a tale from Ofoten, from J. A. Friis, Lappiske Sprogprøver (1856)
Stallo, in Sámi folk tales, is a monstrous giant who eats people. Told in North Sámi in Ofoten and printed by Jens Andreas Friis in 1856, in Sámi only, this tale tells how a Christian family, made to promise their daughter to Stallo's son, used the wedding feast and a game on the frozen lake to be rid of the son, of Stallo, and of Stallo's wife.
Translation
Stallo came to a Christian man, and there at the Christian man's he saw a girl. She was a beautiful girl, and Stallo had a mind to take that girl as a wife for his son, and he made a proposal of marriage. The Christian man did not dare refuse; he had to promise his daughter to that Stallo as a daughter-in-law.
So the Christian folk began to make ready for the wedding, and they made an agreement on the day by which the wedding should be ready. Then they sent to invite him: Stallo was now to come to the wedding. Stallo's home was behind a mountain. So they sent two boys to fetch that Stallo to the wedding.
They told the boys to go by the night side of the mountain; but when Stallo asked, "Which way did you come?", the two of them were to say: "By the day side of that mountain!" Stallo had dreamed that night that if they came by the night side to invite him, then they were no good fetchers.
So when the two of them came to Stallo, Stallo asked: "Which way did you come?" And the two of them said: "By the day side of that mountain!" Then Stallo took them for good guests and was pleased with the two boys, and he made himself ready to go with them, together with his wife and his son, who was to be the bridegroom. And they took wedding food along with them. Then the boys set off home, and Stallo with them, with his wife and his son.
Then the Christian man and his people hewed holes in the ice of the lake, and made clubs of wood, and hid them under the snow round about the holes, covering them with snow; and they shovelled snow over the holes, so that Stallo should not see them. And Stallo saw nothing of it at all; he thought the ice was whole.
And Stallo came there with the boys, to the Christian man. Then they began to hold the wedding, and began to cook dishes of meat: they made ready two big kettles, and cut meat to fill those kettles, and hung them on the pot-chain. Then they brought them to the boil, and when the dishes had boiled, the Christian boy was to let one kettle down at the back of the hut; and he let it down onto his knees, there at the back of the hut.
Then Stallo told his son to let down the other kettle, and he said to his boy: "You let it down onto your knees too, the way the other boy let his down!" But Stallo's son was not so strong. He lost hold of it, and the hot broth tipped over, in through the opening at his breast. The broth poured in there, and his belly was burned, and the hot broth ran on down there, right down to his privates.
Stallo saw it, and he asked his boy: "Are you burning already, boy?" And the boy said: "But I'm not burned yet!" Then they ate the dishes, but Stallo's son could not eat, because he was burned. He went out, and went into the barn to moan. The bride went with him and sat down at his side. There the bridegroom died, beside her, and the bride sat on at his side all the same, for her father had told her to.
When Stallo saw that the boy had gone out, he already grew uneasy and thought: "Perhaps the boy is badly burned," and he went off to look in the barn for his son. He asked his daughter-in-law, who sat there at his side: "What is the boy doing?" And the daughter-in-law said: "He's asleep!" Then the Christian folk understood that Stallo's son was already dead.
Then they began to urge Stallo: "Let us go now onto the lake, onto the ice, for some fun, where it is level for running!" So they set Stallo to play Stallo, and they covered his eyes. (It is the rule that whoever goes as Stallo must pull a cap down over his eyes.) The others ran round about him and plucked at his clothes, and Stallo would start up to catch hold of them.
When he caught the first one, he stroked his hands down over the eyes and said: "Simme sammas! You shall be my morning meal tomorrow." Then he caught the second and said: "Simme sammas! You shall be my midday meal." And again they made merry. Then he caught a third, and said: "Simme sammas! You shall be my evening meal."
Then he ran after the others, and fell into a hole. The Christian boy was ready to snatch a club from under the snow and strike Stallo on the head. Then the other Christian folk came to help, with other clubs, to strike Stallo on the head. And Stallo began to shout for his wife to help.
The other Christian women and Stallo's wife were in the hut, and they were picking the lice from Stallo's wife's head. Then the other women sat down at her side and tied her hair fast to the poles of the hut. They looked over the things that hung at her belt, and there they saw the iron tube. They slipped the tube away and put it into the fire, and it grew hot there in the fire, until it glowed red like an ember.
Then Stallo's wife heard the voice of her husband, who was out on the lake, and she asked the Christian women: "Is that sport out there, or is it in earnest?" And they said: "It's sport out there!" So she sat quiet again, and they went on picking the lice from her head. Again she heard that voice shouting, where Stallo cried: "Bring the iron tube, Nanna!" Then she heard that he was already in distress. She sat bolt upright, and she did not feel her hair tearing loose, the hair that had been tied fast to the rafters of the hut.
She began to feel about at her front and among the things at her belt, to catch hold of the iron tube, and she did not find it. She asked the Christian women: "Where has my iron tube got to, then?" And they showed her: "There it is, in the fire!" She stood up to catch hold of that tube of hers. She caught it up, ember and all, and she swallowed, ember and all, and her insides were burned; and she died there on the spot. And at the same time they beat Stallo to death there in the hole, so that his head broke in pieces.
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. 104–106, printed under Friis's heading Ofotta (Ofoten) and his sub-heading Orjis-Lobag; orjis is "southern", and the place Lobag we have not identified. 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 these pages, and a few evident misprints are kept as printed (Stolloi for Stalloi, dc for de "then", cuorvo without its háček). Page 106 is heavily over-inked in this copy, and where the ink has filled a letter it is read with the help of Friis's glossary: the iron tube is bocces, accusative boccasan, as the glossary gives it, though ink closes one c into an o in four places; covkani "broke in pieces", cabmačet and Hissogos are read through letters overstruck by ink from the other side of the leaf, and three letters are solid blots read from context with the glossary's help: the u of cuorvo, the u of ouda-bæles "at her front" and the a of ajge "time". 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): suögjo is a proposal of marriage; maŋŋe is a daughter-in-law; ija-bæle and bæjve-bæle are the night side and the day side (bæjve is both day and sun); vieǯǯek are fetchers, from vieǯǯat, to fetch; boaššo is the back of the turf hut, the place of honour; buolva is the knee and rigge the iron chain the pot hangs from (1887 Ordbog); occa is the bosom, the space between the clothes and the breast; the hot broth runs down to Stallo's son's vuölle-vajmok, literally his "lower hearts", which Friis glosses testiculi; lujučet is "to moan"; stallostallat, "to play Stallo", is Friis's word for blind man's buff, which is why the narrator stops to explain the cap; ilodeǯǯi is "for fun"; Simme sammas! is, in Friis's words, an expression of relish found in tales of Stallo, and it is left as it stands; hisso and hasso, also found only in Stallo tales, seem to mean, he says, "jest" and "earnest, or danger and distress", and are put into English as "sport" and "earnest"; Nanna is the name of Stallo's wife; avve-vuluš is everything that hangs at the belt, such as a knife; a bocce or bocces is a drinking tube of bone that the Sámi used to reach water in awkward places, here made of iron; boarkanaddat is to wear through and part, said of a rope; rubestet is to swallow; ječča is "other", plural ječčasak. Four words are read from related entries rather than found as they stand: lakkegoattet as "begin to make ready", from Friis's lagedet "make ready" and lakke "manner" (matke-lakkai, "ready for the journey"); rejtas as "ready", after a dialect reid, "ready", in the 1887 Ordbog; ejto as Friis's æjto, "just, precisely", strengthening the "not" ("saw nothing of it at all"); and the postposition gum as "with", in muttagi gum, "with snow".
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: Stallo rulappi
North Sámi text as printed by Friis (1856), pp. 104–106, in his orthography; his list of misprints has no entry for these pages, and evident misprints are kept as printed; on p. 106, which is over-inked in this copy, letters filled by the ink are read with the help of his glossary; line-end hyphens are joined. Friis's single paragraph is divided here at the same places as the English.
De bođi Stallo ristalas olbmu lusa ja ojni 'dobbe nejda dan ristalas boadnjën. De lëi čabba nejda, ja de likoi Stallo bardnases valdet akkan dan nejda ja dagai suögjo. I duöstam ristalas boadnje gieldet, verti loppedet nejdas do Stolloi maŋŋen.
De lakkegottën rulappi ristalas olbmuk ja dakkën litto, guđe bæjve gærgas galga šaddat rulappi. De bovdečet bigjën, Stallo galgai boattet dal rulappai. De lëi Stallo sidda vare duögën. De bigjën guökte bardne vieǯačet do Stallo rulappi.
De nevvuk daid bardnid mannat ija-bæle vare, mutto go Stallo gača: „Goggo bođidik?“ de sardnot galgaigak: „Bæjve-bæle da vare!“ De niegad Stallo dan ija, jus dal ija-bæle bottek bovdečet, dc æi læk buorak vieǯǯek.
Dego dal dok bottën Stallo lusa, de Stallo gača: „Goggo bođidik?“ De dok sardnoigak: „Bæjve-bæle da vare!“ De Stallo ani daid buorak guössen ja likoi deita bardniden, ja de lakkegođi ječas mielde oktan akaines ja bardnines, gutte irge galgai lækket. Ja de valdën mieltesak rulap-biebmoid. De vulgën ruöktod dak bardnek ja Stallo akaines mielde ja bardnines.
De dot ristalas boadnje olbmuides gujm čuolla javrai rajgid jëŋa sisa ja dagadek muorra-slubbuid, ja čiegadek daid muottag vuöllai birra doi rajgid muttagi gum, ja de gojvuk muottagan dai rajgi nala, amas i Stallo oajdnet. Ja de i ejto Stallo oajdnam, de doajvoi hæjles jëgŋa dat lëi.
Ja de bođi Stallo doi bardni mielde dokko dan ristalas boadnje lusa. De doallagottën rulappi ja malestisgottën birgo-mallasid, guökte stuorra gjibme lakkegottën ja čuppën biergoid dievva deid gjibmid ja goǯǯatën deid riggai. De duoltahek, ja dego duldën dak mallasak, de galgai dot ristalas bardne luojtet vulus boššui nubbe gjibme, ja de luojta buolvai nalde boššui.
De goččo Stallo bardnes luojtet nubbe gjibme ja dagja do bardnases: „Luojte dodnaj buolvai nalde, nuftgo nubbe bardne lujti!“ De i læm Stallo bardne nuft givra, bisti gobmanet bakka liema occa-rajgai. De læjkasi dokko da liebma ja de buli čoajve, ja de golkai da bakka liebma dokko vulus dokko vuölle-vajmoiden.
De ojni Stallo dan, ja de gačali bardnënes: „Jugos, bardne, bullik?“ De dajai bardne: „Im davka ajn buöllam!“ De borrajën daid mallasid, mutto Stallo bardne i vægjam borrat, dejnago buli. De manai olgus ja manai ladoi lujučet. De manai moarse mielde ja čokkahan baltan. De jami do irge dasa balti, ja de moarse lika čokkahan danne baltan, deinago ačče lëi nævvom.
Go Stallo ojni, atte bardne olgus manai, de juo ballastudda ja arvohalla: „Dajda bardne buöllam sagga,“ ja de vuölga dokko gæčačet ladoi da bardnes. De gača do maŋŋënes, gutte čokkot læ danne baltan; „Meist bardne dakka?“ De dagja maŋŋe: „Oađđa dat!“ De huomehën ristalas olbmuk, atte juo læ Stallo bardne jabmam.
De goččohisgottën do Stallo: „Mannop dal do javre nala da jëŋa nala ilodeǯǯi, gonne jalgad læ viegadet!“ De bigjën do Stallo stalostallačet, ja de čiekkad dal čalmides. (Verte dat, gutte Stallon manna gápperan coggat vulus čalmi nala). De nubbek viegadek birra, ja de gavvestek biktasis. De Stallo vallit gidda doppičet.
Dego oaǯǯo vuostas gidda, de njavkas gieđain bagjel čalmid vulus ja dagja: „Simme sammas! Galgak iđđedes malesen munje ittači.“ Das oaǯǯo nubbe gidda ja dagja: „Simme sammas! Galgak munje gaska-bæjve-malesen.“ De fast ilodek. De oaǯǯo das goalmada gidda, de dagja: „Simme sammas! Don galgak munje ækkedes malesen.“
De das viegaldatti ječčasid, de gaččai rajgai. De lëi rejtas dot ristalas bardne slubbo doppit muottag vuöllën ja de cabmačet Stallo oajvai. De dok ječčasak ristalas olbmuk bottën vækkën ječa slubboi gum cabmačet Stallo oajvai. De Stallo čuorvogođi akas vækkën.
De ječa ristalas akak ja Stallo akka goađën legje, ja de legjën goddemen oajve dikkid do Stallo akan. De nubbe akak baltan čokkahek ja čanadek vuovtaid goatte-muoraiden gidda. De skodurdek ja gæčadek avve-vuluhid, ja de ojnek ruovde-boccasan. De njagahek eridin dan boccasan ja coggek dolli, ja de dat bakkani dobbe da dola sinne dassači go ruvsodi dugo hilla.
De gulla Stallo akka do boadnjes giela, gutte lëi javre nalde, ja de gačal doi ristalas akain: „Hissogos dobbe læ, vaj hasso?“ De dak sarnok: „Hisso dobbe læ!“ De orro ajta ajn ja goddet oajves. De gulla ajn do giela čuorvomen, gost Stallo cuorvo: „Buvte, Nanna, ruovde-boccasan!“ De gulai, atte juo læ hæđën. De valli čokkot, ja de i gullam, go vuovtak boarkanaddën, mak legjën čanaduvvum goatte-dækkedagaiden gidda.
De njavkastallagođi ouda-bæles, avve-vuluhides, ruovde-boccasan doppičet, ige gavdnam. De gača ristalas akain: „Gonne muo ruovde-bocces læ dalle šaddam?“ De vuösehek: „Do de læ dola sinne!“ De čuöʒʒeli bajas doppičet do boccases. De doppi oktan hilai gum, ja de rubesti oktan hilai gum, ja de buli siskolus; de jami dassanagak. Ja sæmma ajge cabmën Stallo jamas da rajgën, nuftgo oajve covkani.
Source Colophon
J. A. Friis (ed.), Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 104–106; Friis's list of misprints has no entry 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 á, ö, ë, æ, č, đ, š, ŋ, and both ʒ and ǯ, which he distinguishes.
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