The Troll under the Bridge

Another twilight thinking that could keep you awake at night. If you, the person reading this, are of a certain age you may remember that you were told of a bridge that had three goats, be they brothers or familial relations, attempted to cross. Only for their passage to be blocked by a creature that has been named as a troll. 

But what is a troll? 

An imaginary creature from Norse and Scandinavian mythology, who dwell in isolation with a potential hatred of sunlight that may lead to petrifaction (the process where organic material is replaced by stone). Their appearance can be linked to the location of where the tale may have been first told. Long hair, ugliness and poor hygiene feature heavily as do disguises.

But these trolls can differ in their textual origin  - for example the trolls in J.R.R.Tolkein's Lord of the Rings epic are broken down into six forms with one sub-group speaking a form of Cockney English, drinking beer, eating flesh (be it Hobbit or mutton) and turning to stone in sunlight. However, Terry Pratchett's Discworld trolls are seen as living and moving rocks that have jobs as policemen and concert promoters.

Two artists, Brian and Wendy Froud, have made part of their careers by painting and making images and models of these creatures and have recently released a book of these:

Trolls have even been sculpted in plastic with never blinking glass eyes and acrylic hair that can be seen in communities on people's desktops or in the bedrooms of children.

They, the trolls, may even hide within the ones and zeros of the Internet as someone who posts messages, mainly in a negative sense, within a Web 2.0 framework.

But let us return to that bridge and to that troll - is it not just the addition of one letter that turned the toll on the bridge, that demand for money for using a crossing over a river, to an anti-social and potentially smelly troll that demands the flesh of a goat. The comedian Mark Thomas whilst protesting against the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (Socpa) demonstrated on Hungerford Bridge to demand trolls for London Bridges shouting:

"We need trolls! We are overrun with goats! These goats coming over here, stealing our jobs, getting the best houses! It wouldn't happen if we had trolls. And I bet they would keep the underside clear of dead Italian bankers, too." Thomas, M. (2013)

So are tolls the modern version of trolls and do we need both in today's society? I don't answer the questions - I just pose them. And do check under the bed tonight to see if there are the two glinting lights of reflecting eyes underneath the mattress. Sleep well.

Mark Thomas on demonstrating near the Houses of Parliament | Politics | The Guardian . 2013. Mark Thomas on demonstrating near the Houses of Parliament | Politics | The Guardian . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2006/oct/12/houseofcommons.comment. [Accessed 30 May 2013].