a tale from Nesseby on the Varangerfjord, from J. A. Friis, Lappiske Sprogprøver (1856)

Told in North Sámi at Unjárga (Nesseby) and printed by Jens Andreas Friis in 1856, in Sámi only. The Sámi word for the mermaid, avfruva, is the Norwegian havfrue, "sea-wife", borrowed along the shared coast. Two brothers sit on the shore watching for foxes; one would shoot the sea-woman who comes up to braid her hair, and the other will not let him.

Translation

Two boys were once sitting on the shore, watching for foxes. Then a mermaid came and sat down on a stone. The younger boy wanted to shoot the mermaid, but the elder forbade him: "Don't shoot; it won't turn out well for us if you shoot." But the mermaid sat on the stone, and she was combing out her hair and meant to braid it.

Again the younger wanted to shoot, but the elder forbade him: "What are you doing now? Let her be there, since she does us no harm that we should hate her for!" The younger paid no heed that the elder forbade him; he primed his gun and pressed the gunstock to his cheek. When the elder saw his brother pressing the gunstock to his cheek, he shouted to the mermaid: "Flee, you are betrayed!" And the mermaid plunged at once into the sea, and as she went she called to the elder boy, the one who had wished her well: "My boy, tomorrow you must be here at this same time!" Then the two boys went home.

The next day the one boy came back again at the same time to the place where they had been sitting, and he sat down there and killed a black fox. Then the mermaid came onto the same stone and called the boy to her, and the boy waded out to the mermaid, and the mermaid told the boy: "Get up on my back, and put your nose and mouth under my hair, so that you do not drown when I go to carry you through the sea!" And the boy was willing.

Then the mermaid plunged down again with the boy, and she gave the boy a grapnel as well, and said: "When we come to my father's house, you must greet no one but my father, and you must not greet him with your hand, but you must hold out the grapnel."

The two of them came to the mermaid's dwelling, and there was no water there; it was light there, and the water was like a ceiling up above. When the boy held out the grapnel to greet him, the mermaid's father gripped the grapnel so hard that its prongs bent every which way. And the boy was given a tremendous lot of silver dollars.

Then the mermaid set off again to carry the boy home, and she gave the boy a golden cup besides, into his right hand; and they went, and as they went, it seemed to the boy that everything grew more. Then the mermaid brought the boy back to the same place where she had taken him, and that boy was a well-to-do man all his life long; but the younger one, the one who meant to shoot, he withered like dry wood, for there was no blessing in him at all.

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. 22–23, from the group told at Unjárga (Unjarga, Nesseby) on the Varangerfjord. Friis printed it in Sámi only. The text was transcribed from the page images of the New York Public Library copy; Friis's list of misprints has nothing for these pages. 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). The glossary gives træga (or dræga) as the Norwegian dregg, a grapnel, the small many-pronged anchor of a fishing boat, and skučaget as "to be bent crooked", so the boy holds out a grapnel and the sea-father's grip bends its prongs; it gives fengit bissos as "to put priming powder on the gun", gälgat as "to comb out", and vuojŋak, the plural of "breath", as "the breathing parts, nose and mouth". The larger dictionary gives čappok as a black animal such as a black fox, bisso-bæcek as a gunstock, bætataddat as "to be deceived, betrayed", speisig as the speciedaler (here "silver dollars"), and ástat both as "let be" (the elder brother's plea) and as "to wither" (the end of the tale). The mermaid's avfruva is the Norwegian havfrue.

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.

🌲

Source Text: Avfruva

North Sámi text as printed by Friis (1856), pp. 22–23, in his orthography; line-end hyphens are joined. Friis's single paragraph is divided here at the same places as the English.

De læiga ofti guökte bärdne čokkamen fjervast rjevvanid. De bođi avfruva ja čokkani gæđge ala. De vigga dat nuorab bärdne bačet avfruva, mutto boarrasäbbo gieldot: „Äle bače, i šaddaš monnoidi buörre, go bačečak.“ Mutto avfruva gæđge ald čokka ja vuovtaides galgad ja ajgo bärgedet.

De ajn vigga dat nuorab bačet, mutto dat boarrasäbbo gieldot: „Maid dal dagak don? Asta maj orrot dast, go i daga monnoidi maidegen, maid moaj vašotædne!“ Nuorab i fuollam dast, jos boarrasäbbo gieldot, mutto nuorab fengi bissos, ja de dæddeli nirri bisso bæcëk. Go boarrasäbbo ojni vielljas nirri dæddelæmen bisso bæcëk, de čuorvoi avfruvai: „Farot, de bætatalak!“ De borši avfruva dallanaga merri, ja vela čurvi dam boarrasäbbo bardnai, gutte buöre suovai: „Bardnam, itten don galgak læt dast nubbe dam bodda!“ De manaiga ruoftod dat bärdne guöftes.

De fastajn nubbe macai nubbe dam bodda dam sagjai, goste læiga čokkamen, čokkani dasa ja goddi čapok. De bođi avfruva dam sæmma gæđge ala ja čuorvoi dam bärdne lusas, ja bärdne gäli avfruva lusa, ja avfruva gočoi dam bärdne: „Mana mu šielge ala, ja bija vuojŋaidad mu vuovtai vuöllai, amad havkat, go mon vuölgam doalvot du čađa mæra!“ Ja bärdne læi dasa mieđamanas.

De fast boršoldätti (buokčali) avfruva oktan dain bärdnin, ja äddi vela avfruva dam bardnai træga ja dajai: „Go aččam dalloi bođičædne, de don ik galga ječaid diervatet go dušše aččam, ja ik galga gieđain diervatet, mutto galgak gejgit træga.“

De bođiga soaj avfruva bajkai, ja dobbe i læm čäcce, mutto čuovgad dobbe læi, ja čäcce læi dego lokte baja-bæld. Dego dat bärdne gejgi træga diervatam ditti, de doppi dat avfruva äčče treggi, nuft atte banek skučagëgje ješgutteg guvlui. De dat bärdne oaǯoi hirmos ollo silba-spejsigid.

De fastajn vulgi dat avfruva dam bärdne ruoftod doalvot, ja avfruva vela äddi dam bardnai golle-gæra olgiš gitti, ja de vulgiga, ja go læiga mannamen, de dam bärdne mielast orro lassan buok. De doalvoi fast avfruva dam bärdne sæmma bajkai, gost læi valdam, ja dat bärdne læi javalaš olmuš obba su ælededinës, mutto dat nuorab, gutte bačet ajgoi, dat astai dego galva, atte sust i læm mikkege buristsivnadusaid.

Source Colophon

J. A. Friis (ed.), Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 22–23. Public domain. Transcribed from the page images of the New York Public Library copy, digitized by Google (Internet Archive identifier lappiskesprogpr00friigoog). Friis's letters are kept as printed, including â, ä, ö, ë, č, đ, š, ŋ, and both ʒ and ǯ, which he distinguishes.

🌲