0:16-0:40 Pre-dawn proposal

The structure begins as story entry, not as a separate intro. Morning has not fully arrived, the birds have not begun, and by 0:28 the mountain troll is already making the proposal. The section's job is to put the supernatural bargain on a firm road before the refrain turns it into repeated form.

0:40-1:05 Refrain as bargain table

At 0:40 the address to Herr Mannelig becomes the track's recurring gate. The refrain does more than identify him; it resets the same demand each time it returns. Structurally, this is the table where every gift has to become the same question: yes or no.

1:05-2:13 First gifts

The first offer at 1:05 gives the form its bargaining cycle. Horses, then the mills between Tillö and Tärnö at 1:53, expand the value of the offer while the song keeps the same forward stride. The structure does not widen into a display scene. It repeats the proposal mechanism with larger objects inside it.

2:42-3:57 Sword and shirt

At 2:42 the sword raises the bargain from wealth into power, and by 3:30 the white shirt turns the final offer toward beauty and impossible craft. This section is the last expansion before the answer. Its job is to prove that the troll can keep increasing the gifts without escaping the form that traps them.

4:19-5:31 Refusal and grief

The refusal arrives at 4:19, with the Christian boundary and troll identity named by 4:31. The structure does not stop for a clean moral verdict. It carries the answer into the grief section at 5:14, where the proposal turns into the loss of a hoped-for release from torment.

5:37-6:01 Final refrain after the answer

The final refrain returns after the bargain has already failed. That return changes its function: it no longer persuades, and it no longer opens a real choice. It closes the form by showing the question still repeating after hope has been destroyed.