''Troll Fell'' is a

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fan ...

written by

Katherine Langrish Katherine Langrish is a British author of fantasy for children and young adults. She was brought up in Yorkshire and Herefordshire, and wanted to be a writer from a young age. She was encouraged by her parents, and by the fact that her gra ...

, the first in the Troll Trilogy which comprises ''Troll Fell'', '' Troll Mill'' and '' Troll Blood''. It is set in

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and s ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

and is centred about the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

mountain, which is infested with

trolls A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human be ...

Synopsis

Troll Fell tells the story of young Peer Ulfsson, whose shipbuilder father has just died, and who is taken to live with his two wicked uncles, Balder and Grim, in a water mill under the shadow of Troll Fell, a mountain inhabited by trolls. Peer's uncles make him do all the work around the mill, and at first he despairs, especially when he meets Granny Greenteeth, the sinister water-spirit who lives in the millpond. However, he is aided by the Nis (

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Nisse), a mischievous though unpredictable house-spirit. His other friends are his dog, Loki, and Hilde, the pretty and confident daughter of Ralf Eiriksson, a nearby farmer. Ralf has sailed away on the Viking ship which Peer's father built. In his absence, Peer and Hilde discover the plot which his two uncles are hatching: to sell children as slaves to the trolls, in exchange for gold. When Hilde's little brother and sister, Sigrid and Sigurd, are stolen away under cover of a blizzard, Peer and Hilde go together into the tunnels and under the mountain in an attempt to bring them back. At the climax of the story, at a troll banquet when the troll king raises the top of the mountain on four red pillars, Peer is faced with the decision either to escape alone, or stay forever under the mountain with Hilde. Meanwhile, Ralf has returned from his voyage and, along with his crew and many of the neighbours, forces his way into the troll banqueting hall. There is a stand-off with the trolls. Finally Peer discovers a way to trick the king into making his uncles stay under the mountain in his and Hilde's place, and in gratitude Ralf invites him, with Loki and the Nis, to live with Hilde's family at the farm. In the last pages, we learn that Ralf's voyage took him to

Vinland Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Jo ...

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

, in a similar fashion to

Leif Eriksson Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson, or Leif Ericson, ; Modern Icelandic: ; Norwegian: ''Leiv Eiriksson'' also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental North ...

in the

Saga of the Greenlanders ''Grœnlendinga saga'' () (spelled ''Grænlendinga saga'' in modern Icelandic and translated into English as the Saga of the Greenlanders) is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Like the ''Saga of Erik the Red'', it is one of the two main sources on t ...

Background

The story is influenced by legends and folktales about trolls and nisses collected in

Thomas Keightley Thomas Keightley (17 October 1789 – 4 November 1872) was an Irish writer known for his works on mythology and folklore, particularly ''Fairy Mythology'' (1828), later reprinted as ''The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little ...

’s ‘Fairy Mythology’, 1850, and

William Craigie Sir William Alexander Craigie (13 August 1867 – 2 September 1957) was a philologist and a lexicographer. A graduate of the University of St Andrews, he was the third editor of the '' Oxford English Dictionary'' and co-editor (with C. T. On ...

’s ‘Scandinavian Folklore’, 1896, as well as by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consist ...

’s story ‘The Elf Hill’, a satirical description of a troll wedding.

References

{{TrollTrilogy Children's fantasy novels 2004 novels HarperCollins books