THE SCENE: Shakespeare has nothing on the Saga of King Hrolf Gautreksson, which features violence, romance, mistaken identities, and of course, troll-taming.
THE TEXT: Princess Ingibjorg’s chambermaid had gone to the hall that day, and when she came near the hall, she saw that great troll. She rushed back to the bower, shrieking and flailing wildly. The princess asked why she was acting so foolishly. She said that a troll had come to the doors of the hall – “there’s nothing that could be like it.”
The princess said, “Are you sure that it was a troll, and not a large man?” She answered, “There can’t be any troll like it. It howled so fiercely, as if it would not spare anyone who came at it.”
The princess said, “It can’t be a troll, even if it howls trollishly. I think it might be fierce in mind and think it must come here to seek vengeance. Now I’ll send you to the hall. You shall take food with you and offer it to the troll. Maybe it won’t be so fierce, and will yield to people instead.”
The maid said, “Now you’re saying something horrible – that I, a little maiden, must go to this troll which no one dares to face, when your father the king, as great a champion as he is, doesn’t dare to go outside, and neither do any of his men, and they’d rather suffer till death. You must be bewitched by this monster who goes about in broad daylight in the middle of summer, since you want to give it food, and it wants to kill the king, your father.”
But thought she said such things, she didn’t dare to go against the princess’s will. She carried a plate in the palm of one hand, and a great horn in the other hand. When she came close enough that she though it could hear, she shouted, “Eat your food, troll!”
It turned toward her. She was terribly frightened. She rushed back to the bower with a terrified shriek. She spilled the food out of the dish and splashed the rink out of the horn and said that it was unbelievable that she should be sent into the troll’s clutches. “What have I done, that you want to kill me?”
The princess said that she didn’t want her to suffer harm or death because of her plans. “You won’t come to any harm. My heart tells me that this can’t be a troll. Now you shall go a second time.”
The maiden went, although she wasn’t willing. When she came so close that she could see the troll clearly, she said, “Will you take food, you big troll?”
He turned towards her and glowered at her. She ran away and told the princess that she had now seen clearly that it was a male troll.
The princess said, “How did the troll look to you? Did it try to say anything to you?”
She answered, “I’ve never seen a troll before, but it didn’t look wicked, so much as huge. It’s scrawny and thin, as if it’s been starving for a long time. I’m amazed that it’s not eating the dead men that lie all around the town. It may be, my lady, that it’s a mongrel and not a purebred troll. Now I’m not as afraid as I was.” The princess said, “How is the troll dressed?” She answered, “It has such a big shaggy cape that I could see neither hands nor feet. It had a shield of iron, so big that it completely spanned the hall doors. It had a terrible spear, and was stabbing it into the hall, next to the shield.”
The princess said, “Now I will tell you what to do. You shall go and offer it the good, and say that King Hrolf Gautreksson is alive, and find out what effect this has.” She went much more bravely than before. When she came to him, she held out the dish and said, “Eat your food, troll, Hrolf Gautreksson is alive.”
He looked at her happily. He reached out and took the dish, ate and drank. She saw that he was very eager for the food, but he didn’t gobble it like a slave. When he was fed, she went away. The night was ending, and she told the princess what had happened, and how when he took the dish, “under his cloak there was a red sleeve, and thick gold ring on it.”
Now the night passed. The men couldn’t get out of the hall, and everyone was quite out of his wits because of this giant. In the morning, the maiden came back with food and brought it to him, and when he reached out for the dish, he took the maiden by the hand and set her on his knee. She screamed out loud. He told her not to be afraid – “but tell me where King Hrolf Gautreksson is, and who has saved his life.”
She answered, telling him everything that had happened on their expedition, and how matters stood. He said, “Tell the princess that I will come there tonight to meet her. I want us to discuss something.”
Then he turned the maiden loose. She rushed back to the bower and told the princess that the troll had managed to touch her, and said that he had told her many things – “and he intends to meet you tonight.”
The princess said that would be fine. She said that she had no need to fear him if he was alone.
– The Saga of Hrolf Gautreksson, 13th Century
