Post by Grubb.
This morning we took the Fløibanen funicular up Fløyen Mountain overlooking Bergen. We joined a scattered group of Indian tourists on a terrace that provided a view of bayside Bergen.
Then we took a path into the woods and paid heed to the warning signs.
In our search for the “Troll garden” we saw a path we thought might be a shortcut. It was like a loose staircase made out of mini-boulders. Who would lug rocks this large and ill-assorted to make a hiking trail?
Who else but the legendary troll. If you believe that trolls once ruled the Nordic woods (and you don’t have to read Joyce’s take on Vico in “Finnegan’s Wake” to know in your heart that it’s true), then it makes sense that they, like the Romans, built stony pathways throughout their domain. In order for Ella and I to climb this tricky, toe-stubbing rock slide, we had to do some of that good old time Troll-stepping’.
“Don’t feed the trolls” is common advice given to people harassed online. But did the expression predate the internet and refer to actual Nordic trolls?
I’d say it depends on context. If used in the woods, it refers to mythological creatures. If used online, it refers to psychological cretins.