In the Norwegian folkeeventyr collected in the 19th century by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe, we find much of trolls that would seem to function as an interface between the fantastic and the commonplace whilst embodying, ceremonially, the harsher aspects of nature which is then hilariously (& violently) dispatched without pause for compassion.

My lifelong favourites are the free-loaders that feature in The Cat of Dovre (AKA The Cat on the Dovrefell), though the troll and his daughter from Espen Askeladd & the Seven Silver Ducks are no less entertaining - likewise the hapless glutten from Porridge With a Troll. What these masterful folk tales tell us about trolls I'm not so sure really, though I dare say, somewhere, there'll be a more vigorous intellectual folkloric analysis to that I've suggested above.

Seek 'em out!