to her and she was surprised to realize that this was the brother of Ser Manelling, the man she loved. She told Ser Coldring her story, and the way her brother rejected her, a spark of hope dawned in her soul that maybe at least the brother of the great knight would be favorable to her. She offered him the same gifts as her brother. But the knight refused all the gifts of the virgin, and told her. I see that your soul is as pure as your intention. Frankly, this is what I like about you. I fell in love with your voice and your honest soul, Princess Rungda, and therefore I ask you for your hand in order to at least somehow atone for the guilt of my terrible brother.
Not because of the wonderful gifts, but of their own free will, their union was sealed in the kingdom of Piedmont, with the blessing of her father. And just in time for the wedding, the troll maiden turned to a beautiful girl, whose beauty overshadowed the beauty of all earthly women. After all, Sera Coldring's love was pure and sincere. And when he saw that she had become a beauty, and that her father was leading her to the altar, he realized how much his brother had lost. They say that a wedding in the kingdom of the mountains thundered for a week, so much so that the mountains were shaking. Since then, the knight ser Coldring and the princess of the mountain kingdom of Rundga were always together, and their love for each other grew every day. And the threads of their destinies intertwined so strongly that even the weaver of destinies did not dare to break the thread of one of them, and therefore they lived happily ever after, and the knight, who became the king of the mountain and his queen under the mountain. And their kingdom always flourished and only multiplied, because - they loved each other, more than life, until death. And they died on the same day. This is how the legend of the noble sulfur Kodring and the beautiful princess of the trolls Rundge ends.
As soon as the storyteller finished his story, there was applause in the tavern, someone ordered a drink for a skald, but everyone was happy, because this story dispelled the boredom hovering over the tavern. I think that many people who are in the tavern have thought about their business, and whether they are as sincere in their lives as Ser Kolndring was sincere, or as greedy and cruel as Ser Manelling. What can I say, other people's minds are a mystery.
And this was the first story told by a skald in a week of storms.
If you forgot / did not know the plot of this popular medieval ballad (also known as "Bergatrollets frieri" - "Mountain Troll Matchmaking"), then its Russian translation can be found right now (in particular, it is performed by VIA " Chur"):
Early one morning, before dawn,
When the hubbub of the birds is not heard,
There was a quiet gentle voice of the troll-maiden,
Sweet to the knight who said so:
"Herr Mannelig, Herr Mannelig, be my husband,
I will give you everything you want!
What only your heart loves, you will receive at the same moment,
Just tell me - yes or no?
I give you a dozen beautiful mares,
That graze among the shady groves.
They did not know the saddle, did not know the bridle,
Hot and fast like the wind.
Mills from Tillo to Terno will be yours,
Their millstones are of scarlet copper,
Their wheels - you will not find purer silver,
Only have pity on the virgin in love!
Accept my wonderful gift - this sharp, bright sword,
It costs fifteen rings of gold.
He bestows victory in any of the fierce slaughter,
With it you will acquire the glory of a hero!
I will give you a shirt, which is not more beautiful,
What is not sewn from thread with a needle.
Such a pure white color has not been seen here before -
That silk is knitted with a skilful hand. "
But the knight of the rivers haughtily: "Go away with the gifts -
You are not wearing a holy crucifix!
You cannot tempt me, devil's daughter,
My answer to you is God's curse! "
And the mountain troll maiden wept bitterly,
She went away, groaning inconsolably:
"Why are you a proud knight, rejected my love
Why are you so cruel? "
The original text is presented in this adorable picture.
It would seem that nothing like that - an instructive story about an honest Christian and an evil spawn of Darkness ( Shaft Atrast, Gray Warden).
But for some reason no one is interested in the motive of the trolls herself - for what purpose is this Herr Mannelig needed?
In more detailed texts, we learn what the troll wants " get rid of some anguish".
The poetic arrangement of the legend belongs to the Middle Ages, but the original should be sought in much more ancient legends, definitely before Christian. In the Scandinavian tradition, men also knew how to conjure, but basically this is the lot of women. Even the great Odin himself learned terrible witchcraft seydou, sending sickness, misery and death, in Freya.
Inhabitants of other worlds - jotuns, alvas, zwergs, trolls - conjure, as they say, "at will", according to their natural desire. But even with them, female witchcraft is especially dangerous (there are echoes of primitive matriarchy) - therefore the troll witch is the personification of the magical "sub-mountain" power.
There is a later version of this legend, where the troll wanted to become a man, but for this it was necessary that some person fell in love with her in the form of a troll, "as is" (a well-known folklore motif in the spirit frogs in a box).
Several alleged candidates fled in horror when they saw her. Finally, the troll found the brave, brave warrior Mannelig. Realizing that objectively she had little chance of charming the peasant, she began to offer him treasures - the aforementioned mills, weapons, horses. But, naturally, the knight steadfastly refuses the promises of the chthonic monster.
It is immediately evident that the authors of this processing did not know much about ancient myths. Trolls could easily and simply turn into a beast or a person with the help of their magic, but even in a different form they were just as afraid of the sunlight, which was destructive for them! Therefore, the desire to "become human", that is, to lose immortality and witchcraft just for the sake of walking under the sun, seems ridiculous. No, trolls are much more insidious!
Another belief serves as a clue - a troll can be carried from a person if at that time she is in the form of a person herself, and from such a union a half-troll will be born - a creature with the power and magic of trolls, but with the appearance of a person, immune to sunlight! Naturally, having given birth to such a child, the troll would easily take back all her gifts, and she would arrange genocide for the surrounding people :) Mannelig, if not a fool, realized this, and therefore refused.
By the way, the Old Swedish original, which the highbrow translators "gracefully" adapt to Russian, is also quite curious from this point of view. In speech lying mountain trolls there are turns of high calm - various "rosenlunde" (pink bushes), "silket det hvita" (woven by light), etc., while the Christian Mannelig answers her extremely rudely - after all, "djavulens", which is usually translated as "devil's child "etc., in Swedish has a very specific obscene meaning" to send in three letters ". Thus, the contrast between the loftily speaking troll and the herr, sharply covering her with obscenities, reveals another meaning of the ballad - comic and erotic. Mannelig, who spent the night with the troll (both early morning and subsequent events testify to this), now listens to her promises, as well as a request to marry after everything that happened between them (like a decent knight!). But our hero just cites "I might have thought if you were a Christian, but you're just a troll! Come on ...".
There is, however, a lyrical treatment of this legend, which has nothing to do with the original texts, but very pitiful and tragic in its own way:
Only the sun lit up a blooming meadow in the morning,
Fertile ripe fields,
It spread, blowing around with a heavy cold,
Late cry of underground motives -
From an empty house, from useless years,
From the caves of the dark unknown
The mountain troll princess climbed heavily into the light
Her voice was weak and insinuating:
On the mountain troll princess?
There is no road forward, the trace is lost in the past -
Say yes or no to me.
My family is noble, this is the family of kings -
Do not be ashamed to intermarry with me,
For a long time loved ones fell asleep in the bottomless land,
They became ancestors in abandoned tombs.
The torches in the caves of relatives have long gone out,
No drunken revels;
A deep cold darkness crept up to us from the back,
And no childish laughter is heard.
Sir Mannelig, Sir Mannelig, will you not marry me,
On the mountain troll princess?
The era of glory is gone along with the song about it,
Of the old days ...
Take as a gift mines, forty-eight in number,
Where there are more diamonds than coal -
It's been hard for a long time to swim alone in luxury,
Can I be happy alone?
A silver vein deep underground
Mountains of emeralds, sapphires;
The walls have forgotten the pickaxe, and having stifled peace,
My bedroom is empty and damp
Sir Mannelig, Sir Mannelig, will you not marry me,
On the mountain troll princess?
The road remained for me to a person from the outside -
Say yes or no to me!
Take an underground stream with enchanted water,
She heals any wounds -
But my family is beyond her power to return the young,
My people as we were;
A herd of unshorn horses, not hand-fed,
Sedok who did not know until now -
And their foals laugh by the underground river,
And mothers play with them.
Sir Mannelig, Sir Mannelig, will you not marry me,
On the mountain troll princess?
No spark, no memory of a dead fire,
In chronic painful pain ...
I remember our mills, a friendly chorus of millstones,
The song of light joyful copper,
Their spirits revolved for us, and there is no one,
Our gods will not answer me.
Our ancient sword will be the best gift for you,
What the mountain gnomes forged.
He could not save his brave masters
From the dark centuries of old age.
Sir Mannelig, Sir Mannelig, will you not marry me,
On the mountain troll princess?
Will I bend over the cradle in your side -
Say yes or no to me!
Your gifts are beautiful, I would gladly take them,
Be you a Christian virgin.
The heavenly Father will say - there can be no union,
Do I wish the Lord's wrath?
Your words are mysterious and thoughts are black
That's right, the tricks of the trolls!
Temptation from hell and a child of Satan,
You will not confuse my soul anymore!
And the mountains shuddered, and the avalanches came down,
Unyielding, broken by faith.
Since then it has been dark and quiet in the hot bowels of the earth,
Black winds blow freely.
Only a bitter echo is heard in the unfaithful silence
From the depths of the abandoned adits:
"Sir Mannelig, Sir Mannelig, will you not marry me,
On the mountain troll princess? "
In the land of short summers, lingering rains, long dark winters and oil, one can live happily. The Norwegians succeeded. They needed patience, self-irony and beautiful legends
The Norwegians got a not the most comfortable country to live in. But they confidently and smartly equip even its remote corners. Roads stretch everywhere, ferry crossings are organized, planes fly between cities, trains go, cruise liners run. At some point, you get the feeling that this is how people lived here from the beginning of time. And they always wore these waterproof and windproof clothes, they could always buy the capital's grocery set in the farthest fjord and had access to the Internet in any wilderness. But let's not forget that the Norwegian economic miracle surfaced from the ocean floor just half a century ago when Phillips Petroleum discovered a giant oil field in the North Sea in late 1969.
Evidence of how one of the happiest countries in the world lived before this event is kept by ancient (but not the most reliable) sources - folk tales and legends. Norwegians remember them and readily tell them. Probably, these are not really legends for them.
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Olaf, lover and saint It is said that the Norwegian ruler Olaf II Haraldsson, while sailing, met the Margyugur, a huge and fierce sea witch with a fish tail, webbed hands and a horse's head. Olaf fought with Margyugur for a long time, but thanks to the Christian faith he was able to overcome her. The great-great-grandson of the first king of Norway, Harald the Fair-haired, Olaf, ruled the country from 1015 to 1028 and zealously took up Christianization, for which in the end he paid. Having lost power, he fled to Novgorod, where Ingigerd lived, daughter of the King of Sweden and wife of Yaroslav the Wise. Once Ingigerda was predicted to be Olafa's wife. Some researchers believe that their meeting in Novgorod led to a romance, and Vsevolod Yaroslavich, the fourth son of Ingigerda of Sweden and the father of Vladimir Monomakh, could have a Norwegian father. In 1030, Olaf tried to regain the throne, but died in the battle of Styklastadir and was buried on the banks of the Nid River in Nidaros - that was the name of Trondheim at that time. Near the place of his burial, a healing spring came out. In the grave, opened a year later for reburial, an incorruptible body with regrown hair and nails was found. The decision on canonization was not long in coming, and the construction of the cathedral began at the burial site. This is how the most significant church in Norway, the Nidaros Cathedral, was born. |
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On a cruise ship I sail along the Norwegian coast from north to south - from Tromsø to Bergen. Near Svolver, the main city of the Lofoten archipelago, a female figure stands on a ledge sticking out of the water at the entrance to the bay. The gaze is directed into the distance, the hand is raised in a gesture of either farewell or greeting. There are many such monuments to the wives of sailors along the coast of Norway. For centuries, husbands and sons went to sea for a long time, and sometimes stayed there forever. One of the typical legends that I often hear during the trip is about a wonderful country in which there are no storms, and a successful fishing awaits the fisherman.
Legend Lived near Röst, in the south of the Lofoten Islands, a fisherman named Matthias. And all the time he was unlucky. Once he got into a storm and no longer expected to get out alive, as the boat nailed him to an unknown island. The inhabitants there, as it turned out, did not know the need: their nets never emptied, the barley fields brought a rich harvest. They gave Matthias a magic net, and from now on, neither he nor his family knew hunger. But the generosity of the inhabitants of Ut-Rost, as they called the island, was not limited to this. A year later, Matthias was invited to visit, helped to increase wealth and buy a new fishing boat.
But there are few good legends: the sea was always cruel, people did not expect anything good from it, and therefore the mermaid havfrue, the sea man havman, and their talkative son Marmennille floated up to meet the fishermen. Generations of fishermen knew better than to be offended, but even so there was no guarantee of survival.
Legend One old fisherman, drinking a glass, always said: "Good health to you, havfrue." Once he and his friends went to sea in good weather. Nothing foreshadowed trouble, but they met a boat with a beautiful golden-haired stranger. With the words “You always drank to my health, and now it's my turn to drink to you,” she carried the fisherman to the seabed, and since then no one has heard of him.
The refrain "no one else has heard of him" is often found in legends. And it concerns not only fishermen, but also their wives and daughters, whose shoulders took care of the economy in the absence of men - they also processed the catch in cold sea water: they cleaned, washed and hung the caught cod to dry on special wooden grates. And sea inhabitants often came for them.
Legend A girl named Oschild one day went to the sea and disappeared without a trace. A few years later, a havman, a sea man, came to her mother, and said that the girl had long become his wife and needed the help of a Christian woman, as she was about to give birth. Mother helped her daughter, she returned to the village. One Sunday afternoon, when Oschild and his mother were going to church, an army of trolls, led by a havman, appeared from the sea and tried to drag the girl into the abyss. Saints descended from the icons of the church to save her. The sea monsters have lost the battle. But time passed, and Oschild missed her husband and child. She returned to them at sea, and no one else heard of her.
“Such a cocktail of mysticism and Christian beliefs refers us to the period of the Christianization of Norway in the X-XI centuries,” the guide Ingrid explains to me. "The intervention of saints in confrontation with evil spirits is a very common phenomenon in the legends of that period."
In the church, the Norwegians saw salvation from the unfriendly reality that surrounded them. But it is difficult to call this faith a blind man - the ringing of a bell or just the proximity of a temple only provided a short respite in the constant battle for life. But the battle resumed as soon as they stepped aboard a fishing boat or ventured into the forest in search of firewood and food.
Gloomy, forested mountains, which occupy most of not only the coast, but also the country as a whole, are inhabited in fairy tales by severe giants, trolls (they are also called yotuns, yutuli or risi). Belief in them is of the same nature as in marine life, it is generated by uncertainty and powerlessness in front of the elements: hurricanes and snowfalls, showers and frosts, a long night, when the surrounding landscape scares with strange sounds and terrible outlines.
Relations between people and youtuls rarely worked out well, more often trolls lured curious travelers into the mountains or kidnapped girls they liked and locked them in their caves. The sun was always the weapon against them. It not only drove away the frightening darkness of the night, but also turned the Yutuls to stone. Today, all over Norway, there are huge petrified figures, and any local resident knows what this yutul is and why he stayed here forever. An imposing rock rises near the village of Henningswehr on Lofoten: the troll Vogakallen is frozen here due to the fault of his son Hestmannen.
Legend
Once a beautiful giantess from Leki went swimming with her seven friends, the daughters of a giant from Sulitielma. Hestmannen, the son of the troll Vogakallen, saw them, fell in love with the giantess from Leca and wanted to marry him. He saddled a swift horse, took a bow and arrows and galloped to the giantesses. They started to run. After some time, the forces left the seven sisters and they stopped. But the giantess from Leki fled as best she could. Desperately, Hestmannen fired an arrow at her. The troll Bronneukogen, father of seven sisters, watched the chase and threw his hat across the arrow to save the giantess. The arrow pierced the hat, changed direction, and fell into the sea. Then the sun rose and all the trolls were petrified. A beautiful giantess stands on the island of Leka near the town of Rörvik, the outlines of the seven sisters are visible on the rocks in the Alstajög region, Hestmannen froze on the island of Hestmannøy in the Arctic circle, and his father Vogakallen remained in Lofoten. The hat was most famous. It is she - a mountain towering over the sea with a through hole on the island of Turget in the commune of Brønnøy.
Scientists, in a slightly less romantic mood, explain that the 35-meter-high through hole in the 258-meter mountain is the result of natural processes during the Ice Age. Scientists always have an explanation for everything. But the legend remembers that, for example, a deep crevice between Glomdal and Rendal gorges is an ax mark left by one of the Youtul, trying to cut a new river bed.
Norwegian place names keep many mentions of the Yutul, especially in the vicinity of the city of Molde.
Legend One day the trolls gathered for a wedding in the Rumsdal area. A large procession stretched along the road, the trolls drank honey and became more cheerful and carefree. They didn’t see the sun rise and turned to stone, forming the Trolltinda mountain range. Not far from Molde, there is the Trollkirka grotto system ("troll church"), Trollveggen ("troll wall") and the dizzying road serpentine Trollstig ("troll road"), which leads to the Geiranger Fjord with its waterfalls, included in the List UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Opponents of mountain trekking can take a walk along the shores of Lake Trollwann near Oslo. And supporters - to get to the famous Trolltunga ("the tongue of the troll"), a rock that sticks out over the Hardangerfjord east of Bergen.
Today trolls are part of the tourism and souvenir industry. In more modern fairy tales, they are not at all giants and not at all scary - the Norwegians felt more protected from the forces of nature with the arrival of electricity, the development of land and sea communication between cities and villages. But no, no, yes, and will flicker in a conversation with the locals: “You see a church, and next to it is a huge boulder. It was our troll who fought against Christianization and threw stones at the builders. "
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We swim into another fjord, and rocks covered with green vegetation grow very close on the sides. Here and there, thin streams of waterfalls fall from the tops of the mountains. Water also falls from the sky, and it floods very noticeably. “There, there is a troll on a rock,” a girl from the team in a bright yellow jacket pulls her hand somewhere to the right. I do not have time to photograph the troll - a drop of rain treacherously spreads over the lens. “Don't be upset,” the girl smiles, “now there will be more trolls. Once they have gone out into the daylight, they are petrified and will not run away. "
