Alexa’s Elixir (Five Thomas Dambo trolls and a Golden Rabbit)
A trip to the Fargo, North Dakota area (or NODAK as we say!) meant a short drive to beautiful Detroit Lakes, Minnesota and a quest to find more trolls created by Thomas Dambo and his team. Listed as numbers 130-135 on his website (that’s a lot of trolls), the five trolls and the golden rabbit (and numerous bird houses) are spread in and around the city of Detroit Lakes. The “quest” to locate the trolls includes a few hikes, cracking a code and solving a riddle, that starts with Alexa and her vat of elixir.
There is a troll in our home town of Austin, Texas, which is how we became interested. Thomas Dambo builds his trolls out of recycled materials. He started building them in his home country of Denmark, and has since built over 100 around the world. As you can see in the photos, the trolls are large (15-20 feet tall) and seem to each have a personality of their own.
Alexa’s Elixir
Easy to find (as the location of the clues should be!), Alexa sits in the middle of the Detroit Lakes City Park (looking out toward the same named lake). Her story (told on a placard provided by Project412, the sponsors of “Trolls in DL”, provides this background:
The wise old traveling brewer of potions. Always dragging her portals, ingredients and mighty spoon. She solves problems all over the land – for trolls and humans alike. Maybe she has a challenge for you?
The four pages in Alexa’s book give the clues and tell the tales of her and the other trolls.
Since they might be hard to read, below is a transcription:
A long, long time ago, or maybe just a little,
Lived a tiny little people everyone considered equal.
And every morning, every man and woman from the town
Would go to work and go to rest with bellies warm and round.
But as it is in stories, something unforeseen can happen
That’s true in this tale, too, as then the thunder starts clapping
And from across the mountain, a golden rabbit came
And told the little people things would never be the same
It told about another town, much bigger and much better,
Where everyone had twice as much, much better was the weather.
It told the little people, you are hungry and so cold
But if you work for me, I will lead you to the gold.
And so they did, day after day, in search of something better
Twice as hard and twice as long, in what seemed like forever.
Alexa’s Elixir, page 1
But as it is in stories, something unforeseen can happen
Now, a big old troll came draggin’ with a cauldron on a wagon
The little people were still working hard; it had become a habit.
Gold had made them addicted, yet nowhere was the rabbit.
Famous for her magic mirrors, the troll was called Alexa.
To set the little people free, she wrote a recipe for an elixir.
Start with: The songs of three birds and a little bit of herb.
Add the laughter from a stranger, and let it cook while you stir.
You will need to plant a plant and chop a little bit of root
Add a story of love, and then put in a mile walked barefoot.
But as it is in stories, something unforeseen can happen
And so it does again, this time, it’s your turn to take action
Help Alexa make the elixir. Go find the eight ingredients.
Face the golden rabbit and set the little people free again!
Alexa’s Elixir, page 2
The last two pages talk about going to the Troll Map website and finding the other five trolls (and three mirrors where Alexa’s arm comes through), and then cracking the code to find the golden rabbit.
As can be seen in several of the photos, Alexa’s arm is going into her magic mirror. The other end can be seen in three places, one as far away as Fargo, North Dakota, our home base for this trip.
You can see in the photos that Alexa has a necklace, and that necklace has a symbol and a number on it. The sculpture with her arm coming out of the mirror also has a symbol. These correspond to the translation key in the last page of her book, and provides a clue to the location of the Golden Rabbit!
Tracking Trolls
A few things troll hunters should keep in mind:
When hiking to find the trolls, the path is easy to find because there are birdhouses marking the way.
If you are not sure you are in the right place, look for signs that say troll parking. Some signs make it very easy to know you are in the right place.
And some signs make it easy to know you are in the wrong place!
Ronny Funny Face
Initially we thought we could hike from troll to troll, but we were glad we nixed that idea just getting to the next one – Ronny Funny Face. There were multi-lane roads with no sidewalks between he and Alexa, and Ronny was a few miles drive and a short hike away from Alexa.
Of course, you are supposed to make a funny face with Ronny.
The sign near Ronny Funny Face tells his story.
Ronny loves to laugh – Or, really, make everyone else laugh! He feels the best when he can stomp around the forest and make silly faces at the small animals. Hiding here and there, waiting for someone, he can show this silly face! If you see him around here, don’t forget to share your silly face with him! Ronny’s gift to Alexa’s elixir is the exchange of laughter.
We recognized some of the same families walking to and from Freddy as we did when we visited Alexa’s Elixir. The Project412 group, sponsors/curators of the project, had put up enough signs where the hunt to find the trolls was hard but not impossible.
Barefeet Frida
Another drive, another beautiful hike, and we found Frida. The end of the trail to Frida had a part over stones or a longer portion that was drier over the trail. I chose stones and my more intelligent wife chose the drier path.
As with the other trolls, there is a sign that tells Frida’s story.
Once Frida had found the perfect place for it, she carefully arranged a cozy path for the small people to enjoy. Her big wooden feet are harder than the soft and small human feet but she discovered that it did not matter! Everyone can enjoy a fun walk in bare feet and really feel nature. A mile walked in bare feet was her ingredient to Alexa’s Elixir.
Frida has a beautiful place to take a load off her feet.
Frida was in the shade, but parts of the trail were not. A farm cat jumped out into the trail in front of us and laid in the shade, somewhat oblivious to us troll tourists.
Long Leif
Leif is the tallest troll Thomas Dambo has built – so far. I am 5’10” (and shrinking according to my wife) and could barely reach to Leif’s knees.
As someone who has always had a thing for trees, and has introduced my grandson to several, I love Leif‘s story.
Ever since he was a small splinter, Leif loved his trees. He loved them so much he wanted to be one! So, he would stay in the clearing, and pretend to be a tree. Feeling the sun and wind, snow and rain on his face. Swaying gently back and forth, and growing taller and taller and taller…. He only moves around springtime and autumn, where he’ll go out and plant small trees, in places where they can have a good life, and grow nice and big! His gift to Alexa’s Elixir is the new life in a small sapling.
After Lief, we were down to one more troll before the hunt for the Golden Rabbit!
Jacob Everear
Jacob likes to tell and hear stories, and boy is my gorgeous wife telling him a doozy!
It is easy to tell from Jacob’s expression that he is a good and attentive listener.
It is also easy to tell from his posture that this dude knows how to relax!
Jacob is so cool and complex he had two signs that told about his personality and history. Both describe similar things.
Trolls have been telling stories since the beginning of time, and Jacob had heard them all. He didn’t have a lot of his own stories, but would just sit around the campfire and listen to the other trolls speak of things big or small. Over time, his ears grew bigger and bigger, so he could hear even the small human voices! Now he can listen to human stories too! He awaits patiently under a tree, for the next humans to come by and tell him a story – big or small. His gift to Alexa’s Elixir is the power of patience and listening.
The path to get to Jacob, though the temperature was warming up, was extremely picturesque. Without divulging too much about his not-so-secret location, here’s a couple of pics.
The Golden Rabbit
After visiting all of Thomas Dambo’s Detroit Lakes’ trolls, we stopped for lunch and a chance to work on the code to find the Golden Rabbit. If you recall, the last page in Alexa’s book and a map, a code that relates to the symbols and numbers on each troll (and the arms through mirrors) and some blanks that show the structure of the clue. After Audrey cracked the code and we finished munching, we were back in the car for one final hike and hunt.
Beware Traveller! The Golden Rabbit has been seen recently in this area! Ever hungry for more, and ready to persuade others to buy, use and consume, he might just do that to you!
Thomas Dambo has many other trolls
We found out about Thomas Dambo when he and his team built a troll in Pease Park in Austin, a park where we take our grandchildren. We now search for his trolls any place that we travel.
Thomas and his team have created over 130 trolls around the world, and all of the ones we have visited are worth the trip. Here’s a link to the online troll map that shows where they all are.
