In the North where the winter storms often whip the coasts, there is narrow and long country. There are a lot of dark forests, lakes, long rivers, deep fjords, snow-covered mountains and cold streams which cascading down through the mountain slops.
This region used to be covered by snow and ice for the whole year, today is covered only for about six months. In the past there was a huge glacier that covered the whole country for many years.
Because the climate got warmer this massive glacier moved slowly to the North. People living in the south part of it move to the north, where there wasn't glacier any more. The region left by glacier was full of fish and there were magnificent landscapes. The first inhabitants called the place Norway, whereas they named themselves "nordmenn", which mean "Man of the North".
They didn't need a lot of time to find out that they weren't alone in that area. There were a lot of various creatures living in hiding in numerous forests or mountain sides.
The first people didn't know what the mentioned creatures were and they called them Trolls.
The Trolls were used to come out from their hideouts after the sunset and they always disappear before the dawn. The direct exposure of their bodies to the sunlight made them to crack or turned them into the stone. Sometimes some Trolls probably forgot to hide themselves from the sunlight and today there are a lot of rock formations which shapes are similar to the Troll features.
Most often the Trolls were seen during moonlight nights. They might frighten everyone who met the Troll outside. The Trolls looked scary and they had many distinct features. Their noses were long and crooked. They had only four fingers and huge toes on every limb. What is more, they had long fluffy tails.
Most of Trolls were massive. There were some stories about two-headed trolls or three-headed ones. Some of them had the only one eye on their wrinkled foreheads. Most of Trolls had trees and they were covered with moss on their heads and huge noses.
The Trolls were shaggy or rough haired. They looked very frightening, however they seemed to be naïve, calm and good-natured. They were so naive that peasant men could easily trick them. Stories about encounters with the Trolls are very common in Norwegian fairy tales.
Trolls were believed to live hundreds years. However, their true lifestyle and origin will always remain the mystery. The Trolls have extremely shy nature.
It is said that the trolls' wrath was boundless. It was very important for the peasants not to make the enemies of Trolls. When a farmer provoked a Troll, his livestock might catch a disease or die because of unexplained reason. On the other hand, it was said that the friendly relationship with the Trolls might be quite rewarding.
Nowadays it is also thought that it is better to be on good terms with Trolls, because you never know when you are supposed to meet one. If you decided to visit Norwegian dark forests or climb the massive mountains with and admire their roaring waterfalls or deep lakes, just be aware that you may meet a Troll. They probably won't harm you. It is still believed that they leave their hideouts after the twilight. Then in the forest may be you and… Trolls!
