Troll Fell is a children's

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 fantasy novel written by Katherine Langrish

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...

, the first in the Troll Trilogy which comprises Troll Fell, Troll Mill

Troll Mill

Troll Mill is a children's fantasy novel written by Katherine Langrish, the second in the Troll Trilogy. It follows the events of Troll Fell, but takes place three years later.-Synopsis:...

 and Troll Blood

Troll Blood

Troll Blood is a children's fantasy novel, the third volume of the Troll Trilogy written by Katherine Langrish. It follows the events of Troll Fell and Troll Mill.-Synopsis:...

. It is set in Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

 and is centred about the eponymous mountain, which is infested with trolls.

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 waterspirit who lives in the millpond. However, he is aided by the Nis (Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 Nisse

Nisse

Nisse can refer to:* Nisse, Netherlands, a town in the municipality of Borsele* Another name for the tomte, a mythical creature in Scandinavian mythology* A pet form of the Scandinavian given name Niels, Nils-See also:...

), a mischievous though unpredictable house-spirit or brownie. 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 are stolen away under cover of a blizzard, Peer and Hilde go together into the tunnels 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 his uncles into staying 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

Vinland was the name given to an area of North America by the Norsemen, about the year 1000 CE.There is a consensus among scholars that the Vikings reached North America approximately five centuries prior to the voyages of Christopher Columbus...

 in America

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

, in a similar fashion to Leif Eriksson in the Saga of the Greenlanders.

Background

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

Thomas Keightley

Thomas Keightley was a historian, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, who wrote works on mythology and folklore, and, at the request of Dr. Thomas Arnold of Rugby, a series of textbooks on English, Greek, and other histories. His History of Greece was translated into modern Greek...

’s ‘Fairy Mythology’, 1850, and William Craigie

William Craigie

Sir William Alexander Craigie 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 of the 1933 supplement. From 1916 to 1925 he was also Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the...

’s ‘Scandinavian Folklore’, 1896, as well as by Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...

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