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

The gufitar are the hidden people who live beneath the earth in Sámi belief, finely dressed and rich in cattle. Told in North Sámi at Unjárga (Nesseby) and printed by Jens Andreas Friis in 1856, in Sámi only, this tale tells how a young man won a gufitar bride, and what she asked of him in return.

Translation

There was once a man who had one son, and the son had a room of his own. And one night, as he lay asleep in his room, in his bed, two gufitar girls came in. They wore white homespun coats, and scarlet caps on their heads, and splendid ribbons around the crests of their caps, and splendid corner-kerchiefs over their necks and shoulders. Then the boy knew that it was two gufitar girls who had come in.

They came near his bed. One of them wanted to come still closer to the bed, but the other said: "Don't, cousin, try to go so near; you'll be caught!" But the first one shifted nearer and nearer. Then the boy grabbed hold of her and pinched her hand till the blood came. The other ran out through the door; but this one girl stayed behind, for she could not get away home any more, because her hand had been made to bleed. And she said to the boy: "Look now, what you have done!" The boy said: "That doesn't matter at all!"

In the morning he went to his mother's and father's room and told his mother and father that he had caught a gufitar girl, and that the gufitar girl was in his room. Then the mother made food for her and gave it to her son, and the son took it to the gufitar girl, his bride. Then the mother herself went after him to see what she was like, and when she came there she greeted her with a kiss; and the mother took the gufitar girl and put her under a veil, until they should go to the priest, so that no one else would see her.

Then the two of them went to the priest. The priest asked: "What girl is this you have with you?" And he said: "This is a gufitar girl." "How did you catch a gufitar girl?" And he told him how he had caught her. Then the priest took her and baptized her, and asked the boy what name he should give the girl. And he said: "Birit." So the priest gave her the name Birit.

Then he asked the boy: "What do you mean to do with this gufitar girl?" "I mean to marry her." Then the priest said: "Will you not trade that girl to them for another girl?" for he saw that the gufitar girl had a beautiful silver dress on, and that she was beautiful. But the boy said to the priest: "I will not trade her!" Then the priest asked the boy: "What do you mean to do?" "I mean to marry this gufitar girl!" And the priest said: "Well, since you mean to marry her, I will marry you." So the priest married the two of them, and gave them communion.

Then they went home and came to their own place. And the boy began to wonder about this girl, how the two of them were to live now. And the girl said to the boy: "We shall not want; you have rich brothers-in-law, never fear."

Then the gufitar girl's brothers brought logs and built them a house with glass windows, and they brought sheep, goats, billy-goats, kids, cows and oxen. And the girl said to her husband: "You must never curse the animals, nor scold them, or they will die. And we shall not need to work hard over the animals." And their herd grew so great, and they lived so well. And they had children, and they lived on so rich, well in every way, with no want of anything.

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. 26–28, 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, and Friis's own corrections for p. 27 were applied (lâkkâ twice, bætatalak, vârâidi); the same word varaidi later in the passage, which his list does not mention, is kept as printed. 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): oarmbælle is a cousin; cikcit is to pinch with the fingers, and vârâidi "till the blood came"; lagjo is the cloth-covered wooden crest on a Sámi woman's cap, so the girls wear ribbons around the crests of their caps; a bæjta-lidne is a veil; a vuolpo is a Norwegian woman's dress; dievnas is Holy Communion; gårrodet is to curse and duskedet to scold. When the priest asks the boy to trade the girl "to them" (sigjidi), the Sámi does not say who they are, and neither does the English.

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: Gufitar-niejda

North Sámi text as printed by Friis (1856), pp. 26–28, in his orthography, with Friis's corrections for p. 27 applied; line-end hyphens are joined. Friis's single paragraph is divided here at the same places as the English.

De læi oft olmaj, gæst læi okta bardne, ja dam barnest læi sierra stoppo. Ja go son ovt ija læi oađđemen stovostes, sængastes, de bođiga guökte gufitar-niejda sisa. Sudnost legje vilgis sarge-gavtek bagjelist, ja skarlag-papperak oajvest, ja hærva gapper-baddek lajoi birra, ja hærva čiekka-linek čæppati ja olgi bagjel. De dovdai dat bardne, atte guökte gufitar-niejda dak læiga, guđek bođiga sisa.

De bođiga lâkkâ su sænga. Nubbe lagabui vel vigga sænga gurri, mutto nubbe cælka: „Ale oarm'bællam vigga nu lâkkâ, de bætatalak!“ Mutto nubbe lagabui lagabui murdeli. De dat bardne doppi gitti ja cikci gieđa vârâidi. De nubbe viekkali olgo-rajge, mutto dat nubbe niejda baci, go æmbo i bæssam ruoktod vuölget, dainago gietta varaidi šaddai. De cælka dain barnin: „Gæča dal, maid don da däkkik!“ Dat bardne cælka: „I dat daga maidege!“

Iđđedest manai son ædnes ja ačes stoppoi ja mujtal ædnasis ja aččasis, atte de son fätti gidda gufitar-niejda, ja atte læi dat gufitar-niejda su stovost. De rakadi ædne sudnji borramušaid, ja de äddi bardnasis, ja de bardne doalvoi dokko gufitar-nijdi, moarsasis. De ješ vulgi ædne gæččat maŋŋeld maggar læ, ja go bođi dokko, de cumain diervati, ja de valdi ædne ja bijai bæjtaline vuöllai dam gufitar-niejda, dassači go bapa lusa vuölgeb, amasek ærrak oajdnet dam.

De soaj vulgiga bapa lusa. Jærra bapa: „Mi dat læ niejdaid dust?“ De dot sardno: „Dat læ gufitar-niejda.“ — „Moft don fätijik gufitar niejda?“ De dat mujtali, moft son fätti. De bapa valdi ja gastaši, ja de jærra barnest, maid namaid son galga dam nijdi navdet. De dajai dot: „Birit.“ De bap navdi sunji Birit-nama.

De jærra dam barnest: „Maid don ajgok dain gufitar-niejdain?“ — „Mon ajgom najtalet.“ De dot dagja: „Ikgo sigjidi lonot dam niejda ærra niejdain?“ dastgo son ojni, dam gufitar-niejdast čabba silba-vuolpo læi bagjelist, ja čabes son læi. De bardne cælka bapain: „Im mon lonot!“ De jærra bapa barnest: „Maid don ajgok? — „Najtalet mon ajgom dam gufitar-niejdain!“ De bap dagja: „Na, go jo ajgok najtalet, gälle mon najtam.“ De bapa najti sodno, ja de äddi dievnas.

De vulgiga ruoktod, ja bođiga bajkasæsga. De bardne arvališgoatta dain niejdain, mo soaj dal galgaba ællegoattet. De niejda cælka barnin: „Monnost i læk hætte, gälle dust riggës magak læk.“

De gufitar-niejda vielljak bukte hirsaid ja rakadegje lasa-stovoid sudnuidi, ja de bukte savcaid, gajcaid, bukkaid, gicid, gusaid ja vuovsaid. De dagja dat niejda boadnjasis: „Ik galga garrodet, ikge duskedet šivetigujm, de dak jabmek. Æmge moaj darbaš ollo bargat dai šiveti birra.“ De ællo sudnuidi nu ollo šaddai, ja de ælleb nu burist. De sudnuidi manak šadde, ja soaj ælleb nu riggesën, burist juökke lakkai, i mikkege vajegvuođaid.

Source Colophon

J. A. Friis (ed.), Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 26–28, with Friis's corrections for p. 27 from his list of misprints. 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, ä, ö, ë, č, đ, š, ŋ, and both ʒ and ǯ, which he distinguishes.

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