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WOSAS : F877 WOSAS/CD379/track1
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Troll with No Heart, The

Sound recording, story; The Troll with No Heart, a Norwegian wonder tale told by Hugh Lupton, as part of a performance with the storytelling group which became The Company of Storytellers, at an unidentified venue in East Dereham, Norfolk, April 1985, as part of a tour of East Anglia.

Music played by Graham Shimmell, followed by story told by Hugh Lupton, which ends with an improvisation by Ben Haggarty, Hugh Lupton, Sally Pomme Clayton and music by Graham Shimmell about their experiences at the wedding at the end of the story.

In Norway there lived a famer with 12 sons. The 11 eldest sons are sent to find their fortune. They meet a king with 11 daughters and they each marry and continue on their travels and their adventures. They come to a crystal mountain where a troll lives. The troll turns the 11 couples into rock. When the youngest son comes of age he seeks out his brothers. On his route the boy feeds a hungry crow, saves a floundering salmon, and feeds his horse to an old wolf. All of these animals promise to assist him should he ever need help. The boy asks the wolf to carry him to the troll's cave. There he finds a girl, who tells him that if he finds the heart of the troll he will find his brothers. The troll eventually tells the girl that his heart lies in the middle of the ocean, on a island, down a well, in the egg of a bird which lives there. The boy reaches the island, but frightens away the bird. So he calls on the crow, who flies through the sky and pierces the bird to release the egg. The egg falls towards the ocean, so the boy calls on the salmon to catch the egg. Once the boy has the heart of the troll, he squeezes it and forces the troll to release the stone couples, releasing his brothers. The boy then cracks the troll's heart, shattering the troll and the crystal mountain.

audience:- adult
    recording quality
condition:- good
completeness:- complete
duration:- 0 hours, 19 minutes, 29 seconds

It was during this 1985 tour of East Anglia that The Company of Storytellers was formally formed, with Ben Haggarty, Sally Pomme Clayton and Hugh Lupton.

The Company of Storytellers (C.O.S.T) was formed in March/April 1985 with the expressed aim of performing storytelling for adult audiences. C.O.S.T was actually formed during a tour in East Anglia by Sally Pomme Clayton, Hugh Lupton and Ben Haggarty. The official launch of COST was in 1986 at Common Stock Theatre, London. At this point the members of C.O.S.T were Sally Pomme Clayton, TUUP, Ben Haggarty, Daisy Keable, Hugh Lupton. However TUUP and Daisy Keable did not remain in the group and it is as a trio of storytellers, Ben Haggarty, Hugh Lupton and Sally Pomme Clayton, that C.O.S.T is publicly known. C.O.S.T was disbanded in 1999, but periodically reforms to perform the Three Snake Leaves. The two seminal pieces developed and performed by C.O.S.T were The Three Snake Leaves and I Become Part of It.

storytelling:- storytelling group: The Company of Storytellers

storytelling:- storyteller: Hugh Lupton
male / British / English / Welsh

storytelling:- storyteller: Sally Pomme Clayton
female / British

storytelling:- storyteller: Ben Haggarty
male / British / born 30.11.1958

storytelling:- musician: Graham Shimmell
male

origin:- Norway Scandinavia


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Tour publicity

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storytelling:- East Dereham, Norfolk, East Anglia, England
Apr 1985
public performance


gift from:- storyteller: Sally Pomme Clayton


©  The London Centre for International Storytelling: 2007
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