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

Stallo is the monstrous, ghostly giant of the Sámi tales. Told on the Ullsfjord in Karlsøy and printed by Jens Andreas Friis in 1856, in Sámi only, this short tale tells how a husband who can carry under his arm a barrel that a Stallo cannot lift wrestles that Stallo, and then his two brothers one after another, and needs his wife's help against the last.

Translation

There was a husband at Bacavuodna who was exceedingly strong. Then a Stallo came to the place, and the husband himself was not at home in the house; only the wife was at home. The Stallo asked: "Where is the husband?" And the wife answered: "The husband is not at home; the husband is out rowing on the far side of the deep water." Then the Stallo asked the wife: "Is the husband coming home soon?" The wife answered: "He is coming soon!"

So the Stallo waited until the husband came home; and when he came, the Stallo went to help pull up the boat, and the two of them pulled the boat up. Then the husband told the Stallo to take the barrel and carry it. The Stallo did not even dare, for he could not manage to carry it. Then the husband took it himself and put the barrel under his arm. Then the Stallo took fright.

Then the two of them walked to the house and told each other where their riches were, and then the two began to wrestle. The husband was stronger than the Stallo and killed the Stallo; and the Stallo said: "I have two brothers, sure enough, who are better than I am. Those two will surely come to visit you!"

Then, after a very little while, the middle brother came, and wanted the husband to come and talk with him. So the husband came to talk with him, and the husband asked the Stallo: "What is it you want?" The Stallo answered: "Surely you are the man who killed his brother?" And the husband answered: "A guest was here; he did not know whether it was your brother or someone else; that one he killed." Then the other brother answered: "You must try him too, and see what sort he is!" And the husband answered: "Why should he not try!"

Then the husband told where his money was, and the Stallo also told where his money was. Then the two began to wrestle, and the husband managed to kill that Stallo. The Stallo said: "He has one brother; that one will yet come to visit you!" The husband answered: "Why not? He may come!"

Then, after a very little while, the third came. The Stallo wanted to wrestle. And the husband answered: "Why should he not try!" Then the two began to wrestle, and the Stallo was so strong that the husband was not going to manage it. Then the wife came to help, and the two of them managed it. And the Stallo said: "Oh, girl, how cunning you were, that he should not see you, when you came to help your husband!"

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. 90–91, from the group printed under the running head Karlsa (Karlsøy) and the heading Mosko-vuodna, which Friis's glossary explains as "Ulfsfjord i Karlsø", the Ullsfjord. 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. 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): boadnje is a husband and akka a wife (Friis: Hustru); gjivra is strong, and oalle "exceedingly"; favle is the deep sea out from land, so the husband is rowing "on the far side of the deep water"; varga is "soon"; a vânca is a boat; a dudnar is a barrel (Tønde); duostat is to dare; daver is money or riches, and rutta money; faggadet is to take hold and wrestle; sakka is talk, and sagaidi to come to speak with someone, from which sagaidessas and sagaidin are read as "to talk with him"; sunaj is sun, "him", with -aj, "too" (glossary monaj, "I too"); boadnjasid, "your husband", is read from the form, as boadnjasad in another tale; gieđa vuöllai is given as "under his arm", though gietta is properly the hand; alma in a question is "surely"; ječča is "another, other"; vaj is given in the glossary only as "so that", but the 1887 dictionary also gives it as "or" in a question between two things, and so it is read here; mannes is "why"; oaǯǯot is Norwegian faa, "to get", and also "may"; sittat is "to want, will", so i sittam boadnje nagadët is read as "the husband was not going to manage it"; voj is "oh!"; and gavvel is cunning. The husband's home, Bacavuonan, "in Bacavuodna", is a fjord (vuodna) that Friis's glossary does not name; the English gives the name in its plain form. Mait dan siđak? is read as "What is it you want?", taking dan as "that" (glossary Da, for dat). The second and third Stallo, and the husband when he answers them, speak of themselves in the third person ("he", "his", "with him"), while the first Stallo says "I"; the English keeps this.

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: Gjivras boadnje ja Stalok

North Sámi text as printed by Friis (1856), pp. 90–91, in his orthography; Friis's 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.

Akta boadnje læi Bacavuonan, mi læi oalle gjivra. De bođi Stallo bajkai, ige læm ješ boadnje sidan, dalon; læi bære akka sidan. De jærai Stallo: „Gost boadnje læ?“ De akka vastedi: „I læk boadnje sidan; boadnje læ nubbe bælde favle sukkamen.“ De jærai Stallo akan: „Vargago boadnje boatta siddi?“ Vastedi akka: „Varga dat boatta!“

De Stallo vurdi da bodda, go boadnje bođi siddi, ja dego bođi, de manai Stallo gæssët vânca vækkën, ja de gæsigan dan vânca bajas. De gočoi boadnje valdët Stalo dudnaren guöddët. I Stallo duostange, go i nagadam guöddët. De valdi ješ boadnje ja bijai gieđa vuöllai dan dudnaren. De ballai Stallo.

De vaʒigan dalloi ja de sardnoigan, goste sodno daver læ, ja de soaj algigan faggadët. De boadnje læi gjivrab go Stallo ja goddi Stalo; ja de Stallo dajai: „Galle must læk guökte viellja, mak læk buörrebuk, go mon de læm. Gal' dak guöktes galgaban boattët dun guössai!“

De dat læi bittaš gaska, de bođi gaskamuš viellja ja siđai dan boadnje sagaidessas. De bođi boadnje sagaidin, ja de boadnje jærra Stalon: „Mait dan siđak?“ De Stallo vastedi: „Alma don læk dat olmaj, migja sun viellja goddik?“ De vastedi boadnje: „Akta guösse dast læi, i son diettam, dun vielljago dat læi, vaj ječčago dat læi; dan son goddi.“ De vastedi nubbe viellja, atte: „Galgak sunaj gæččalët, makgar son læ!“ De vastedi boadnje: „Mannes i gæččal!“

De sardnoi boadnje, goste sun rutta læ, de sardnoi Stallo majtaj, gost sun rutta læ. De soaj algigan faggadët, ja de boadnje nagadi goddët dan Stalo. Dagja Stallo: „Akta viellja sust læ, dat vela galga boattët dun guössai!“ Vastedi boadnje: „Mannes i, oaǯǯo boattët!“

De læi bittaš gaska, de bođi goalmad. De faggadët siđai Stallo. De boadnje vastedi: „Mannes i gæččal!“ De soaj algigan faggadët, ja de læi Stallo nu gjivra, i sittam boadnje nagadët. De bođi akka vækkën, ja de nagadeiga. De dagja Stallo: „Voj niejda, man gavvel don legjik, go son i galgam dun oajdnët, go don bottik boadnjasid vækkën!“

Source Colophon

J. A. Friis (ed.), Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 90–91; 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 â, ö, ë, č, đ, š, and both ʒ and ǯ, which he distinguishes.

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