a tale from Ullsfjord in Karlsøy, from J. A. Friis, Lappiske Sprogprøver (1856)

A draug is a spirit of the sea: Friis's dictionary calls it a water-troll and the ghost of a drowned man, and gives as an example of the word "to mimic" that draugs mimic people. Told in North Sámi at Ullsfjord (Mosko-vuodna) in Karlsøy and printed by Jens Andreas Friis in 1856, in Sámi only, this short tale tells how a stingy fisherman, named after the tobacco he was always begging, lay hidden in his boat while a draug played at being its crew, and what he gave it.

Translation

There was a fishing station, and many fishermen were there. There was one man who used tobacco, but he was so stingy that he could not bring himself to buy tobacco himself, and only kept begging it of others: "Would you have any cut tobacco?" So people began to call that man by the name "Cut Tobacco", and that was to be his name. He was, besides, headsman on a boat.

Then a draug, too, began to make sport with that man's boat and to mimic the men. First it went into the fore room to mimic the man there, and it said to itself: "This is how he makes it fast to the spar, this is how the bow-man rigs the sail." Then it went into the middle room, took the bailer and said this: "This is how the midships man bails with the bailer, this is how he makes it fast to the brace." Then it went into the after room, and it said this: "This is how 'Cut Tobacco' steers."

Now the man himself was lying in the stern-sheets, and he had a handspike in his hand. And the draug did not know that there was anyone in the boat, for it sat with its back to the stern-sheets, on the after thwart, in the headsman's place. Then the man struck the draug on the back and said: "I'll give you cut tobacco!" Then the draug sprang up and out of the boat, and it moaned, too, as it got the blow; and then it went down to the sea, and went off along the sea to the deep, and a flame of fire came up behind it.

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. 89–90, from the group headed Karlsa (Karlsøy), under the sub-heading Mosko-vuodna, which Friis's glossary gives as Ullsfjord in Karlsøy. 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 this tale (its one entry for p. 89 falls in the tale before). 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): cappum dubak is cut tobacco (1887, under cappat, to cut very small), and it is both the man's begging phrase and his nickname, so the English says "Cut Tobacco" for both; hanës is stingy; rasket is to have the heart to do something, so i raske is "he had not the heart"; anotet or anohet is to beg insistently (1887); goččot is to call or name; a hævedsmanne is a headsman, the master of a boat. Sukkam-sagje is in neither dictionary as one word: it is read from its parts, sukkat, to row, and sagje, a place, as a fishing station. The glossary's own word for the draug is ravga or rauga, "Draug, Vandtrold"; the tale says drauga. Illastet is to make sport of someone, and ađehallat (glossary adehallat) is to mimic or ape; the 1887 dictionary's example under addit, "to mimic", is raugak addijek olbmuid, "the draugs mimic people". Ješ vuöldës is "with oneself", so the draug speaks to itself. A siesse is the room between two thwarts of a boat, so ouda-, gaska- and maŋŋje-siesse are the fore, middle and after rooms; a skota is the fore or after end of a boat, and maŋŋe-skota is the stern-sheets; a duofto (duövto) is a thwart. A bænta is a small spar by which a sail is spread out, and a stödegan is "the brace on a sail"; čaugat is to make fast or bind fast, but the glossary also gives čauga as an adverb, "fast, tight", and the English takes the word as the verb, "makes it fast", in both of the draug's sayings. Borjas is a sail (1887), rakadet to make ready, an auskari a bailer, goajvot to bail and stivrit to steer. A ludne is a log laid under a boat to haul it up on, or a handspike; the English says handspike. Sælgalas is "with the back turned", and the glossary quotes the tale's own words, sælgalas maŋŋe skota lusa, "with its back turned to the stern-sheets". Časket is to strike and časkahallat to get a blow; fallit is to start up, spring up; biegadet is to moan; ulus is down; favle is the deep sea; and the glossary gives dolla-garga as "a flame of fire". The tale does not say who first called the man by his nickname, and the English says "people". In the fore room the draug goes to mimic dan olbma, "that man", and the English says "the man there". Friis prints the man's last words as Mo(n) galga(m), with the n and m in brackets.

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: Cappum dubak

North Sámi text as printed by Friis (1856), pp. 89–90, in his orthography; his list of misprints has no corrections for this tale, and line-end hyphens are joined. Friis's single paragraph is divided here at the same places as the English.

De læi sukkam-sagje, ja legje dast bivdo-olbmuk ollo. De læi okta olmaj, dubak dal bruke, mutto de læi nu hanës, i raske dubak ječ oastët, dušše anoha nubbin; „Lægos dust cappum dubak?“ De ribme gočodët dam olbma nama „Cappum dubak,“ dat galga lætët su namma. Hevedsmannën dat vela læi vâncan nalde.

De riemai draugage illastët dam olbma vânca ja ađehallat olbmuid. De vuost manai ouda-siessai ađehallat dan olbma ja de dagja ješ vuöldës: „De naft čauga bænta nala, de naft borjas rakada ouda-olmaj.“ De manai gaska-siessai, valdi auskari ja dagja dam: „De navt goajvo gask-olmaj auskarin, de navt čauga stödegan nala.“ De manai maŋŋje-siessai, de dajai dam: „De navt stivre „Cappum dubak.“

De læ ješ dat olmaj maŋŋje-skota sist vællahæmen, ja ludne dal gieđast adna. Ige dal drauga dieđe, atte olmuš da vâncan læ, deinago læ sælgalas maŋŋje-skotas lusa ja maŋŋje-duövto nalde čokkahan hevedsmanne sajest. De dat olmaj časki sælgai dan drauga ja dagja dam: „Mo(n) galga(m) dudnje addët cappum dubak!“ De falli drauga eri vâncan, biegadi dat vela, go časkahalai; ja de vulgi ulus mæra lusa, ja de vulgi favlai mæra mielde, ja de dolla-garga maŋŋest šaddai.

Source Colophon

J. A. Friis (ed.), Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 89–90; Friis's list of misprints has no entry for this tale. 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 and ŋ.

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