At 10:05 1998-10-23 -0700, Ray  wrote:
>As a dimunitive person who hangs out around bridges and other undeveloped
>parts of town beating the bushes with a stick and continually glancing at
>the sky, I can relate to trolls!
>
Many years ago a read a very speculative swedish book about the troll idea.
It is based on a story of Ibn Fahland, an arab who i turn some 1000 years
ago told a story about another arab who was captured by vikings and
followed them in a long journey to some place that could be the northern
shore of Norway. there they met big, humanlike beings. The swedish
authors idea is that these beings actually were the last neanderthals,
archaeologically belonging to the Fosna culture, and that they are what
have given rise to our idea of "trolls". :-)

- Hans