Dame Soåsan

Overview

Dame Soåsan is the wealthy, irritable Troll woman associated with hills near Eksjö in Hofberg’s collection. Gunfire from the Ränneslätt training ground drives her from her ancestral home to a sister at Skurugata. The chapter introduces her ability both to punish insults and reward courtesy. A hussar named Grevendal encounters a very small old woman at the woodland edge, mocks her, and is struck by an unseen hand that sends him into a tall pine. His comrades must help him down.

A second story concerns a poor human spinner. A servant of the mountain mistress brings flax and forbids her to moisten its thread with saliva, which the narrative connects with Christian consecration. Payment and fresh flax appear in a woodland glade, making the spinner prosperous. She eventually disregards the condition and can no longer find the glade. Her accumulated silver turns to little stones. The ending compounds magical punishment with social rejection: neighbours refuse assistance because of her dealings with the Troll, and she dies in poverty.

In a contrasting episode, a servant girl searching for missing cattle meets small Troll children beneath a pine. She shares her bread and butter rather than insulting them. An unseen voice, identifying the children as its own, sends her home to find the cows waiting; thereafter they return regularly with plentiful milk. The chapter places these episodes under Dame Soåsan but does not make every speaker visibly identifiable. Its retained note presents the selected stories as characteristic of accounts told around Eksjö, while the translator acknowledges elsewhere that some of Hofberg’s notes were omitted. This is a localized published witness, not proof of present-day community belief or an exhaustive Troll tradition.

Origins & earliest records

Hofberg/Myers, Dame Soåsan

Records & interpretation

Complete chapter, retained regional note and both editorial prefaces.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Swedish Fairy Tales

   Herman Hofberg; translated by W. H. Myers · 1890

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Historical collected regional traditionsSwedish Fairy TalesResearch access: 2026-10-23

Image credits

AI-generated story illustration.

Interpretive story illustration; appearance is not an attested portrait.