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Troll
- In early Scandinavian folklore, giant, monstrous being, sometimes
possessing magic powers. Hostile to men, trolls lived in castles and haunted
the surrounding districts after dark. If exposed to sunlight they burst or
turned to stone. In later tales trolls often are man-sized or smaller beings
similar to dwarfs and elves. They live in mountains, sometimes steal human
maidens, and can transform themselves and prophesy. In the Shetland and
Orkney islands, Celtic areas once settled by Scandinavians, trolls are
called trows and appear as small malign creatures who dwell in mounds or
near the sea. In the plays of the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen,
especially Peer Gynt (1867) and The Master Builder (1892),
trolls are used as symbols of destructive instincts. Trolls in modern tales
for children often live under bridges, menacing travelers and exacting tasks
or tolls.
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