The Troll Council and the Intersex SaviorOh, Trollie Woellie Stones,
the Halfling-Child will come,
It/She/He will break the spell
and set you free,
so, like in the Ancient Past,
you can look after Us and Me.
That is the rhyme the women of my family whispered to us at night. It seemed like complete nonsense. What were “Trollie Woellie Stones” and what was a child that could be a “Halfling” and described as “it/she/he”? And it contrasted so strongly with the grim prayer that the Church Fathers made us all memorize:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray to God my soul to take.
Even as a child, the tones of the two rhymes seemed so different. The odd Trolls were paternal and nurturing while the Lord God was judgmental and
