Two men were once in the mountains, gathering moss. One night they both lay in their tent, one asleep while the other lay awake. Suddenly, he saw the sleeping comrade get up and leave the tent. So he got up and went after him, running so fast that he was not able to close the distance between them.
The sleeping comrade headed toward a nearby glacier, and the pursuer saw in the distance a giant sitting above them on the jagged peak of glacial ice. The giant was stretching his arms out and back to its chest, first one and then the other, repeatedly. In this way, he magically drew the sleeping man to him until he could embrace him. With that, the giant ran away carrying the sleeping man with him.
The next year, people from the area were again on the same place in the mountains, gathering moss. The man who had been captured came to them, but was quiet and spoke so little that the people were unable to get a word from him. The people asked him, “Who do you believe in?” He answered, “God”, and then left for the mountains from where he had come.
In the second year after his kidnapping by the giant, he came again to the same place where the same people were gathering moss. This time, he resembled a troll so much that the people were afraid. Still, he was asked, “Who do you believe in?” But this time he said nothing, and remaining not as long as the year before, staying for only a short while before he returned to the mountains.
In the third year, he again came to where the people gathered moss. But now, he had become a real troll with a horrible demeanor and appearance. Most people were horrified, but one still mustered the courage to ask him once more, “Who do you believe in?” This time, he replied, “Trunt, Trunt and the mountain trolls!” With that answer, he suddenly disappeared and was never seen again.
For many years thereafter, no one dared to collect moss at that same place.