The Hvítserkur Troll

A basalt sea stack on the Vatnsnes coast is said to be a troll caught building a bridge to Grímsey and turned to stone by the rising sun.

Hvítserkur stands alone in the shallow water off the eastern shore of the Vatnsnes peninsula in North Iceland — a fifteen-metre spire of black basalt worn through by the sea into two arches, so that from certain angles it resembles a dragon dipping its head to drink, or an elephant, or, in the version told longest, a troll frozen mid-stride. The story goes that a troll living on Vatnsnes had grown obsessed with the bells of the church at Þingeyraklaustur, ringing across the water and disturbing its rest. Some versions say the troll set out at night to destroy the bell tower itself; others say it was trying to wade or build a crossing to the island of Grímsey, to be closer to its own kind, or simply to cause mischief among the fishing boats. Whatever the errand, the troll lost track of the hour, and dawn found it still out in the shallows, exposed, with no cave or shadow to retreat into. Trolls in Icelandic folklore do not survive sunlight. The first light over the peninsula caught the creature where it stood and turned it, instantly and permanently, to stone — the same fate that befalls trolls across dozens of Icelandic coastal formations, from Reynisdrangar to Drangsnes to the canyon pillars of Jökulsárgljúfur. Hvítserkur has stood in that spot long enough that its base has been reinforced with concrete against the pounding of the tide, to keep the troll — or the rock, depending on which account is believed — from finally being worn away.