Plot
The troll is trying to convince Sir Mannelig (Swedish: Herr Mannelig) to marry her. She showers him with gifts but he refuses her, because he realizes that she is not a Christian woman but a troll (a Satanic creature). She is desperate about her failure, because winning Sir Mannelig would have "freed her of her torment" (presumably of the curse of living as a troll).
Read more about this topic: Herr Mannelig
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“The plot! The plot! What kind of plot could a poet possibly provide that is not surpassed by the thinking, feeling reader? Form alone is divine.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. “The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot. The time sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“The plot was most interesting. It belonged to no particular age, people, or country, and was perhaps the more delightful on that account, as nobody’s previous information could afford the remotest glimmering of what would ever come of it.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)