{"id":701,"date":"2010-12-15T00:03:14","date_gmt":"2010-12-15T00:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/?p=701"},"modified":"2014-08-22T14:14:37","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T14:14:37","slug":"trolls-and-huldras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/trolls-and-huldras\/","title":{"rendered":"Trolls and Huldras"},"content":{"rendered":"

On all of my 3 trips to Bergen, I have had some sort of encounter with a troll <\/em>or a huldra<\/em>, two of the many creatures in Norwegian folklore.\u00a0 Legends of these creatures are found throughout the country, but in my experience, the west coast seems particularly impacted by them. One summer my mom, brother, and I took the “Norge i et N\u00f8tteskall<\/strong>” (Norway in a Nutshell) tour from Oslo to Bergen.\u00a0 The tour consisted of a ride on the tog<\/strong> (train), en buss <\/strong>(a bus), og en b\u00e5t<\/strong> (a boat).\u00a0 If you’ve ridden on a buss <\/strong>in the mountains in Norway, you probably recall being frightened every time you looked out the window and saw steep drop offs on either side, as well as almost no extra road space on the sides of the buss<\/strong>.\u00a0 The route is full of zig-zags and hills and all I can say is you better have faith in the driver.<\/p>\n

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My fear was quickly muted when we stopped at a beautiful foss <\/strong>(waterfall) and embraced the misty and cool air.\u00a0 Just to stand there and marvel at the foss with it’s dramatic stature surrounded by mossy covered jagged stones would have been enough for tourist satisfaction.\u00a0 But there was more.\u00a0 A beautiful woman’s voice began to fill the air around us and we had no idea what was about to happen.\u00a0 A gorgeous woman with a red dress and a cow tail appeared in the foss<\/strong>.\u00a0 She was a huldra<\/em>, a seductress who lures men into the forest to free her from her not-quite human existence, or to suck the life out of the man.\u00a0 She is a dangerous creature that men typically cannot resist.\u00a0 If she can manage to conceal her cow’s tail from the man and marry him in a church, her tail falls off and she becomes fully human, although ugly.\u00a0 In old age, she is said to become gentle and kind<\/p>\n

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While huldras<\/em> are beautiful creatures (at least until marriage to a man…). trolls <\/em>are very ugly-they are big, hairy, and stupid creatures with long crooked noses and up to 9 hoder <\/strong>(heads.\u00a0 Trolls<\/em>live in the mountains, at the bottom of lakes, and under bridges (i.e. De tre bukkene brus<\/strong>e-the 3 Billy Goats Gruff-a very well known folktale that may have originated in Norway).\u00a0Trolls<\/em> are said to have the ability to change their appearance in order to be sneaky and get what they want. They also fortunately turn into stone if they are exposed to light.<\/p>\n

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While I have seen umpteen troll <\/em>souvenirs in gift shops all over the country and also in Scandinavian gift shops here in the U.S., I hadn’t seen quite such a strong representation of rolls until I explored around the mountain that the funicular in Bergen takes you to.\u00a0 My friend and I were there\u00a0 a couple of months ago with my dog and stumbled upon a troll <\/em>park.\u00a0 There were dozens of wood carved troll statues all with different appearances.\u00a0 Ketil Dybvik <\/em>from Stavanger, carved all of the wooden trolls from materials found in the forest.\u00a0 There was also a children’s sort of jungle gym that included a long bridge where you can act out “De tre bukkene bruse”<\/strong> if you so choose.\u00a0 I thought the park was absolutely brilliant-such a fun and unique play area for kids (and for girls in their mid-20s with a dog…). \u00a0 See here <\/a>for more information about activities on Fl\u00f8yen<\/strong>. Whether you believe in trolls <\/em>and huldras <\/em>or not, they are still a big part of Norwegian culture and folklore-a fun thing for tourists and natives to experience!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

On all of my 3 trips to Bergen, I have had some sort of encounter with a troll or a huldra, two of the many creatures in Norwegian folklore.\u00a0 Legends of these creatures are found throughout the country, but in my experience, the west coast seems particularly impacted by them. One summer my mom, brother…<\/p>\n

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