a tale from Utsjoki, from J. A. Friis, Lappiske Sprogprøver (1856)

The jetanas is the giant of the North Sámi tales, and his hægga, his life, can be kept hidden outside his body. Told in North Sámi at Ohcejohka (Utsjoki) and printed by Jens Andreas Friis in 1856, with his own Norwegian translation on the facing pages, this tale tells how an old woman drew from the Giant the secret of where his life was hidden, and how her son crossed a burning sea with a bear, a wolf, a hawk and a diver to find it and burn it.

Translation

A certain old woman had a husband who had been at war with the Giant for seven years, for the Giant was seeking to kill the old woman's husband, so that the Giant might take the old woman for his wife. When the seven years were full, then at last the Giant was able to kill the old man. But the old man and the old woman had one son, who also sought to kill the Giant, for the sake of revenge, because the Giant had killed his father so that he might take his mother for his wife. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

And the son said to his mother: "Do you know where the Giant's life is, since I cannot kill him? Then you must now try to find this out: 'Where, Giant, is your life?'" Then his mother asked this, and the Giant answered: "Why do you ask that?" Then the old woman answered the Giant: "If I come into danger, then I can put my trust in your life."

Then the Giant told the old woman of his life, and said: "Beyond the burning sea there is an island, and on that island there is a barrel, and in that barrel there is a sheep, and in that sheep there is a hen, and in that hen there is an egg, and in that egg is my life." Then the old woman's son came to his mother and asked: "Have you come to know by now, my dear mother, where the Giant's life is?"

Then the mother answered her son: "I have indeed come to know, my dear son. Beyond the burning sea, the Giant said, is his life, and an island is there, and on that island is a barrel, and in that barrel is a sheep, and in that sheep is a hen, and in that hen is an egg, and in that egg is the Giant's life." Then the son said to his mother: "Then I must hire servants for myself, with whom I can go through the burning sea." And he hired for himself a bear and a wolf and a hawk and a diver, and then he set out.

He himself went into the middle of the boat, under an iron awning, and took the hawk and the diver in with him under the awning too, so that they would not burn. But the bear and the wolf he set to rowing; and that is why the bear has red-brown and black hair, because he has been through the burning sea; and that is why the wolf has white and black and red-brown spots in his hair, because he has been through the burning sea.

Then they came to the island where the Giant's life was, and they went onto the island and came to the barrel. Then the bear struck the bottom out of the barrel with his forepaws, and out of the barrel the sheep dashed off at a gallop; but the wolf galloped after it, and the wolf caught the sheep fast and tore it to pieces. Out of the sheep a hen flew off, and the hawk flew after the hen and struck its claws fast into the hen and tore it to pieces. In the hen there was an egg, and the egg fell into the water and sank.

Then the diver dived after it. The first time it dived after the egg and was gone a good long while; but when it could bear no more to stay under the water any longer at one go without breathing, it came into sight on the water to breathe. When it had got its breath, it dived again a second time and was gone longer still than before, but still it did not find it. Then a third time it dived again, and was gone longer still than those two times. Then it found the egg on the bottom of the sea and came up onto the water.

Then the boy saw that the egg was in the diver's beak, and he grew very glad. Then the diver brought the egg to the boy, and the boy took the egg and made a fire on that same island, and put the egg in the fire to burn. As it began to burn, the boy rowed off home, since he had got what he had set out for.

When he came to the place he had set out from, he went, as soon as he stepped ashore, to the Giant's, and saw the Giant burned in the same way as the egg that he had put in the fire on the island in the sea. Then the boy went to his mother, and his mother grew very glad when she saw that her son had come home safe and well, and that he had won the victory out there on his journey, and that he had been able to kill the Giant. And the old woman thanked her son and said: "Great thanks to you once more, my dear son, that you have overcome the Giant's life!"

And the old woman was still talking with her son, and there was still a little bit of life left in the Giant; and the Giant answered the old woman: "That I should have told my life to that evil-minded old one!" Then the Giant drew embers and ashes into himself through a bone drinking-tube, in at his mouth, and the roof of the Giant's mouth burned, and he choked, and his body too came to its end in the fire, all of it that could burn. Then the fire went out, and his life came to its end together with the fire.

Colophon

Translated from the North Sámi of Lappiske Sprogprøver: en Samling af lappiske Eventyr, Ordsprog og Gaader, edited by J. A. Friis (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 2, 4 and 6, the first tale of the group printed under the heading Ucjok, which Friis's glossary gives as the river and the parish of Utsjoki. For this tale Friis printed the Sámi on the even pages with his own Norwegian translation facing it; the English was made from the Sámi alone, and the Norwegian pages were not used. The text was transcribed from the page images of the New York Public Library copy; Friis's list of misprints has no corrections for these pages, and a former owner's ink over three lines of p. 2 is not part of the text. Words were checked in the Sámi–Norwegian glossary that Friis printed at the back of the same book, and in his larger Ordbog over det lappiske Sprog (1887): hægga is life, and hæggaš a little life; galgo is an old woman, and galës (here galla) an old man; soattat is to wage war; maksohanesvuotta is the desire for revenge; ditoštet is to search out, to try to find out; gačat is to ask; hæđastuvvat is to come into distress or danger, and dorvastet to trust, to rely on; buölle is burning and ave (appe) the sea; suolo is an island; farpal is a barrel; vuonces is a hen (the 1887 dictionary gives cock or hen); monne is an egg; falle is a hawk; doktag, also printed dofta, is a diver, which the glossary describes as a sea-bird bigger than the loon and the 1887 dictionary names as the black-throated diver; guovča, also printed guofča, is the bear, and gumpe the wolf; loavda is the woollen cloth of a tent, so ruovde-loavdag is an iron awning; ruškis is red-brown, and girje a spot; čorbmat is to strike with the fist, said also of a bear striking with its paw, and ouda-juölge is a forefoot; bâtta, genitive bâđa, is the bottom of a barrel; ruottastet is to dash off at a gallop, and ruottastattet to chase at a gallop; gajkodet is to tear to pieces; girdaldattet is to fly after, and gaʒʒastet to strike the claws into; vuojot is to sink; buokčalet is to dive, and buokčalattet to dive after; oktan manost is "at one go"; vuojŋastet is to breathe, and ittet (iđi) to come into sight; njudne is a beak; lavkit is to step, and gadde the shore; vuojto dakkat is to win the victory; bahha-juonalaš is evil-minded; rottit is to pull hard, to gulp down into oneself; a bocce is a drinking-tube of bone, which the Sámi used to reach water in awkward places; hilla is an ember and gudna ash; guobme is the palate, the roof of the mouth; lappasuvvat is to be choked, to perish; nokkat is to come to an end; and časkat is said of a fire going out. Some readings rest on grammar or context rather than on a dictionary entry: damanaga sullui is read as "on that same island", from the 1887 dictionary's damanaga, "the same"; gonaid, printed with o, is read as the ashes, gudna; læǯam sardnom is read as the perfect conjunctive, "that I should have told", whose auxiliary the grammar of the 1887 dictionary gives as læʒam; and gukkarak is read as gukka, "long", with the strengthening ending -rak. Vela in the mother's thanks is "still, further, again" (glossary end, endnu, fremdeles), given as "once more". Friis ends the opening of the tale with a row of dots and begins a new paragraph; the English keeps the row. Friis prints no closing quotation mark after the mother's answer to her son; the English closes it.

No complete English translation of Friis's collection is known to us.

© 2026 Tianmu Anglican Church. This English translation is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: you may share and adapt it for non-commercial use with credit to the Good Works Library, tianmu.org. The source text keeps its own terms. For other uses, see Rights and Reuse.

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Source Text: Jetanasa hægga

North Sámi text as printed by Friis (1856), pp. 2, 4 and 6, in his orthography; his list of misprints has no corrections for these pages; line-end hyphens are joined. Friis's two paragraphs (the second begins at "Ja dat bardne") are divided here at the same places as the English.

Muttom boares galgost læi boadnja, gutte čieča jage læi soattam Jetanasain, go Jetanas bivdi goddet dam boares galgo boadnja, damditti vaj Jetanas oǯuši aldsis galgon valdet dam boares galgo. Go čieča jage dievvam legje, de buvti æska Jetanas goddet dam boares galla. Mutto de læi dam boares gallast ja dam boares galgost okta bardne, gutte majda bivdi Jetanasa goddet maksohanesvuođa ditti, go su ače læi goddam Jetanas, vaj su ædne oǯuši valdet aldsis akkan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ja dat bardne celki ædnasis: „Dieđakgo, gost læ Jetanasa hægga, go mon im buvte su goddet? De dam galgak dal ditoštet: „Gost læ, Jetanas, du hægga?“ De su ædne jærai dam, ja de vastedi Jetanas: „Mannen don dam gačak?“ De vastedi boares galgo Jetanassi: „Jos mon hæđastuvvam, de mon oaǯom dorvastet du heggi.“

De sardnoi Jetanas hæggas dam boares galgoi ja celki: „Buölle ave duökken læ suolo, ja dam sullust læ farpal, ja dam farpal sist læ savca, ja dam savca sist læ vuonces, ja dam vuonca sist læ monne, ja dam mone sist læ mu hægga.“ De bođi boares galgo bardne ædnes lusa ja jærai: „Jogo don, ædnačam, dal læk boattam diettet, gost læ Jetanasa hægga?“

De vastedi ædne bardnasis: „Læm galle boattam diettet, bardnačam. Buölle ave duökken sardnoi Jetanas hæggas, ja suolo dobbe læ, ja dam sullust læ farpal, ja dam farpal sist læ savca, ja dam savca sist læ vuonces, ja dam vuonca sist læ monne, ja dam mone sist læ Jetanasa hægga. De celki bardne ædnasis: „De mon fertim balkatet aldsim balvalegjid, gæi gujm mon matam mannat buölle ave čađa.“ Ja de son balkati aldsis guovča ja gumpe ja falle ja doktag, ja de vulgi.

Ješ manai gasko vâdnas ruovde-loavdag vuöllai ja valdi falle ja doktag majda lusas loavdag vuöllai amasge buöllet. Mutto guovča ja gumpe bijai sukkat; damditti læk guovčast ruškis ja čappis guolgak, go buölle ave čađa læ mannam; ja damditti læk gumpest vilgis ja čappis ja ruškis girjek guolgain, go buölle ave čađa læ mannam.

De botte si dam sullui, gost Jetanasa hægga læi, ja de manne sullui ja botte dam farpal lusa. De čorbmadi guofča ouda-julginës farpal bâđa eriti, ja dam farpal sist ruottasti savca, mutto gumpe dam ruottastatti, ja doppi gumpe dam savca gidda ja gajkodi. Dam savca sist girdeli vuonces, ja dam vuonca girdaldatti falle ja gaʒʒasti vuonca gidda ja gajkodi. Dam vuonca sist læi monne, ja dat monne gaččai čaccai ja vuojoi.

De dofta buokčalatti dam. Vuostas have buokčalatti dam mone ja javkai gukkarak, mutto go i gillam šat æmbo oktan manost gukkeb vuojŋastkættaj orrot čace vuold, de iđi čace ala vuojŋastet. Go vuojŋastam læi, de fastajn nubbe gærde buokčali ja javkai ajn gukkeb, go oudal, mutto i velage gavdnam. De goalmad gærde fastajn buokčali ja de ajn javkai gukkeb, go dam guöfte have. De gavnai dam mone mæra bodnest ja bođi bajas čace ala.

De ojni bardne, monne læi doktag njunest, ja šaddai stuorra illoi. De buvti dofta dam mone dam bardne lusa, ja dat bardne valdi dam mone ja rakadi damanaga sullui dola ja bijai dam mone dam dolli buöllet. Dego buöllegođi, de sukkali ruoktod dat bardne, go oǯǯom læi dam, manditti læi vuölgam.

Go bođi dam bajkai, gost læi vuölgam, de manai, dallanaga go gaddai lavki, Jetanasa lusa ja ojni Jetanasa sæmma lakkai buöllam go dam mone, maid son appe-sullust dolli bijai. De manai dat bardne ædnes lusa, ja ædne šaddai stuorra illoi, go ojni, su bardne ruoktod boattam læi dærvan, ja atte læi vuojto dakkam dobbe dam rejsostës, ja atte læi buftam goddet Jetanasa. Ja giti dat boares galgo su bardnes ja celki: „Stuorra gito vela dudnji, bardnačam, go don læk vuojtam Jetanasa hægga!“

Ja vela ajn sardnomen læi boares galgo bardninës, ja vela læi ucca hæggaš Jetanasast; ja vastedi Jetanas dam boares galgoi: „Vaj de læǯam sardnom dam boares bahha-juonalaǯǯi hæggam!“ — De rotti Jetanas bocce čađa hilaid ja gonaid sisas njalbme-rajge, ja de buli Jetanasast guobme, ja lappasuvvai, ja nogai rumašge dolast, mi mati buöllet. De časkai dolla, ja nogai su hægga oktanaga dolain.

Source Colophon

J. A. Friis (ed.), Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 2, 4 and 6; Friis's list of misprints has no corrections for these pages, and his Norwegian translation on the facing pages is not reproduced here. Public domain. Transcribed from the page images of the New York Public Library copy, digitized by Google (Internet Archive identifier lappiskesprogpr00friigoog); a former owner's handwritten marks in that copy are not part of the text. Friis's letters are kept as printed, including â, ö, ë, č, đ, š, ŋ, and both ʒ and ǯ, which he distinguishes.

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