The Troll Woman & The Lazy Wife – Folklore Friday

All Things Iceland

This episode is part of my Folklore Friday series where I am sharing a folklore story every Friday in 2024.

The Lazy Farmer’s Wife

Many centuries ago, a hard working farmer that lived below the Eyjafjöll mountains in South Iceland married a young woman. To his surprise and dismay, he found out after their marriage that his new wife was kind of lazy and lacking motivation to do much.

Because they lived on a farm and there were many chores to be done, it bothered the farmer that his wife was not pitching in. In the fall of that year, the farmer gave his wife a large quantity of wool to weave into clothing. As the winter approached and went fully engulfed the area, the farmer noticed that his wife had yet to touch the wool.

A Strange Woman Provides a Solution

One day while the farmer was away, a rather tall and large woman came to the farmer’s wife and asked for a favor. While it is not specified what the favor was, the farmer’s wife immediately asked the woman for something in return. The large woman said sure and inquired about what the farmer’s wife wanted.

The farmer’s wife requested that the large woman weave the wool into clothing. Without skipping a beat, the large woman said no problem, swung the wool over her shoulder and said she will return with the clothing by the first day of summer. The farmer’s wife asked what the woman wanted as payment for the work. Well, the large woman thought about it and said, if you can guess correctly what my name is then we will be even. She then vanished into the countryside.

Of course, the farmer noticed that the wool was gone and asked his wife what happened to it. She replied that it was none of his business and that he will have his wool clothes by the first day of summer. While he wasn’t happy about this answer, he shrugged it off and went on about his work.

The Lazy Wife Starts to Worry

As the end of winter approached, the farmer’s wife grew more worried that the large woman would return and that she wouldn’t be able to guess her name. The anxiety within the farmer’s wife grew so much that she could hardly get out of bed and was melancholy. The farmer noticed this and asked her what is wrong. Finally, she broke down and told her husband the whole story. After hearing the story, the farmer was frightened that his wife had encountered a troll-wife that would kidnap his wife if she didn’t guess the name correctly.

As fate would have it, the farmer was walking in a valley one day and heard a strange voice singing. He was able to keep himself hidden but saw that it was a large troll like woman weaving wool and singing “Hi ho, hi ho, the farmer’s wife doesn’t know my name. Gilitrutt’s my name. Gilitrutt’s my name. Hi, ho, hi, ho.”

The farmer ran back to his house and wrote the name down.

The Troll Returns

Time continued to pass and the last day of winter was upon them. The farmer asked his wife if she knew the name of the woman that helped her and she said no in a depressed tone because she knew that meant she was done for. Finally, the farmer told her what had happened and that he had written the name of the troll down. He gave her the note and said to say it to the troll when she arrived.

On the morning of the first day of summer, it seemed that no one was around. The wife lay in bed frightened. All of a sudden, she heard heavy foot steps and the large troll woman came into the house with the sack of woolen clothing. She immediately demanded for the farmer’s wife to say her name.

The farmer’s wife was trembling but she asked if the troll’s name was Ása. The troll laughed and said no. Then she asked if it was Signý. The troll was giddy with joy because she felt confident that the farmer’s wife would never get it right but said she was willing to give her one more chance to answer. At last, the farmer’s wife said “Gilitrutt”. At the sound of her name, the troll screamed with horror and ran away. She was never seen or heard from again.

Random Fact of the Episode

Icelandic trolls are said to live in uninhabitable places, like rocky mountains and the highlands. They have been known to lure humans into caves with magic or by capturing them.

Icelandic Word of the Episode

Tröllskessa – troll woman – big, ugly woman with an attitude

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