Page:The International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893.djvu/76

 54 European wing of the same army. For they are described as possessing all the desired qualities,—low stature, hirsute bodies, alleged "supernatural" qualities, and the residence in underground galleries and chambered mounds which is so characteristic of the traditional dwarfs. The Picts, therefore, in Europe, and the Ai'no or semi-Ai'no dwarfs of Asia seem to represent the ancient type which preceded the Lapps themselves.

These conclusions, too briefly stated to be as lucid as I could wish, are nearly or quite the same as those arrived at by Mr. Charles H. Chambers in 1864. Writing to the Anthropological Review in that year, Mr. Chambers says:—"I believe the race which inhabited the northern shores of Europe to have been akin to the Lapps, Finns and Esquimaux and the Pickts or Pechts of Scotland, and to have given rise to many of the dwarf, troll and fairy stories extant among the Sagas and elsewhere."

In this paper I have adhered to Sir Walter Scott's acceptation of the trolls as "the genuine northern dwarfs"; a definition endorsed by many others. But various other meanings are attached to the word. Some of these, such as "magician," "serf," and "wicked person,"—do not in any way contradict the assumption that the trolls were dwarfs. But there is one interpretation sometimes given to the word that, at first sight, seems quite inconsistent with this belief. This is the term "giant." Nevertheless, there is much evidence tending to show that the "giants" of many popular tales were merely savages,—of no greater height than their foes. Indeed, there are instances where "giant" and "dwarf" are applied to the same people. It thus appears that the word "giant" was often employed without conveying the meaning of unusual height; and even with an opposite signification. In short, just as one may speak of "a little wonder," without denoting anything of great size, so a "giant" of tradition was obviously in some cases not gigantic (paradoxical though that sounds ). When the Norsemen applied the name "troll" to these North American natives whom they also called "Lapps" and "puny people" or pigmies" (Skroelings), it is