query: country_of_origin the troll
supports: The Troll by Julia Donaldson and David Roberts is a children 's story about a troll and some pirates . The troll in this story is based on the troll from the Three Billy Goats Gruff fairy tale . However , in this story , no goats ever cross the troll 's bridge and he is forced to survive on fish that he catches from the river . He does encounter , in turn , a spider , a mouse and a rabbit , each of which convinces the troll not to eat them by telling him that he should try a bridge further down the river that is more suitable for capturing goats as he is `` sick of fish '' . Meanwhile , the pirate captain Hank Chief and his crew ( Peg Polkadot , Ben Buckle and Percy Patch ) are searching for the treasure that is marked on their map , but are unable to locate the correct island . The pirates also display very poor culinary skills . Eventually , the troll reaches the sea and realises that he has been tricked by the other animals ; he sees what he thinks are goat tracks in the sand and sets about laying a trap for the goat in a spot not too far from the location on the pirate 's treasure map . He duly discovers an old chest when digging a large hole to ensnare his prey and throws away the `` round shiny objects '' he finds therein . He decides to lie in wait in the chest for the goat and falls asleep . Predictably , the pirates then arrive and make off with their `` treasure '' ; upon opening the chest the pirates decide to make the troll walk the plank , until Peg discovers the troll 's frying pan and cookbook . On discovering the troll 's culinary talents , they agree to spare the troll and make him their cook . The troll is delighted and proceeds to tell the pirates that he will make them his favourite goat stew only to be advised , to his horror , that all the pirates desire is . . fish . A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, unicorns, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments. Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described) and explicitly moral tales, including beast fables. The term is mainly used for stories with origins in European tradition and, at least in recent centuries, mostly relates to children's literature. Children's Laureate is a position awarded in the United Kingdom once every two years to a "writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field." The post stemmed from a discussion between the (now deceased) Poet Laureate Ted Hughes and children's writer Michael Morpurgo. A troll is a class of being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings. Axel Scheffler (born 1957) is a German-born illustrator and animator based in London. He is best known for his cartoon-like pictures for children's books, particularly "The Gruffalo" and "The Gruffalo's Child", written by Julia Donaldson. Julia Catherine Donaldson MBE (born 16 September 1948) is an English writer, playwright and performer, and the 20112013 Children's Laureate. She is best known for her popular rhyming stories for children, especially those illustrated by Axel Scheffler, which include "The Gruffalo", "Room on the Broom" and "Stick Man". She originally wrote songs for children's television but has concentrated on writing books since the words of one of her songs, "A Squash and a Squeeze", were made into a children's book in 1993. Of her 184 published works, 64 are widely available in bookshops. The remaining 120 are intended for school use and include her Songbirds phonic reading scheme, which is part of the Oxford Reading Tree. Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during about the 9th to 13th centuries. A mermaid is a legendary aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including the Near East, Europe, Africa and Asia. The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria, in which the goddess Atargatis transformed herself into a mermaid out of shame for accidentally killing her human lover. Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks and drownings. In other folk traditions (or sometimes within the same tradition), they can be benevolent or beneficent, bestowing boons or falling in love with humans. Scandinavian folklore or Nordic folklore is the folklore of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Scandinavia is a historical and cultural region in Northern Europe characterized by a common ethnocultural North Germanic heritage and mutually intelligible North Germanic languages. Norse mythology is the body of mythology of the North Germanic people stemming from Norse paganism and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia and into the Scandinavian folklore of the modern period. The northernmost extension of Germanic mythology, Norse mythology consists of tales of various deities, beings, and heroes derived from numerous sources from both before and after the pagan period, including medieval manuscripts, archaeological representations, and folk tradition.
candidates: africa denmark europe iceland london norway scandinavia united kingdom
answer: united kingdom