By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends

182 Pages·2019·5.149 MB·English

by  Emilie Demant Hatt, Barbara Sjoholm

BY THE FIRE

SAMI FOLKTALES
and LEGENDS
Collected and Illustrated by
EMILIE DEMANT HATT
Translated by Barbara Sjoholm
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
Frontispiece: Emilie Demant Hatt, “The Sami lad and his Halde wife then moved up to
the high mountains with their reindeer,” linocut print, circa 1922.
The University of Minnesota Press gratefully acknowledges the generous assistance
provided for the publication of this book from the Danish Arts Foundation.
Originally published in Danish as Ved ilden. Eventyr og historier fra Lapland
(Copenhagen: J. H. Schultz Forlag, 1922).
Translation and Afterword copyright 2019 by Barbara Sjoholm
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401- 2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal- opportunity educator and employer.
24 23 22 21 20 19 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Demant Hatt, Emilie, 1873-1958, compiler and illustrator. | Sjoholm, Barbara, translator.
By the fire : Sami folktales and legends / collected and illustrated by Emilie Demant Hatt ;
translated by Barbara Sjoholm.
Other titles: Ved ilden. English
Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references. | 
Identifiers: LCCN 2018024549 (print) | ISBN 978-1-5179-0457-9 (hc) |
ISBN 978-1-5179-0458-6 (pb)
Subjects: LCSH: Sami (European people)—Folklore. | Folklore—Lapland. |
Legends—Lapland.
Classification: LCC GR138.5 .V3413 2019 (print) | DDC 398.2094897/7—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018024549
Contents
Translator’s Note xi
Introduction 1
Moose, Lucky Reindeer, Reindeer Luck, and Wizardry 7
7 The Sun’s Daughter with the Tame Moose Herd
8 The Sami Who Weren’t Satisfied with the Moose
8 The Giant Folk Who Had Tame Moose
8 How the Sami Were Given Reindeer and Tents by the
Underground Folk and How the Settlers Were Given
Farms and Farm Animals
10 The Old Woman Who Made Reindeer Herding Difficult
11 The Sami Lad Who Married a Halde Girl and Was Given
Lucky Reindeer Along with Her
13 How the Sami Girl Tricked the Evil One
14 The Sami Man and the Devil
15 Stainak and the Sami Man Who Died
16 The Sami Man Who Wanted His Dead Wife Back
18 The Reindeer- Herding Ghost
19 The Shoes Sewn from Human Skin
19 The Wizardly Sami Girl
Sickness Spirits 21
21 The Sickness Spirit That Arrived on a Stick of Wood
23 The Sickness Spirits That Froze in the High Mountains
24 The Sami Woman Who Saw Fever and Another
Sickness Spirit
Murdered Children 27
27 The Dead Child Who Came to Life Again
30 Epper
Animals 33
33 How the Sami Got the Dog
35 Dogs with Different Natures
35 The Reindeer and Sheep Race to the Farmer’s House
36 The Bear That Carried Jesus over the River
37 When God Doled Out Fat to the Animals
37 The Fastest Animals
38 The Woodpecker
38 The Loon
38 The Hazel Grouse
39 How Mosquitos Came into the World
39 Origins of Lice
40 The Pike Fish and the Snake
40 Dangerous to Sleep by a Juniper Bush
40 The Woman Who Wanted to Help the Frog
41 Snake Cure
42 The Great Mother Frog
42 The Fox Tricks the Bear and Makes a Sami Man Rich
Folktales 47
47 Njavisjædne and Atsisjædne
49 The Daughters of Njavisjædne and Atsisjædne
52 Atsisjædne Tars the Moon
53 The Poor Lad Who Rescued the Princess
54 Jerusalem’s Shoemaker
56 The Dog- Turk
57 The Dog- Turk Lost His Prey
58 Jættanas, Who Wanted a Sweetheart
58 The Boy Who Killed Stallo
59 Stallo Plays Blind Man’s Bluff
60 Stallo Loses His Prey
60 The Sami Man Who Got Away from Stallo
in a Billy Goat Skin
61 Stallo, Who Was Tricked
62 Stallo’s Man Trap
63 The Trial of Strength
63 The Sami Man Who Married a Stallo Girl
65 Stallo Eats His Grandchild
Russian Chudes and Other Enemies 69
69 When the Sami Lived under the Earth
70 The Russian Chudes between the Lakes
71 The Dreadful Ravine
71 The Russian Chudes Who Drove Headless
72 The Legend of the Seven Sleepers
73 The Blind Old Woman
73 The Headland of the Murdered
74 The Russian Chudes Who Were Blown Up
74 The Sami Man Who Created a Storm
75 The Sami Girls Who Escaped the Bandits
76 The Sami Girls Who Stirred Up a Snowstorm
77 “The South Wind Bangs against Bird Mountain”
77 The King Believed That the Sami Were Animals
78 The Sami Man Who Tricked the Enemies
and Saved the Farmers
78 How the Sami in the Hotag Mountains Killed
the Enemies
79 Tju’jaure
81 When the Farmers Wanted to Stamp Out the Sami
82 The Disguised Farmers
82 Karin Wildstar
84 Nuelesgiete
Field Notes and Commentary 87
Afterword. “Here They Can Still Tell Stories”:
Sami Folklore and the Storytellers of By the Fire 107
BARBARA SJOHOLM
Selected Bibliography 163