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

Told in North Sámi at Ibestad in Troms and printed by Jens Andreas Friis in 1856, in Sámi only, this is a Sámi telling of the story of the lamp and the ring best known as Aladdin's. A boy whom a stranger calling himself his uncle leaves in a hole in the earth is saved by the ring, gains a king's town by the lamp, loses everything when the old lamp is traded for a new one, and wins it all back.

Translation

A certain man had a son. Then the man died, and the boy went out walking into the wilds. Then a certain man came to meet him. The man asked: "Where are you going?" And the boy said: "I'm not going anywhere!"

Then the man asked: "Do you know me?" "I don't know you!" "I am your uncle! Don't you want to walk with your uncle?" "I don't want to!" "Come along, come along! I'll take you back, never fear, even if we two walk a little way." And so the boy went.

The two of them went far into the wilds, and the boy wanted to turn back. The man said: "We are not far now!" They walked a little way further, and they found a hole into the earth. Then the man told the boy to go down into the hole, and said: "When you come down, you must take the lamp and the ring that hang on the wall."

The boy did just so: he took them and brought them to the mouth of the hole. Then the man ordered: "Tie the lamp to the rope!" The boy tied it to the rope, and the man pulled it up, and shoved the rope back down, and said: "Now tie the ring to the rope!" The boy said: "Now pull me up, me myself!" "I won't pull you up yet; tie the ring fast!" The boy refused: "I won't tie it!" Then the man went away.

The boy fell into sorrow: where was he to go now? He could not get out anywhere. Then, there, he pushed his hands against those stones; and the ring came against a stone, and two sparks came out, and they became people and asked: "What does our master command?" "Bring me up there, quickly!" And at that word he was up at the mouth of the hole.

Then he struck that ring against a stone with his fist, and again two sparks came out, and they asked: "What does our master decree?" "Bring me home, quickly!" When he had come home, he struck that ring of his against a stone there, and the two came, and they asked: "What does our master decree?" "Fetch me that old lamp that I took in the hole!" At once they seized the lamp.

Then he knocked the lamp against a stone, and six people came out and asked: "What does our master decree?" "Get me a town, here!" At once that too was there, and it was like a king's town. Then he began to think of marrying. He fetched himself a bride, and he got a bride, and then he himself went away.

Then a certain man came with fine new lamps, and offered to sell those lamps. The woman said: "I don't care for them!" Then the man asked: "Haven't you any old lamps? I'll trade, never fear!" And the woman said: "I do have one old lamp, and I'll certainly trade that one, since I get a new lamp." So the two of them traded, and he went his way with that lamp.

Then the other master came home, the one who was meant to be master, and saw that his lamp was gone, and he fell into sorrow. He understood well enough already what was happening to him. Then that town of his vanished, and his bride vanished, and now he did not know what counsel to take. Then he went walking into the wilds, and he came right up to his town and stayed there outside of them, and he got to see his bride.

He said this to his bride: "You must make a drink, so that he gets drunk." And she did just so: she made him a drink and gave it to him, and he drank himself drunk. Then the bride came and told her bridegroom: "He is asleep already!" Then the bridegroom came and struck off his head, and so he got back again his lamp, his town, his bride and everything.

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. 102–104, from the group printed under the heading Ivarstad, which Friis's glossary explains as Ibbestad, now Ibestad. 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 properly a husband (Friis: Ægtemand), but the tale uses it for every grown man in it, so the English says "a man"; čiecce is a father's elder brother, given as "uncle"; mæcce is the outlying wild land (Udmark, Ødemark), "the wilds"; oudald is "to meet"; ejto, Friis's æjto, is "just, exactly", so "the boy did just so"; rajge is a hole or opening; vægan and Friis's own gloss beside it, sæjnen, both mean "on the wall", and goccahet is a dialect word for "hang"; hojgat is to shove or knock something away from oneself; gieldet is to forbid or refuse; moraš is sorrow, and šadtai morrahida is read as "fell into sorrow" by its likeness to garrém, drunkenness, of which the 1887 dictionary gives šaddat garrémidi, "to get drunk", and jukkat ječas garrémidi, "to drink oneself drunk", the tale's garramida šadda and jugai garramida; nordat is to push, and niejga "right up against"; the ring's servants come out as čuonamak, sparks (1887 čuonam, Gnist); čorbmat is to strike with the clenched fist; monno is the dual "of us two", so Meis monno hærra goččo? is "What does our master command?", and the six people of the lamp say it too; dubmit (1887) is to judge or decree; sattet with a word of place is "to bring to" it (skaffe hen til), so "Bring me up there", "Bring me home" and "Get me a town here"; goalo is a lamp (glossary Goalla, "lamp, train-oil lamp"; 1887 goallo, goalo, Lampe); doppit is to seize, and doppijën is read as "they seized"; valddot (1887) is to marry; lagedet (1887) is "to care about", with the example im mon laged sust ollo, "I do not care much for him", so the woman's Im mon laged! is "I don't care for them!"; lodnot is to exchange; rađđe is counsel or means; lakkit (1887, a dialect word) is to make ready; irge is a bridegroom; and čuolastet is to chop at one blow, as with an axe. Three words are read from their form rather than found as printed: valai, taken as Friis's fallat, "to offer" (tilbyde), in the v- spelling he also gives for farga (varga); vast, "again", likewise taken as his fast; and olgolis, taken as the 1887 dictionary's olggolist, "outside", in oroi danne deis olgolis, "stayed there outside of them", where deis is "at them" and the Sámi says no more. Gosas don læk? is read as gosa, "where to", with the question ending -s.

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: Bardne, lampa ja ringo

North Sámi text as printed by Friis (1856), pp. 102–104, 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.

Muttom boadnje ani bardne. De jami boadnje ja de vulgi bardne vaʒašet mæccai. De bođi muttom boadnje oudald. Gača boadnje: „Gosas don læk?“ De sardno bardne: „Im mon læk gosag!“

De gača boadnje: „Dogdakgos don mun?“ — „Im mon dogda!“ — „Mon læm du čiecce! Ikgos don siđa čiecad milde vaʒašet?“ „Im mon siđa!“ — „Vulge, vulge! Galle mon doalvom dun ruktod, vajko moi oanekaǯǯa vaʒašædne.“ De ejto bardne vulgi.

De manaiga gukkas mæccai, de siđai bardne ruktod maccat. De jatti boadnje: „Æm moi šat læk gukkas!“ Vaʒiga oanekaǯǯa viel, de gavnaiga rajge ædnama sisa. De gočoi boadnje bardne mannat vulus da rajge sisa ja jatti: „Go don vulus boađak, de galgak valdet da lampa ja da ringo, mi vægan (sæjnen) goccaha.“

De ejto bardne valti ja buvti rajge lusa. De gočoi boadnje: „Čana lampa da baddai!“ Bardne čanai baddai, ja de gesi boadnje bajas ja hojgadi vast badde vulus ja jatti: „Čana dal ringo da baddai!“ Bardne jatti: „Gæs'al (gæse dal) mun ječčam bajas!“ — „Im mon dal dun gæse ejn, čana ringo gidda!“ Bardne gildi, atte: „Im mon čana!“ De vulgi boadnje eridin.

Šadtai bardne morrahida, gosa dal galga šaddat, i bæsa i gosag. De danne norda gieđaides niejga deid gergid; de bođi ringo gærge vuösta, de bođi guökte čuonamak olgus, de šaddën olmučën ja de gačalën: „Meis monno hærra goččo?“ — „Satte mun bajas danne farga!“ De lei rajge nalde daggar sani milde.

De čormadi dan ringo gærge vuösta, de bottën ejn guökte čuonamak olgus, de gačalën: „Meis monno hærra dubme?“ — „Satte mun siddi farga!“ Go-de lei siddi boattam, de čormadi das da ringos gærge vuösta, de bottën guövtes, de gačalën: „Meis monno hærra dubme?“ — „Vieǯa munje dan oabme goalo, meid mon rajgen valdim!“ Dakkaviddi lampa doppijën.

De hojgadi da lampa gærge vuösta, de bottën gutta olbmuk olgus, de gačën: „Meid monno hærra dubme?“ — „Sattet munje dasa gavpugan!“ Dakkaviddi dat leige dobbe, ja dat lei dego gonagasa gavpug. De jurdašišgođi valdot. De vieǯai allases moarse, de oaǯoi moarse, ja de vulgi ješ eridin.

De bođi muttom boadnje čabba ođđa lampai gujm, de valai deid lampaid vuögdet. De jatti do nisson: „Im mon laged!“ De gačai dot boadnje: „Ikgos don ane oabme lampaid? Galle mon lonom!“ De jatti do nisson: „Galle munne læ akta oabme lampa, galle mon deina lonom, go mon oaǯom ođđa lampa.“ De lonodeiga, ja de vulgi gæjnos deina lampain.

De bođi siddi dot nubbe ised, mi isedën galgai lækket, de ojni, atte sun lampa lei javkam, de šadtai morrahida. Galle dat jo arvedi, mi sudnji šadda. De javkai da sun gavpug, ja de javkai sun moarse, ige dal diettam, meid galgai dal rađđen adnet. De vulgi mæccai vaǯašet, ja de bođi gavpuges niejga ja oroi danne deis olgolis, de oaǯoi moarses oajdnet.

Jatti moarsases dan, atte: „Galgak lakket jukkamuša, vaj dat garramida šadda.“ De ejto lakki dasa jukkamuša ja de addi dasa, ja de jugai garramida. De moarse bođi ja sardnoi irgasis, atte: „Jo læ nokkam!“ De bođi irge ja čuolasti oajve eridin, ja de oaǯoi vast ruktod lampas, gavpuges, moarses ja gajtën.

Source Colophon

J. A. Friis (ed.), Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 102–104; 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, and both ʒ and ǯ, which he distinguishes.

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