a tale from Langfjord in Alta, from J. A. Friis, Lappiske Sprogprøver (1856)

Njavičædne and Haccečædne are troll-women of Sámi tradition; Friis's glossary gives both as names of a troll-woman, and haccečædne also as a small black midge. Told in North Sámi at Njuorjo-njarga in Langfjord and printed by Jens Andreas Friis in 1856, in Sámi only, this short tale tells how Haccečædne won Njavičædne's son by cheating at berry-picking, and what the son did when he learned who his mother was.

Translation

Njavičædne had a boy, and Haccečædne had a girl. Then Haccečædne said this: "Let's go and pick berries now, the two of us! Whichever of us fills her berry-vessel first shall get the boy, and the one of us who had the boy before shall get the girl in turn." Haccečædne thought it better to get the boy, for she knew that he would become a hunter. Njavičædne said that she would have to do it, even if she did not want to.

So each of them took her pail, and they began to pick. Then Haccečædne tore up berry heather and put it in the bottom of her pail, so that she would soon fill her pail, and then she began to pick berries on top of it. Njavičædne too hurried with her picking, but Haccečædne filled her pail first all the same, and said that the boy was hers: she had filled her pail first after all, and "the girl shall be yours in turn." And so it came to be, just as Haccečædne said.

Then they went each her own way from there, and each came to her own place, where they had been before. The boy became a hunter and killed wild reindeer, and Haccečædne ate many a good morsel; but Njavičædne now had nothing but to grieve for the boy, and she had to cook shoe-seams. Njavičædne and her girl made a fire and put those shoe-welts on to boil.

Now Haccečædne's boy was out on the hillside, walking after wild reindeer. He shot a wild reindeer, butchered it and set off downhill; but all he put in his pocket was some pieces of fat. As he was going down, he saw smoke rising from inside a tussock, and he wondered what it could be. He went over to look at it. When he got there, he peeped into the hole the smoke was rising from, and saw a pot boiling. The girl was peering into the pot where the shoe-welts were boiling, and the boy watched from on top of the hut and listened to what the two of them were saying.

Njavičædne's girl said: "Mother, there's fat coming up in our pot!" (the two of them did not know that the boy had let crumbs of fat drop into the pot). Njavičædne said: "What would ever make shoe-welts give off fat! You fool, what are you saying! Your mother eats better morsels than I do, that's certain!" The boy heard what she said, and the boy pondered how it now stood.

Then he understood that she must be his mother; but he surely sensed that the one he had had for a mother before, the one with whom he had been, might not be his true mother. Then the thought came to him that he would now destroy her, on the strength of the word he had heard there inside the tussock. And so he cleared her out of the way and went over to his true mother; and then the two of them did away with Haccečædne's girl as well, and from then on, at last, they lived well.

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. 81–83, from the group told at Laggo-vuodna (Langfjord, in Alta), where Friis heads this tale Njuorjo-njarga, a place his glossary calls Kobbenæs in Langfjord. 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 corrections for these pages, and the name once printed Navičædne 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): Njavičædne and Haccečædne are each given as the name of a troll-woman, and haccečædne also as a black midge or insect, while Friis suggests that njavič- may come from njaval, "lazy", and ædne, "mother"; guabbačaga is "both"; an æbbar is a pail; dagŋas is heather, so it is berry heather that Haccečædne tears up to pad her pail; gojke is "after all, all the same"; a skuttar is a hunter, a "shooter"; godde is the wild reindeer; gattat is to rue or to miss; gama-ræšmus and gama-ruovda are both glossed as the seam or edge of a skin shoe (the 1887 dictionary: the old, worn sole-piece of a shoe), here "shoe-seams" and "shoe-welts"; a bovna is a tussock and a goatte a turf hut, so the troll-women's hut is inside a tussock, with a smoke-hole (rajge); vuöččot is said of a pot whose contents give off fat that floats on the surface as it boils; rodne is the same as radne, small bits or crumbs; haukat is a fool; vieggot is to notice or perceive (the 1887 dictionary gives "to be in doubt"); hævatet is to destroy, and gjærgadet erit to clear out of the way; æska is "only then" (glossary nylig, lately; "at last" is the 1887 dictionary's). Two readings rest on grammar rather than on a dictionary entry: læǯǯa, read as the potential of læt, "must be"; and jus vel, "even if", from jus, "if", and vel, "still, even". The Sámi does not name the one the boy destroys at the end; the English says "her", as the Sámi does.

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: Njavičædne ja Haccečædne

North Sámi text as printed by Friis (1856), pp. 81–83, in his orthography (his list of misprints has no corrections for these pages); line-end hyphens are joined. Friis's single paragraph is divided here at the same places as the English.

Njavičænest læi bardne ja Haccečænest læi niejda. De dajai Haccečædne dam: „Vulgusga dal murjid čoaggët guabbačaga! Guabba oudal dævda muörje-litte, de galga dat oaǯǯot bardne, ja dat fast niejda, guabbast bardne læi oudal.“ Haccečædne ani dam buörrebun, go bardne oaǯǯo, go diđi dam, atte skuttar dat šadda. Njavičædne dajai dam, atte son færte dam dakkat, jus vel i datošige.

De valdiga æbbaræsga guabbag. De riemaiga čoaggët. De Haccečædne gajkoi muörje-dagŋasid ja bijai æbber-vuođđoi daid, damditti vaj son farga dævda æbbares, ja de riemai murjid čoaggët bagjeli. Navičædne majda doamai čoaggët, mutto Haccečædne gojke devdi oudalebbo æbbares ja dajai, atte: su læ bardne, son læ oudalebbo dævdam gojke æbbares, ja „du galga læt niejda fast.“ Nu dat šaddai, nuftgo dajai Haccečædne.

De vulgiga guabbag guvlui dast ja bođiga guabbag bajkasæsga, gost læiga oudal. Bardne šaddai skuttar ja goddi goddid, ja Haccečædne borai manga buörre bitta; mutto Njavičænest dal i læm ječča go gattat bardnest, ja fertti son gama-ræšmušid vuoššat. De dagaiga Njavičædne niejdainës dola ja bijaiga duoldat daid gama-ruovdaid.

De læ Haccečæne bardne luökkast goddid vaʒʒemen. De baci godde, njuovai dam ja vulgi vuölas; mutto buojde-bittaid fal coggai lommi. Go mannamen læi vulus, de oajdna, suovva bovna siste borgesta, ja imaštalla dam, mi dat galga læt. De vulgi dokko gæččat dam. Go dokko bođi, de guovlai dam rajgai, goggo suovva borgesti, ja ojni, rujto duolda. De niejda guovla rujtoi, gost gama-ruovdak duldëk, ja bardne gæčča goađe alde ja guldala, maid dak hallaba.

Dagja Njavičæne niejda: „Ædne, monno rujto vuoja vuöččo!“ (æba dam diettam, atte bardne buojde-ronid lujtali rujtoi). Dagja Njavičædne: „Mi bigja gama-ruovdaid vuoja vuöččot! Haukat, maid don sarnok! Galle du ædne buöreb bitta borra go mon!“ Bardne gulai, maid dat sardno, ja jurdaši bardne, moft dal dat læ.

De dat arvedi dam, atte de dat læǯǯa su ædne; mutto galle dat viegoi dam, atte i dat dajde læt rivtës ædne sust oudal læmač dat, gæn lute son læmač. De dat oaǯoi dam jurdag, son galga dam dal hævahët dom sane mielde, maid dobbe gulai dam bovna siste. Ja de son dam gjærgadi erit ja vulgi dokko rivtës ædnes lusa, ja de dak hævateiga dam Haccečæne niejda majda erit, ja ællaiga dasto burist æskaj.

Source Colophon

J. A. Friis (ed.), Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 81–83; Friis's list of misprints has no corrections for these pages. 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 æ, ö, ë, č, đ, š, ŋ, and both ʒ and ǯ, which he distinguishes.

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