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

A fable of fishes, told in North Sámi at Karasjok and printed by Jens Andreas Friis in 1856, in Sámi only. The salmon, going down to the sea after spawning, talks a halibut and a small cod out of going up into fresh water, and the small cod becomes a Sámi byword for a fool; then a perch challenges the salmon to a race up a waterfall, and wins it by holding on to his tail.

Translation

The salmon swam up along the great river in spring, as soon as the great river cracked open and most of the ice went out to the sea. When he had swum all the way up to the uppermost end of the river, the river came to an end then, and he stayed up there in the falls, so that he could lay out his roe in the river. Then autumn came, and when he had finished spawning, he set off down toward the sea. When he came near the sea, the halibut came to meet him.

The salmon asked the halibut: "Where are you going?" The halibut answered him: "I am going to fresh water!" "Oh, for shame! Where are you going in that shape, as broad a fish as you are? You will get stuck between every stone, and be killed on the spot!" So the halibut obeyed the salmon and turned back to the sea again, and never set out for fresh water any more.

After that the small cod came to meet him. Then the salmon asked him: "Where are you setting out for in that shape? What have you got, you lean fish?" The small cod answered the salmon: "I have fat inside my liver!" Then the salmon answered him: "Look at me, how lean I am now, as I come to the sea: I, who had fat in every layer of my flesh, and my head was nothing but fat, except for the bones."

Then the small cod turned back to the sea again; for earlier he had traded his head away to the salmon, and so he became so stupid, and he swam to the sea. And because of this he became a byword among the Sámi: when one Sámi begins to call his fellow a fool, he says: "You small-cod head!", showing by this that he is as stupid as the small cod who let himself be cheated out of his head by the salmon.

Another time the salmon was standing below the falls, and the perch came to him. The salmon asked him: "What sort of fish are you?" The perch answered: "I am a beautiful red fish, whose fins are as sharp as the point of a needle. Now I mean to come up close beside you with one fin, and at once you will have to flee from me in fright!" The salmon asked him: "What are you doing here in fresh water? You haven't any fat at all!" The perch answered him: "I have more fat in my head than there are goods in a rich man's storehouse!"

Then the perch began to challenge the salmon to a race, to swim to the top of the falls; but at first the salmon could not be bothered to listen to the perch's talk, for the salmon knew that he was indeed the fastest fish at swimming among all the fishes. But all the same the perch challenged him to race with him.

Then the salmon swam up along the falls, and the perch took fast hold of the salmon's tail; and when the salmon came to the top of the falls, the salmon turned suddenly about, head downward. Then the perch, which had caught fast on his tail, at once shouted: "Look, I am higher than you! And you come to race with me! Not many men kill me, but you let yourself be killed by every old woman!"

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. 54–55, from the group headed Gârâsjok (Karasjok). 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 no entry 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): luossa is the salmon and baldës the halibut; a rudnog is a small cod; vuskon is given by the glossary first as the redfish and then as the perch, and by the 1887 dictionary as the perch, with the redfish as the "sea vuskon". The English says perch, but the fish in the tale calls itself red and is asked what it is doing in fresh water, so the teller may have meant the redfish; but the 1887 dictionary gives the redfish its own names (havva, hakka), and the tale says plain vuskon throughout, as it would be said at Karasjok, far inland. Dædno is Friis's word for a great river, "the largest river in a district" (1887), and also the name of the Tana; nothing in the tale says which river is meant, and jokka is an ordinary river; a guojka is a waterfall with a sheer drop; luoddanet is to crack open; gođđat is to spawn, and mædem is roe; sajva is fresh water, as against the sea; roakkaset is to get caught fast on a snag; jægadet is to obey; vuojvas is the liver; ruoinas (printed ruojnas and ruojdna) is very lean, emaciated; a cuoppa-lâdnjâ is a layer of flesh in a fish; lonotet is to trade, and fillihallat to let oneself be cheated out of something; a sadne-lasko is a byword, and jallašet is to call someone a fool; rufsis is red; a væfse is a fin, and bastel is sharp; an ajbme is a sewing needle, and njudne is the point of a thing; the glossary gives the perch's very phrase, ballat must erihi, as "flee from me in fright"; an ajte is a storehouse; viššat is to be bothered to; a bæcëk is a fish's tail; jorgehi is read as the glossary's jorgetet, to turn suddenly about, and vulus ojvid is head downward; gilvohallat is to compete, and goddahallat to let oneself be killed. Godduk, "you will be killed", is read as a passive of goddet, to kill, a form the 1887 dictionary has only in an example. Galle olmuš is read with the glossary's galle, "many", so "not many men kill me", as in the 1887 dictionary's æi gålle olbma dam daga, "not many men do that"; the glossary also has the adverb galle, "surely", which would give "no man kills me, surely". In the salmon's words Friis prints must (mon), giving the expected mon, "I", in brackets, and the English follows it. A mark after sajvast? that looks like part of a closing quotation mark is taken as a stray, so the salmon's question runs on to bujdid.

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: Luossa ja vuskon

North Sámi text as printed by Friis (1856), pp. 54–55, in his orthography; his list of misprints has no corrections for these pages, and line-end hyphens are joined. Friis's two paragraphs (the second begins at "Nubbe gærde") are divided here at the same places as the English.

Luossa vuogjali dæno mielde bajas giđđag, dallanaga go dædno luoddani ja ænaš jigŋa manai merri. Go son vuogjam læi gidda bajemuš jokka-gæččai, de jokka nogai, ja son oroi dobbe guojka siste, damditti vaj son oaǯǯo mæđemides olgus bigjat jokki. De bođi čagča, ja go son gærgai gođđamest, de vulgi son vulus mæra guvlui. Dego bođi son lâkkâ mæra, de bođi baldës su oudald.

Jærai luossa baldast: „Gosa don vulgik?“ Baldës fastedi sudnji: „Mon vulgim sajvi!“ — „Voj hæppan, gosa don vulgik daina hamin, daggar govda guölle go don læk? Don roakkasak juökke gæđge gaski, ja de godduk dassanaga!“ De jægadi baldës luosa ja jorgali ruoftod merri fastajn, ige goassege æmbo vuölgam sajva čaccai.

Bođi maŋŋelist rudnog su oudald. De jærai luossa sust: „Gosa don læk vuölgam daina hamin, mi dust læ, ruojdna guölle?“ De fastedi rudnog lussi: „Must læ buojde vuojvas siste!“ De fastedi luossa sudnji: „Gæča mu, man ruojnas læm mon dal, go læm merri boattemen, must (mon), gæst læi buojde juökke cuoppa-lânjâst, ja mu oajve læi dušše buojde æreb davtid.“

De jorgali rudnog merri fastajn, dastgo son oudalist læi lonoham oajves lussi, ja de šaddai nu jalla ja vuojai merri. Ja damditti šaddai son sadne-laskon Sami gaski; dëgo nubbe Sabmelaš jallašišgoatta guojmes, de dagja son: „Don rudnog-oajve!“ čajetedin dam bokte, atte son læ jalla dego rudnog, gutte oajves fillihalai lussi.

Nubbe gærde læi luossa čuoǯǯomen guojka vuold, de bođi vuskon su lusa. De jærra luossa sust: „Mi gulid don læk?“ De fastedi vuskon: „Mon læm čabba rufsis guölle, gæn vævsek læk nu bastelak go ajme-njunne. Mon ajgom dal ouftain vevsin lâkkânet du baldi, dallanaga fertik don bâllat must erehi!“ De jærra luossa sust: „Maid don dagak dabe sajvast? I dust læk mikkege bujdid!“ De fastedi vuskon sudnji: „Must læ buojde oajve sist æmbo go rigga ajtest læ galvo!“

De hastegođi vuskon luosa gilvoi vuogjalet guojka oajvai; mutto luossa vuost i viššam gullat dam vuskon saga, dastgo luossa diđi, son læ juo dat jottelammus guölle vuogjat buok gulid gaskast. Mutto almake vuskon hasta su gilvoi ječainës.

De vuogjali luossa bajas guojka mielde, de doppi vuskon luosa bæccehi gidda, ja dego luossa bođi guojka oajvai, de jorgehi luossa vulus ojvid. De vuskon, mi læi gidda fattim su bæccehi, dallanaga čuorvoi: „Gæča, mon læm bagjelist go don, ja don boađak muina gilvohallat, ja muo i godde galle olmuš, mutto don goddahalak juökke boarës galgoi!“

Source Colophon

J. A. Friis (ed.), Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 54–55; Friis's list of misprints has no entry for these pages. Public domain. Transcribed from the page images of the New York Public Library copy, digitized by Google (Internet Archive identifier lappiskesprogpr00friigoog); stray marks in that copy are not part of the text. Friis's letters are kept as printed, including â, ö, ë, č, đ, š, ǯ and ŋ.

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