a Pite Sámi legend from Arjeplog, from Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V (1893)

A short legend of the figures in the moon, told in Pite Sámi by Sámi of Arjeplog parish and taken down by Ignácz Halász at Saltdalen in Norway in 1891. A man and a woman who mean to steal by night find the moon too bright, and plan to climb up and tar it dark; the moon grows angry, and they are taken up into it, tar-bucket and all, and there they sit to this day for everyone on earth to see.

Translation

Once, in the old days, when two people, a man and a woman, were going to steal, the moon shone terribly brightly and gave light over all the earth. It was so terribly bright a moon-tēhpē that evening when those two were going to steal. But the two of them were afraid that people might see them while they were stealing.

Then the two of them hit on a good plan: they fetched a tar-tub that was quite full of tar, and then the two of them carried that tar-vessel between them, and they were going to climb up and tar the moon, so that it would grow dark and they could steal. But the moon grew angry that they wanted to tar him, and the two of them were taken, both of them, together with that tar-bucket, up into the moon; and there they are now, sitting there with that tar-bucket.

So the two of them got a fine wage for their tarring, and now they have to sit there and be seen by all the people who live on the earth; and so they were rid of their stealing, too.

Colophon

Translated from the Pite Sámi of Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V: Népköltési gyűjtemény a Pite-lappmark arjepluogi egyházkerületéből (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893), no. 2, p. 2, in the section of primeval legends. Halász took these texts down in 1891 at Saltdalen from Sámi of Arjeplog parish, and printed a Hungarian translation after each, which was not consulted: it was masked out of the page images before translation.

The words that decide the reading were checked in K. B. Wiklund's Lule-lappisches Wörterbuch (1890), in Lindahl and Öhrling's Lexicon Lapponicum (1780), in Halász's South Sámi dictionary (Svéd-lapp nyelv IV, 1891) and in Joshua Wilbur's A Grammar of Pite Saami (2014). Kalhkap, kilhkin, kalhkaiḳan are forms of "shall, be going to" (Wilbur p. 238, gallgat "will, shall"); vuidnuji in the title and vuidnut are "be seen". Khārān is "man" (Wiklund s.v. karane-, "Mann", from Swedish karl); khuidna is "woman" (Wiklund s.v. kuiᵉna-). Suolāṭėt is "to steal". Alvūs is "terribly" (Lindahl–Öhrling p. 18 s.v. ALWOS, "terribilis, horrendus", and as an adverb "valde"). Čuwkai is "gave light" and čowḳes "bright" (Halász IV s.v. cuoukqt, "leuchten"); paďďēl is "over" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. PAIJEL, "super, öfver"); ētnama is "the earth" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Jord, ádnam); ēhkēṭen is "in the evening" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Afton, Qvåll, ekked). Pallap̣a is "the two of them were afraid" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. PALLET, "timere, frukta"); ihkep̣ is "maybe" (Wilbur §9.1.2, ihkep); sōi, sunūw are "the two of them" (Wilbur Table 6.1, såj, sånov); läpā is "the two are" (Wilbur Table 8.25, lähpa). Kawdnap̣a is "found" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KAUDNET, "invenire, finna"); pûrahk is "good" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Beskedlig, puorak); rāðēp̣ is "a plan, counsel" (Wiklund s.v. rąđe-, "Rat"). Taʼrĕvē, tarvēst, taʼrăvat are "tar", "of tar", "to tar" (Wiklund s.v. tar've-, "Teer"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. TARWE, "pix, tjära"); stāmpap̣ is "a tub" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. STAMPA, "situla, så"); the variant pihtūw and pihtuina are "bucket" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. BYTTO, "amphora, bytta"); lihtēp̣ is "vessel" (Halász IV s.v. lihtie, "Geschirr, Gefäss", Lule lihttie); aʼive tēvas is "quite full" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. AIWE, "valde"; tewas, "plenus", in the example s.v. RÁBJA). Kᵘœddēp̣an is "carried" (Wiklund s.v. kuᵒde-, "tragen"); kaskan is "between them" (Halász IV s.v. kaska, "Mitte"); kûhcat is "to climb" (Wiklund p. 51 s.v. kuəɔca-, "laufen; klettern"); šäudńēt is "dark" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SJEUDNJES, "obscurus, mörk"); oǯǯut is "get to, be able to", and ōččuikan "the two got" (Wiklund s.v. ǫǯu-, "bekommen; dürfen"). Mōrāhtī is "grew angry" (Wiklund p. 69 s.v. moraɔte-, "erzürnt werden"); sitāiḳan is "the two wanted" (Wilbur p. 238, sihtat "want"); valhtēhtuwaiḳan is "the two were taken", a passive of "take" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WALDET, "capere, taga"); kōppačaḳa is "both of them" (Halász IV s.v. koóppaseks, "beide"); sėsā is "into" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. sis, sisa, "in"); čohkohēmēn is "sitting" (Halász IV s.v. cahkat, "sitzen"). Palhkāpskan is "their wage" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. PALKA, "merces, lön"); pûrist is "well"; vēssu is "live" (Wilbur Table 8.13, viessot "live"); pēsaiḳan suolāṭēmēst is "they were rid of stealing" (Wiklund p. 92 s.v. pęsa-, "los, befreit werden").

Read from context, or not settled by the dictionaries, and named here: šērraṭit, "brightly", is in none of the dictionaries and is read from context beside alvūs, "terribly". In mannū-tēhpē, the second part is not found; the compound is kept in the English as "moon-tēhpē", which the sentence shows to be the moonlight or the moonlit night. Kûktēs is read as "two people, a couple", from the word for two; nalltne as "on", as in no. 9 of this collection, where the same word stands after the same noun (tān ētnamen naltne, "on this earth"). Halász's two bracketed variants (čœwkes, pihtūw) are kept in the Source Text; the English gives each word once. Pite Sámi is close to Lule and South Sámi; where no dictionary of those languages decides a word, the reading is named here.

No English translation of this text 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: Tallë kalhkap mon supcastėt, koktë mānūn almača’ vuidnuji

The Pite Sámi text as printed by Halász (1893), no. 2, transcribed from the page images in his phonetic spelling. Line-end hyphens are joined; Halász's first paragraph is divided here at the same place as the English.

kossə talle tolēn kilhkin kûktēs, khārān ja khuidna, suolāṭėt, tē mannū pāihtī alvūs šērraṭit jah čuwkai paďďēl kaʼihka ētnama. tē lī tallë nau alvūs čowḳes (čœwkes) mannū-tēhpē tan ēhkēṭen, kosse talle tā kûktēs kalhkaiḳan suolāṭėt. vala tē pallap̣a sōi talle, āhte ihkep̣ almača vuidnė sunūw ku läpā suolāṭēmen.

tē kawdnap̣a tallë pûrahk rāðēp̣; tē sija viǯǯė taʼrĕvē-stāmpap̣ (pihtūw), kute lī tarvēst aʼive tēvas ja tē talle kᵘœddēp̣an sōi tāp̣ taʼrĕvē-lihtēp̣ kaskan ja kalhkap̣a talle kûhcat pajās ja taʼrăvat mānūp̣, vāi kalhkai šäudńēt šaddat ja sōi oǯǯut suolāṭet. vala tē mannū mōrāhtī, āhte sōi sitāiḳan sū taʼrăvat ja tē sōi valhtēhtuwaiḳan kōppačaḳa aktan taina taʼrĕvē-pihtuina pajās mānū sėsā ja tē läpā tallë tannë čohkohēmēn aktan taina taʼrĕvē-pihtuina.

tē ōččuikan tallë pûrist taʼrĕvam-palhkāpskan ja virhtip̣an sōi tallë tannë čohkohėt ja vuidnut kāihkist almaċist, kuhte vēssu êtnama nalltne ja tē āi pēsaiḳan suolāṭēmēst.

Source Colophon

Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V: Népköltési gyűjtemény a Pite-lappmark arjepluogi egyházkerületéből (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893), no. 2, p. 2. Public domain. Transcribed from the page images of the scan of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (REAL-EOD 4154). Halász's spelling is kept letter for letter, with his length marks, dots above and below, breves, raised vowels, ə, ð, ǯ, œ, the raised stroke of the checked syllable (written here ʼ), the curly apostrophe of the title (’), and his two bracketed variants. His Hungarian translation and his notes are not reproduced.

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