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

Told in North Sámi at Ivgo (Lyngen) and printed by Jens Andreas Friis in 1856, in Sámi only. A king held fast at sea promises a mermaid the child his wife will bear; the son runs from her, is given the shapes of a lion, a bear and a bumblebee by the creatures themselves, and with them wins a king's daughter, even after the mermaid catches him and a knight claims his reward.

Translation

The king once set out to sail in a ship. His wife stayed behind, with child. Then the ship stuck fast, and a mermaid came into sight, and she said to the king: "You will not get free to sail on until you promise me the child that your wife gives birth to while you are on your voyage." So the king promised, and then he got free to sail on.

Afterwards the king came home, and a boy-child had been born while he was on his journey. The king put the boy-child in a house of his own. The boy grew big, and then he began to want to go off wandering, when the time of the pact was fulfilled, when the mermaid was to have him. So he took three loaves and three bottles of wine, and set off.

He went on for a day, and evening came. The boy laid himself down in a place for the night to rest, and then he heard it: something came, rumbling. The boy began to be afraid. Then a lion came and said: "What are you doing here, boy?" The boy said: "I am fleeing from the mermaid." The lion said: "Give me something to eat!" So the boy gave it a loaf and a bottle of wine, and the two of them ate the loaf together and drank the bottle of wine, and then they lay down to sleep side by side.

Morning came. The lion said: "Cut one horn-tip from me, and when trouble comes, think yourself a lion!" Then they went each their own way. And the boy thought himself a lion and ran all that day.

When evening came, the boy thought himself a man and laid himself down to rest. Then he heard it: something came again, rumbling. And the boy began to be afraid again. Then a bear came, and it said: "What are you doing here, boy?" The boy said: "I am fleeing from the mermaid." The bear said: "Give me something to eat!" So the boy gave it a loaf and a bottle of wine, and the two of them ate it together and drank the bottle of wine together and slept that night together.

Morning came, and the bear said: "Cut an ear-tip from me, and when trouble comes, think yourself a beast!" Then they went each their own way. And the boy thought himself a beast, and ran all that day.

Evening came. The boy thought himself a man, and laid himself down to rest in a place for the night. Then the boy heard it: something came again, rumbling. The boy began to be afraid. Then a bumblebee came, and it said: "What are you doing here, boy?" The boy said: "I am fleeing from the mermaid." The bumblebee said: "Give me something to eat!" So the boy gave it the third loaf and bottle of wine, and the two of them ate it together and drank the third bottle of wine together, and slept together that night.

Morning came; the bumblebee said: "Pull one wing-feather out of me, and when trouble comes, think yourself a bumblebee!" Then the two of them went each their own way. And the boy thought himself a bumblebee, and flew all that day. Then he saw a heap of stones, and he flew into it. Then he thought himself a man. That heap was a king's town; but while he was a bumblebee, it had seemed like a heap of stones.

The boy came as far as the porch, and he heard them telling that the king had a daughter, and that she could not bear to see a man. Evening came. The maids wanted to make up a place for the boy to sleep. The boy said: "I'll sleep here on the bench well enough." The maids said: "It won't do for you to sleep here; we'll make you up a bed." The boy paid no heed to that; he lay on the bench.

Then they went to sleep. When all the people had gone to sleep, the boy thought himself a bumblebee and flew over to the loft of the house where the girl lived; and there were guards in front of that house. He came into the loft and thought himself a man.

Then the girl began to scream: "There's a man in here!" The guards went up into the loft. The boy thought himself a bumblebee and hid away. The guards came into the loft. The girl said: "There was a man in here!" The guards searched; they found nothing; and they went down again.

When they had gone down, the boy thought himself a man again. Then the girl began to scream: "There's a man in here!" The guards went up into the loft. The boy thought himself a bumblebee and hid away. When the guards came into the loft, the girl said: "There was a man in here just now!" They searched; they found nothing; and they went down again.

Then the boy thought himself a man again and stood up on the floor. At that the girl began to scream: "There's a man in here!" The guards went up. The boy thought himself a bumblebee and hid away. The guards came into the loft; nothing was to be seen there. Then the guards said to the girl: "If you scream for nothing again now, we will take your life. Surely we would have seen it, if anyone had come in here." And the guards went down again.

Then the boy thought himself a man and stood up on the floor; and now the girl did not dare to make a sound. The boy went and sat down on the edge of the bed. The girl did not dare make a sound. Then the boy lay down in the bed, beside her. The girl kept pushing the boy away. The boy did not go away.

Then the boy began to talk with the girl. At first the girl would not listen to the boy. At last the two of them began to talk together, and they became good friends with each other. Then the girl told him that her father was to go off to war at the end of three days, and that her father's sword was here with her, and that whoever fetched it from here should have her. Then the boy began to woo the girl, and the two of them made a pact between them.

The boy instructed the girl that if he should vanish on the war-journey, "then you must take a fiddle and go every evening to the seashore and play, so that all the sea-trolls rise up." When the third day came, they set off to war. The king forgot his sword; he remembered it on the road. The king said that whoever fetched his sword from the girl should have his daughter, and the kingdom after him. But in front of the girl's house there were lions on guard.

Then they set off to fetch it: the Knight, and the boy, and others as well. The boy thought himself a lion and ran right up to the house, ahead of them all. Then the boy thought himself a bumblebee and flew to the girl and took the king's sword from the girl there, and the boy said to the girl: "Remember what I have told you now!" Then the girl broke off half of her gold ring and gave it to the boy.

The boy set off and took the sword, and the boy was already coming home with the sword when the Knight and the other companions were only just going there. Then the Knight began to wheedle the sword away from the boy, and wanted to look at it. The boy did not give it. Then the boy began to thirst, and he began to drink from a little brook. Then the mermaid seized him. And the Knight got the sword and took it to the king.

The king came home from the war, and the girl saw that the boy had now vanished. The girl fell into grief. Now the Knight, who had brought the sword to the king, was to have the girl; but the king's daughter knew well that the Knight had not fetched it. Then they began to hold the wedding.

When the evening of the first wedding day came, the girl took a fiddle and went to the seashore and began to play. Then the mermaid said: "Listen, your old sweetheart is playing!" The boy said that he could not hear, there was water in his ears (the boy was standing on the mermaid's head): "Lift me higher, so that I can hear!" The mermaid lifted him to mid-water and said: "Do you hear now?" The boy said: "I don't hear yet; lift me higher, so that I can hear!"

The mermaid lifted him to the top of the water and said: "Do you hear now?" The boy said: "I don't hear; there is still water in my ears; lift me higher, so that I can hear!" The mermaid lifted him clear of the water and said: "Do you hear now?" The boy said: "I don't hear yet; wait till the water runs out of my ears!" Then the boy thought himself a bumblebee and flew off into the girl's pocket. The girl heard (felt) that the pocket grew heavy. Then the girl went home.

The boy thought himself a man on the road and showed himself to the girl. Then the girl came into the wedding room and said to the Knight: "Make yourself a lion now!" The Knight made himself as hideous as ever he could, but he did not turn into anything, nor could he do anything more. The girl said: "Make yourself a beast!" The Knight did change himself about in other ways, but he did not turn into anything. Then the girl said: "Become a bumblebee!" The Knight began to buzz, but he did not turn into anything.

The girl said to the boy: "You become a lion!" The boy thought himself a lion and became one. All the wedding folk were terrified. The boy meant to tear the Knight to pieces.

The girl said: "Become a man now!" The boy thought himself a man. Then the girl said: "Become a beast now!" The boy thought himself a beast. The king wondered what this could be.

The girl said: "Become a man now!" The boy thought himself a man. Then the king wondered whether he was not the one who had fetched his sword from the girl. The girl said: "That's him there, who fetched the sword from me," and then she said to the boy: "Now give over that half of the gold ring that I gave you then, when you fetched the sword!" The boy gave that half of the gold ring.

The king took that half of the gold ring, and the girl gave the other half. Now the king tried to put the two halves together; and they fitted together. Then the Knight was hanged, and the boy got the girl, and for two weeks we drank at the wedding, and then I went away.

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. 95–99, from the group told at Ivgo (Lyngen). 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 correction for p. 95 was applied (Čuopa for Cuopa). 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): nuöllen is "with child"; darvanet is to stick fast, and ittet (iđi) to come into sight; havfruva is a mermaid; litto is a pact; dabmat is to drone or boom, the sound each of the three helpers makes as it comes, rendered "rumbling" each time; birdne is a bear and ulvo a bumblebee (Friis: Humle, Bie); čoarve is a horn, so the lion's gift is a horn-tip, and soagje-dolge is a wing-feather, as the Sámi says of the bumblebee; divrë is an animal, with "bear" as Friis's second sense, so the bear tells the boy to think himself a divrë, rendered "beast" here and wherever the word returns; gæđge-juovva is a scree, a heap of stones; fæskar is the passage before the inner door of a turf house, rendered "porch"; ik don dast dokke oađđet, "it won't do for you to sleep here", is Friis's own example under dokkit; vavta is a guard; bodne is the bottom, so the guards go "down" (bodnai); deki is "hither"; jednadet is to make a sound; hojgadet is to keep pushing away; buričak are good friends; irgastallat is to woo; bærëst Friis glosses in the text itself with gæčest, "at the end of"; nævvot is to instruct; ruolla is read as the troll (the 1887 dictionary only refers truolla to ruolla, with no gloss of its own), so mærra-ruollak are sea-trolls; fuobmašet is to notice or call to mind; fillit or villit is to beguile; gojkat is to grow dry and also to thirst; duppit is to seize; gojkas is dry, so the mermaid lifts the boy "clear of the water"; anne is "wait a little!"; bakker is a pocket; albmodet is to show oneself; våste is hideous; hurrat is to hum or buzz, of insects; vækka is a crowd or folk; die is "that one there" (the 1887 dictionary under diet); hejvit is to fit; harcastet is to hang, so the Knight harcastuvui, "was hanged". Three forms are read from the word they belong to and are not in the dictionaries as printed: duji as the past of doagjet, to break off; bakkarin as "into the pocket"; and sengi as "into the bed". Riddaræv(a) is in neither dictionary; it is read as the Scandinavian word for a knight (riddar, ridder), the ending unexplained, and Friis sets it in quotation marks where the Knight first appears. Fiola is in neither dictionary either, and is read as the Norwegian fiol, a fiddle. Friis's own corrections in brackets are followed in the English (son (mon) læ (læm), "I have" for the teller's "he has"; su (mu), "from me" for "from her"), and so are the words he supplies in brackets elsewhere.

Ječa, printed with one c in ječa gujmek and ječa lage, is read as the glossary's ječča, "other"; it could also be the reflexive "his own".

No complete English translation of Friis's collection is known to us. This tale was retold in English at second hand by Andrew Lang, as "The Mermaid and the Boy" in The Brown Fairy Book (1904), from J. C. Poestion's German Lappländische Märchen (1886); the present translation was made from Friis's Sámi without reference to it.

© 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: Bardne, Havfruva ja Riddaræva

North Sámi text as printed by Friis (1856), pp. 95–99, in his orthography, with Friis's correction for p. 95 applied; line-end hyphens are joined. Friis's single paragraph is divided here at the same places as the English.

Gonagas vulgi akti jottët skipain. Akka baci nuollën. De darvani skipa, de iđi havfruva, de dagja gonagasain: „Ik don bæsa oudal jottët, go loppedak munje dam mana, maid akka riegadatta dan bodda, go don jotteme læk.“ De loppedi gonagas, ja de bæsai jottët.

De gonagas bođi siddi dasto, de læi bardne-manna riegadam dan bodda, go son læi matkest. De bijai gonagas sierra viessoi dam bardne-mana. De bardne šadtai stuorak, ja de sittagođi vuölgët vandardët, go litto-ajge dievai, go havfruva sun oaǯǯot galgai. De valdi golbma lajbe ja golbma vidne-buttal, ja de vulgi.

De manai ovta bæjve, de šadtai ækkëd. De bardne bijai igja-sagjai ječas vuojŋastët, de gulla; de boatta ja dabma. De bardne riemai ballat. De boatta lejona ja dagja: „Maid, bardne, dast dagak?“ Dagja bardne: „Havfruva oudast læm bataræme.“ Dagja lejona: „Adte munji borrat!“ De bardne adti ovta lajbe ja vidne-buttala, ja de soi boraiga ovtast dan lajbe ja jugaiga dan vidne-buttala, ja de bijaiga nokkat baltalaga.

De šadtai iđđëd. Dagja lejona: „Čuopa must ovta čoarve-gæče, ja go hætte šadda, de jurdël ječat lejonan!“ De vulgiga guabbag guvlui. De bardne jurdëli ječas lejonan ja ruotai dan bæjve.

De šadtai ækkëd, de bardne jurdëli ječas olmučën ja bijai ječas vuojŋastët. De gulla, de boatta vuot ja de dabma. De bardne riemai ballat vuot. De boatta birdne, de dagja: „Maid, bardne, dast dakkame læk?“ Dagja bardne: „Havfruva oudast læm bataræme.“ Dagja birdne: „Adte munji borrat!“ De bardne adti ovta lajbe ja vidne-buttal, ja de soaj boraiga dan ovtast ja jugaiga dan vidne-buttal ovtast ja ođiga dan ija ovtast.

De šadtai iđđëd, de dagja birdne: „Čuopa must bællje-gæče, ja go hætte šadda, jurdël ječat divrën!“ De vulgiga guabbag guvlui. De bardne jurdëli ječas divrën, ja de ruotai dan bæjve.

De šadtai ækkëd. De bardne jurdëli ječas olmučën, ja de bijai vuoiŋastët ječas igja-sagjai. De gulla bardne, de boatta vuot ja de dabma. Bardne riemai ballat. De boatta ulvo, de dagja: „Maid, bardne, dast dakkame læk?“ Dagja bardne: „Havfruva oudast læm bataræme.“ Dagja ulvo: „Adte munji borrat!“ De bardne adti dan goalmad lajbe ja vidne-buttal, ja de soaj boraiga dan ovtast ja jugaiga dan goalmad vidne-buttal ovtast, ja de ođiga ovtast dan ija.

Šadtai iđđëd, dagja ulvo: „Gajkët must ovta soagje-dolge, ja go hætte šadda, jurdël ječat ulvon!“ De soaj vulgiga guabbag guvlui. De bardne jurdëli ječas ulvon, ja de girdi dan bæjve. De oajdna ovta gæđge-juova, ja de girdi dan sisa. De jurdëli ječas olmučën. De læi gonagas-gavpug dat juovva; mutto oroi dalle, go ulvon læi, dego gæđge-juovva.

De bođi bardne fæskar ragjai, de gulla, go mujtalëk, atte gonagasast læ akta niejda, ige dat gierda dievdo-olbmu oajdnët. De šadtai ækkëd. Bigak sittëk oađđem-saje rakadët bardnai. Dagja bardne: „Galle mon dast bænka nalde oađam.“ Dagjëk bigak: „Ik don dast dokke oađđët, galle mi dudnji sænga rakadæp.“ I bardne dast fuollam, vælla bænka nalde.

De dak bigje nokkat. Dego bigje nokkat gajk olbmuk, de bardne jurdëli ječas ulvon ja girdi dokko dam vieso lokti, gost niejda oroi; ja legje vavtak dan vieso oudast. De bođi dan lokti ja jurdëli ječas olmučën.

De niejda riemai čuorvot: „Dabe læ akta di'vdo-olmuš!“ De vavtak vulge bajas dan lokti. De bardne jurdëli ječas ulvon ja čiekkadi erit. De vavtak botte lokti. Dagja niejda: „Dabe læi akta di'vdo-olmuš!“ De vavtak occe, æi dak gavdnam maidege; de manne bodnai fast.

Dego dak bodnai manne, de bardne jurdëli ječas fast olmučën. De niejda riemai čuorvot: „Dabe læ akta dievdo-olmuš!“ De vavtak vulge bajas lokti. De bardne jurdëli ječas ulvon ja čiekkadi erit. Dego vavtak botte lokti, de niejda dagja: „Dabe læi dal akta dievd'-olmuš!“ De si occe, æi si gavdnam maidege; de fast manne bodnai.

De bardne jurdëli fast ječas olmučën ja čuöʒʒeli guölbai. Niejda das riemai čuorvot: „Dabe læ akta dievdo-olmuš!“ De vavtak vulge bajas. Bardne dat jurdëli ječas ulvon ja čiekkadi erit. De vavtak botte lokti, i dobbe ojdnu mikkege. De vavtak dagja niejdain: „Jus don dal vel čuorvok duššid, de mi valdep dust hægga erit. Alma mi lifčimek oajdnam, jus deki mannam lifči aktage olmuš.“ De manne vulus fast vavtak.

De bardne jurdëli ječas olmučën ja čuöʒʒeli guölbai; i niejda dal duöstam jednadëk(t). De bardne manai sængan ravta nala čokkedët. I niejda duöste jednadët. De bardne vælledi sengi, baldi. Niejda hojgadi erit bardne. I bardne mannam erit.

De bardne riemai sardnogoattet niejdain. I niejda gille guldalët bardne algost. De riemaiga maŋŋemusta sardnodašgoattet ja šadtaiga buričak gaskatasga. De mujtal niejda, sun ačče galga soattai vuölgët golma bæjve bærëst (gæčest), ja sun ače miekke læ dabe sun lute, ja gutte dan vieǯǯa dabe, de galga sun oaǯǯot. De bardne riemai irgastallat dan nijdi, ja de dagaiga dal litto gaskastasga.

De bardne nævvo nijdi, jus son dal javka soatte-mokkest, „de don galgak valdët fiola ja mannat juökke ækkëd mærra-gaddai čuojadët, vaj gajk mærra-ruollak bagjanëk bajas.“ De šadtai goalmad bæjve, de vulge soattai. De vajaldatti gonagas miekkës; de fuobmai balga nalde. Dagja gonagas, gutte su miekke vieǯǯa niejda lute, de galga oaǯǯot su niejda ja rika maŋŋel su. Mutto niejda vieso oudast legje lejonak vaktan.

De vulge vieǯǯat, „Riddaræv“ ja bardne ja ærrasak majd. De bardne jurdëli ječas lejonan ja de ruotai gidda dan vieso ragjai oudemusta. De bardne jurdëli dasto ječas ulvon ja girdi niejda lusa ja valdi gonagasa miekke dobbe niejdast, ja dagja bardne niejdain: „Mujte, maid son (mon) læ (læm) nævvom dal dudnji!“ De niejda duji golle-ringastës bæle ja adti bardnai.

De bardne vulgi ja valdi miekke, ja bardne ruktod boatteme jo (læi) miekkin, (go) Riddaræva ja ječa gujmek æska dokko manname (legje). De Riddaræv riemai villit bardnest miekke erit ja sitta gæččat. I bardne adtam. De bardne riemai gojkat, ja de riemai ovta ucca' jogačëst jukkat. De duppi havfruva sun. De Riddaræv oaǯoi miekke ja doalvoi gonagassi.

De bođi gonagas ruoktot soađest, de niejda oajdna, dal læ bardne javkam. Niejda šadtai morrašin. De Riddaræva dat galgai dal niejda oaǯǯot, gutte miekke læ gonagassi buktam; mutto gonagas-niejda galle dietta, i Riddaræv dan læ vieǯǯam. De hæjaid ribme adnet.

De šadtai vuostas hægja-bæjve ækkëd, de niejda valdi fiola ja manai mærra-gaddai ja riemai čuojadët. De dagja havfruva: „Gula, du boares moarse čuojaha!“ Dagja bardne, i son gula, čacce læ belljin, (bardne čuoǯǯo havfruva oajve nalde): „bajet mun bajebutta, vaj mon gulam!“ Havfruva lokti gaska-čaccai ja dagja: „Jogo dal gulak?“ Dagja bardne: „Im gula vel, bajet mun bajebutta, vaj mon gulam!“

Havfruva lokti čacce-gierragin ja dagja: „Jogo dal gulak?“ Dagja bardne: „Im gula, čacce læ belljin ejn, lokte mun bajebutta, vaj mon gulam!“ Havfruva lokti gojkasin ja dagja: „Jogo dal gulak?“ Dagja bardne: „Im gula vel, anne čacce golgeda erit belljin!“ De bardne jurdëli ječas ulvon ja girdeli niejda bakkarin. De gulai (dovdai) niejda, go lossoi bakker. De niejda vulgi ruoktot.

De bardne jurdëli ječas olmučën balga nalde ja albmoduvvai nijdi. De bođi niejda hægja-stoppoi, dagja Riddarævain: „Daga ječat dal lejonan!“ De Riddaræva bigja ječas nu vastën, go son sattage; mutto i son šadtam mannenge, ige sattam maidege šat dakkat. Dagja niejda: „Daga ječat divrën!“ De Riddaræva molso galle ječas ječa lage, mutto i son šadtam mannenge. De niejda dagja: „Šadda ulvon!“ De Riddaræva riemai hurradët, mutto i šadtam mannenge.

Dagja niejda bardnin: „Šadda don lejonan!“ De bardne jurdëli ječas lejonan ja šadtai. De suorganadda gajt hægja-vækka. De bardne Riddaræva ajgo gajkodët.

Dagja niejda: „Šad'tal (šadda dal) olmučën!“ De bardne jurdëli ječas olmučën. De niejda dagja: „Šadda dal divrën!“ De bardne jurdëli ječas divrën. Gonagas jurdaša, mi dat dal matta lædët.

Dagja niejda: „Šadda dal olmučën!“ De bardne jurdëli ječas olmučën. De gonagas jurdaša, jogo son dat i læk, gutte su miekke vieǯai niejda lute. Dagja niejda: „Die de læ, gutte vieǯai miekke su (mu) lute,“ ja de dagja bardnin: „Adde dal dan golle-ringa bæle, maid mon dalle addim, go don miekke viǯǯik!“ De bardne adti dan golle-ringa bæle.

De gonagas valdi dan golle-ringa bæle, ja niejda adti nubbe bæle. Gonagas gæččal dal dan guökte bæle akti bigjat; ja de dak hejvige akti. De Riddaræva harcastuvui, ja bardne niejda oaǯoi, ja guökte vakko mi jugaim hæjaid, ja de mon vulgim erit.

Source Colophon

J. A. Friis (ed.), Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 95–99, with Friis's correction for p. 95 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 ë, ö, č, đ, š, ŋ, and both ʒ and ǯ, which he distinguishes, and so are his bracketed glosses and corrections.

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