Trow (folklore) should not be confused with Drow.
A trow pronounced as /[trʌu]/(also trowe, drow, or dtrow) is a malignant or mischievous fairy or spirit in the folkloric traditions of the Orkney and Shetland islands. Trows may be regarded as monstrous giants at times, or quite the opposite, short-statured fairies dressed in grey.
Trows are nocturnal creatures, like the troll of Scandinavian legend with which the trow shares many similarities. They venture out of their 'trowie knowes' (earthen mound dwellings) solely in the evening, and often enter households as the inhabitants sleep. Trows traditionally have a fondness for music, and folktales tell of their habit of kidnapping musicians or luring them to their dens.
The trow pronounced as /[trʌu]/, in the Scots language, is defined as a ‘sprite or fairy’ of mischievous nature in dictionaries of Scots, particularly Orcadian and Shetland dialects.
The standard etymology derives the term trow from troll (Norwegian: trold; Norse, Old: troll) of Scandinavian folklore. Norwegian trold (troll) can signify not just a 'giant', but a 'specter, ghost' (Norwegian: spøkelse) as well.
As an alternate etymology, John Jamieson's Scottish dictionary conjectured that the word trow may be a corruption of Scandinavian draug. It may be worth noting that the Norwegian "sea-draug" (Norwegian: draug; Danish: søe-drau, Danish: søe-draul) was either a sub-type or equivalent to the sea-troll/sea-trold, according to 18th century tracts by Dano-Norwegians.
The trow is also called drow under its variant spelling in the Insular dialects of Scots; the "drow" being mentioned by Walter Scott. However, the term "drow" could also be used in the sense of ‘the devil’ in Orkney.
The word drow also occurs in the Shetland Norn language, where it means ‘huldrefolk’("the hidden people", fairies), ‘troll-folk’, or ‘ghost’. As drow is not a Norse language spelling, linguist Jakob Jakobsen proposed it was taken from the common (Scots) term "trow" altered to drow by assimilation with Old Norse Norse, Old: {{linktext|draugr or Norwegian Norwegian: draug. The reconstructed Shetland word would be *drog if it did descend from Old Norse draugr, but this is unattested, nor was it adopted into the Nynorn vocabulary to supersede the known form.
It was considered taboo to speak about trows. It was also considered unlucky to catch sight of a trow, though auspicious to hear one speaking.[1]
Their portrayed appearance can vary greatly: in some telling gigantic and even multi-headed, as are some giants in English lore; else small or human-sized, like ordinary fairies, but dressed in grey.[2]
Trows consist of two kinds, the hill-trows (land trows) and sea-trows, and the two kinds are said to be mortal enemies.
Of the hill-dwelling types, it is said they can only appear out of their dwellings ("knowes"=knolls; "trowie knowes") after sunset, and if they miss the opportunity to return before sunrise, they do not perish but must await above ground and bide his time until "the Glüder (the sun) disappears again".[3]
The trows are fond of music and constantly play the fiddle themselves.[1] Sometimes a human learns such tunes, and there are traditional tunes purported to have been learned from the supernatural creatures (cf. §Trowie tunes below).
Tales are also told of human fiddlers being abducted by trows to their mounds, and although released after what seems a brief stay, many long years have elapsed in the outside world, and the victim turns to dust, or chooses to die.
See also: tangie.
There are varying descriptions concerning the sea-trow.
An early account is that of the trow (Latin: Troicis|italic=no Latin: Trowis|italic=no) of Stronsay, as described by Jo. Ben (i.e., John or Joseph Ben)'s Description of the Orkney Islands (1529); it was a maritime monster resembling a colt whose entire body was cloaked in seaweed, with a coiled or matted coat of hair, sexual organs like a horse's, and known to engage in sexual intercourse with the women of the island.
The sea-trow of Orkney is "the ugliest imaginable" according to W. Traill Dennison, who says that it has been represented as a scaly creature with matted hair, having monkey-like face and sloping head. It was said to be frail-bodied with disproportionately huge sets of limbs, disc-shaped feet ("round as a millstone") with webbings on their hands and feet, causing them to move with a lumbering and "wabbling" slow gait.
However, in Shetland, "da mokkl sea-trow", a great evil spirit that dwelled in the depths, was said to take on the shape of a woman, at least in some instances.
It is blamed for awaiting in the depths and stealing from the fish caught on fishermen's lines, and otherwise feared for causing storms or causing ill luck to fishermen. In the form of the wailing woman, she portends some misfortune befalling the witness/audience.
According to Samuel Hibbert the sea-trow was a local version of the neckar, and he specified that it was reputed to be decked with various stuff from out of the sea, especially fuci (Fucus spp. of seaweed), whose larger forms near shore are known as "tang" in Shetland.[4] And though Hibbert does not make the connection, E. Marwick equated the sea-trow with the "tangy", as already noted.
Most mounds in Orkney are associated with "mound-dweller[s]" (hogboon; Norse, Old: haugbúinn; Norwegian: haugbonde) living inside them,
"others of human size, and .. clothed in grey"; and : "Our Shetland Fairies are.. unlike Lover's Irish 'good people'.. They are small, grey-clad men".