I first came across the race of trolls in the Norwegian folk-tales of Asbjørnsen and Moe. Beguiling they can be, ugly they certainly are, scheming they try to be; intelligent they most assuredly are not! These creatures, the creatures of the kind of popular tales that began to emerge in the Romantic era, are but a dim reflection of the trolls of more ancient traditions, who were altogether more demonic. But, in the end, I suppose they are all really quite boring; for, as Oscar Wilde says, ogres have limited conversation, bears, one suspects, of very little brain. :))
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