How Historical Land Disputes May Have Inspired Land Disputes In Folklore With Trolls as Characters

Trolls are a mainstay of Scandinavian folklore; in many folk tales of the region they are
commonly antagonists, and they have stuck with us. Trolls have integrated themselves into the English
language and are never far away even in modern times: from children toys, to modern Internet-English
where being a troll means being a mean-spirited poster who is seeking to stir up trouble(Gundarsson
21). The memorable tales in which these creatures have caused trouble in the human world; are perhaps
the reason the word troll has traversed the language barrier and has come in prevalent use in modern
English. The world in which these fairy tales developed, was a violent world where strife was never far
away due to feuds over land. It is not too far of a stretch then, to think that folktales featuring trolls
disputing land ownership with people may have been created in an effort to explain the nature of these
often violent land disputes; or perhaps to make light of, and demonize the transgressors of these
disputes. Interestingly trolls often seem to bring trouble, to people, due to land ownership disputes, as
depicted in Boots Who Ate a Match With the Troll, Trolls Scared a Fisherman, and The Three Billy
Goats Gruff these stories may plausibly draw inspiration from historical events.
Land ownership was often disputed in Scandinavia during the viking era and later on after the
christian conversion. During these times it was not uncommon for blood-feuds and murders to take
place over forests, lakes, or grazing land. Such blood-feuds were a way for people to take the law into
their own hands(Lindow 1). These events would have likely carried over into folk lore. According to
the article Trolls of Scandinavia Trolls lived just about everywhere in the Scandinavian Countries.
They believed that they owned the lakes, fields, forests, and bridges where they lived. This always
caused a great deal of misunderstanding,as the farmers and townsfolk also believed that they owned
these places.
In Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend, there is a legend called How to Scare Off a Poacher.
In this story there is a lake between Seljord and Sandland. While the lake belongs to the people of

Sandland, a man from Seljord fishes there in the spring and autumn every year. Two men, from
Sandland with ownership of the land, in this tale have had enough of the mans poaching; positioning
themselves on different hills they shout back and fourth how they want to eat the poacher, after cooking
him in a giant kettle. This story could be a possible source in spawning the creation of the tale,Trolls
Scared a Fisherman.
In the story Trolls Scared a Fisherman a man goes to fish at a lake in his lands every spring and
autumn; however, the trolls also believed the lake to their possession. Because of their belief in
ownership of the lake, they decided to scare off the fisherman, I want to cook Jon Long-Bone, who
fishes on our lake every autumn and spring.(Kvideland 304) was shouted from across the valley to the
other troll promptly scaring the man from the lake, leaving the land to the trolls.
It is not always the case that the trolls win the land dispute. It is probably safer to say that more
often than not in the folklore it is, not surprisingly, the humans that win the disputes. In the story Boots
Who Ate a Match With the Troll, it is the human farmers who eventually win the dispute over the
woods. In the story a farmer believes he owns the woods on his land, while conversely, the troll also
believes that he owns the woods. The Farmer sends his sons out to hew down the timbers, which results
in his first two sons being eaten, or in some versions scared off by the troll, who following all criteria
of classic troll behavior says, "Hey, you. This is my forest. No chopping in my forest. I'm gonna eat
you up." This ultimately results in the youngest son defeating the troll, which results in the trolls death
ultimately settling the dispute. This story may have a link to actual events, In Jesse Byock's book Feud:
in the Iclandic Sagas he states, The cutting of trees in Vpnfiringa Saga is an act in a series of
disputes which causes Geitir to kill Bodd-Helgi(Byock 69). While no one can be certain where
folklore and fairy tales get their origins, it is interesting to entertain the idea that such stories could be
linked to documented events.
Perhaps one of the most famous cases of a trolls owning land, or believing they do, is The Three

Billy Goats Gruff. Almost everyone is familiar with this classic Norwegian folk tale; in which it is quite
clear the troll believes himself to own the bridge. From the collection of folk lore The North-land Tales
the troll clearly states as much Who is that tripping over my bridge(85). According to SuraLune Fairy
Tales, While the most common usage of the word trip means to stumble or misstep, in this instance
trip takes on the less common definition of "a light or nimble tread." (which leads to the interesting
thought that it could be Gruff brothers who could be trespassing and are the antagonists) The troll may
well own the bridge in this story, and the goats are trespassing, or the troll was simply a squatter
underneath someone's bridge and the Gruff brothers had the right to be there. In either case, the goats
wish to cross, and the troll wishes to eat them. In the end, whether Big Billy Goat Gruff had legitimate
rights to cross the bridge or if he was trespassing, it does not really matter as he kills the troll in the
end, thus resolving the dispute.
Where the Scandinavian people went, so to did their land disputes, including those with the
supernatural. Even in modern times, Icelandic people still seem to be contest with folkloric creatures
about whether they own the land, or as in this case, instead of trolls, elves do. In the article Elves in
Modern Iceland,
The trouble started last month when the bulldozers kept breaking down during work on a new
road. The mysterious accidents in front of one particular stone brought work to a standstill at the
construction site at Ljarskogar. The contractors solved the problem in an unorthodox way but one
which is fairly common on Iceland. They accepted an offer from a medium to find out if the land was
populated by elves and, if so, were they causing the disruptions.
This gives rise to the question, exactly how long do folk beliefs stay in cultural memory? It is
curious, that a scientifically advanced western nation has a strong enough belief in elements of folklore
to have the head of Icelandic infrastructure issue a halt on road work due to superstitions and folk
belief.

However, as unlikely it is that elves are the cause of road construction delays in Iceland, it does
provide an interesting insight on how these folk tales featuring land disputes could develop; this, along
with a long history of actual feuds over land and resources in Scandinavia, may be the cause for the
creation of these fairy tales. These tales provide and interesting insight into the folk belief and history
of a land, which possessed scarce resources, causing many feuds over land in the time when the tales
likely originated.

Works Cited
"The Eating Contest."Boots Who Ate a Match With the Troll. Jennings and Ponder, n.d. Web. 14 Nov.
2013.
Asbjornsson, and Jorgen Moe. "The Three Billy Goats Gruff."Scandinavian Folktales. N.p.: Trwheeler,
n.d. 85-86.Http://trwheeler.com/. Trwheeler. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Gundarsson, Kveldulf. "Chapter 2 2.2."Elves, Wights, and Trolls. Vol. 1. Lincoln: IUniverse, 2007. 1920. Print.
Heinner, Hiede A. "SurLaLune Fairy Tales: Annotations for Three Billy Goats Gruff."SurLaLune Fairy
Tales: Annotations for Three Billy Goats Gruff. Suralune Fairy Tales, Dec. 2012. Web. 14 Nov.

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Kvideland, Reimund. "Trolls and Giants."Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend. Minneapolis: Univ. of
Minnesota, 1988. 304-05. Print.
Soderlind, Rolf. "Trolls in Modern Iceland."Ismennt.is. Reuter Variety, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
"The Trolls of Scandinavia."Troll Mother. Troll Mother, 2008. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Lindow, John. "Bloodfeud and Scandinavian Mythology."lvissmal. VWB-Verlag Fr

Wissenschaft Und Bildung, 5 Nov. 2009. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.