Tales of Trolls and a Dilemma

Hot on the heels of the success of When Apples Grew Noses and White Horses Flew: Tales of Ti-Jean I am now immersing myself in the world of trolls.  The work has its fun side but also carries with it a much more serious sense of evil.  Viciousness lurks always.  The ways of trolls are not pretty.  I am caused to think often of how what’s going on in these stories really does reflect the experience of some of the immigrant children I have met in schools who have come from countries where brutality and horror are rife.

Still, for me, the issue of violence is a difficult one.  I am working from sources collected in Norway in the nineteenth century – in times when it was apparently perfectly reasonable to have the prince lop off the villain’s head and bring it to the princess’s father as proof of success.  These are not our times, however.  I am not interested in sanitizing or Disney-fying but I am a children’s writer and it is part of my job to recognize that the lessons being offered to young people now are not necessarily the same as they were then.

I am totally committed to the idea that the trolls must be conquered and convincingly so.  I remember a friend telling me that as a child she was always much more frightened of the versions of Red Riding Hood that allowed the wolf simply to run off into the forest.  She was always so certain he would come back.

I am happy to give young readers the satisfaction of rejoicing in the knowledge that those who have done foul deeds may fall to their deaths in chasms; they may be turned to stone; they may be shattered into a million pieces.  I still cannot reconcile myself to that head, however (although oddly enough I have no problem with the fact that the troll hag who carries her head under her arm is tricked into dropping it so that it rolls away).

I absolutely cannot include an episode in which the hero must beat his beloved with sticks on their wedding night to break the enchantment under which she is held.  I’ve heard all too many instances of abuse dealt out for someone’s supposed “own good” to go along with that.

But…but…but…  The story (called “The Companion” in Pantheon’s Norwegian Folktales ) has many layers and complexities.  I like it.  I think it works perfectly if that beating is left out.

So…. What I’m trying for is something more nuanced and selective; something that leaves the violence less raw.  I know not everyone will agree with this approach but – as I’m sure I’ve said before --  I do believe that the traditional tales have always been subject to shifts and changes.  I am convinced, in fact, this flexibility is the very element that has given them their vitality over all these years.

I also know I’m just one person.  I’m not Disney.  I don’t have that much power.  Another part of my job is to take risks.  I guess that’s what I’m doing.  I’m trusting in the universe to bring forth others who will put out different versions if mine do not seem right.  The big thing does not alter.  The big thing is finding means to ensure that the traditional stories continue to have a place in our world.

Snow is going fast now.  The rock outside my window is emerging.  Water lies in puddles on the lake ice.  Yesterday, I saw a song sparrow.  Here’s hoping he hasn’t come back too soon.