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

This legend of the restless dead was told in Pite Sámi by Sámi of Arjeplog parish and taken down by Ignácz Halász at Saltdalen in Norway in 1891. A priest who had been a bad man walks after his death in the shape of a black dog, and there is no peace at his house; the sexton watches from a tree, finds the coffin in the church empty, takes the eye-cover up with him to the loft, and sings and plays there until the dog falls from the stairs, and once the body is laid rightly in its coffin and buried, peace comes back.

Translation

There was a priest, but we do not know his name; only, we have heard that he was a bad man as well, and was no right servant in the church and over the congregation. Nor do we know anything of his former way of life; but when he had died, he wandered in the shape of a black dog.

But the sexton was a God-fearing man, and the sexton's home was not far from the priest's house. When the priest had died and no peace at all was to be found at the priest's house, the sexton one night climbed up into a tree and sat there to watch whether anyone would go along that path. That tree, you see, stood beside the road, and near the priest's house as well. The dead priest they had put in the church.

A little while after, when the sexton was sitting in that tree, he saw that a black dog had passed the tree and come to the priest's home. Then the sexton let himself down from the tree and walked to the church. He had already taken the keys of the church door with him, and when he opened the church door, he went into the church and walked in to look at the corpse.

And when he came there, he did not find the corpse in the coffin; it had vanished. Then he took the eye-cover and went up with it to the loft. And when he had come there, he looked out a verse to sing and made the playing-gear ready.

While he was sitting there and peering down into the church, he noticed that the black dog came in from outside and went toward the coffin; and when it came there, the dog sniffed round about everywhere, and when it searched for the eye-cover, it turned back out again and sniffed the church floor, and so went out to the tower (or: to the porch). And when it came there, it went and sniffed its way up the stairs. When the sexton heard that the dog was now coming up to him, he began to sing, and played as well.

While the sexton was singing and playing, he heard the dog fall from the top of the stairs and fall down onto the floor. When the sexton had left off singing, he took the eye-cover and walked down. When he came to the tower, he found the dead body of that priest lying stretched out under the stairs. Then the sexton took the corpse up and carried it into the church, and laid it in the coffin, and covered him in his grave-clothes, and walked out from there and went back to his own home.

And then, after that, there was peace. Before, you see, there had been no peace at all: the corpse could not keep still at all. Either the head-cover (or: the eye-cover) was off, or the corpse lay stretched out on the floor, or it was standing beside the coffin. But from the time when the sexton went into the church and laid him as he ought to lie, then after that peace came at the priest's house, and on those paths too, and in the church as well. Then after that they dug a grave and buried that same priest.

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. 42, pp. 56–57, in the section of the dead. 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). Herrā is the priest (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. HERR: herra, "sacerdos, präst"); skuivēn is "in the shape of" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SKUWE, "imago … forma, skapnad"); vāntarṭī is "wandered" (Halász IV s.v. vantartet, "wandern"); maññēl is "after" (Wilbur p. 151, maŋŋel); pahās is "bad" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. PAHA, pahas, "malus, pravus"); teudnar is a servant (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. TEUDNAR, "servus, famulus, tjenare"); čuggulvās is the congregation (Wiklund s.v. čogolvısa-, "Gemeinde") and paďďēl "over" (Wilbur Table 9.3, badjel); kän is the particle of negative sentences, "nor, not even" (Halász IV s.v. kan, kän, "nicht, auch nicht"); vēssumvûkē is "way of life" (Wiklund s.v. vesu-, "das Leben; Wohnung"; Halász IV s.v. viásoma, "Wohnung", and viasut, "leben"; Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Art: wuoke); owṭēp̣ is "former" (Wiklund s.v. outo-, "vorige"); aināt is "only, rather" (Wiklund s.v. ainat, "sondern, aber"); čähhpės is "black" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Mörk: tjappes); klohkār is the sexton or parish clerk (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KLOKKAR, "aedituus, klockare"); jupmēl pėlulač is "God-fearing" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. PALLOLATS, with Jubmel pallolats, "gudfruktig"); häʼibma, hēima is home, house (Wiklund s.v. hæiʼma-, "Hof, Heim"); käudnu, kāuna, kaudna are forms of "find" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KAUDNET, "invenire"); kûhcā mûrrai is "climbed up into a tree" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. QWOTSET, "scandere … Muorai qwotset, scandere arborem, klifva up i trä"; Wiklund s.v. kuɔča-, "klettern"; Halász IV s.v. muora, "Baum"); čohkohēmēn, čohhkohem are "sitting" (Wiklund s.v. čoɔkohe-, "sitzen"); nākan is "anyone" (Halász IV s.v. nākane, "jemand"); palăḳ is a path (Halász IV s.v. palka, palḳā, "Weg", Lule pālăkā); kûran is "beside" (Wiklund s.v. kuɔra-); lahkan is "near" (Wilbur Table 9.3, lahka); unna pottočep̣ is "a little while" (Halász IV s.v. unna, "klein, ein wenig"; Wiklund s.v. podo-, "Weile, Zeit"); vɵidnā is "sees" and vāssam "passed" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WASET, "praeterire"); lɵihtāṭ is "let himself down" (Wiklund s.v. luɪʼɔtate-, "sich herablassen"); vaʒʒā is "walks" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WADSET, "ire, gå"); vallṭ- is "take" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WALDET, "capere, sumere, taga"); čouṭoḳīt are keys (Wiklund s.v. čoutoke-, "Schlüssel"); uksa is a door and rahpā "opens" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. UKS: Ukseb rappet, "januam aperire"); kähhċat is "to look at" (Halász IV s.v. keähčidīt, "ansehen, betrachten"); līhka is the corpse and līhka-varju the grave-clothes (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. LIK, "funus, lik … Lik-warjoh, indumenta sepulcralia, svepekläder"); kistū is a chest, the coffin (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KISTO, "arca, kista"); kähtum is "vanished" (Halász IV s.v. kātet, "verschwinden"); čalᵉbmē-kopčos is "eye-cover" and oʼivē-kopċos "head-cover" (Halász IV s.v. čälemie, "Auge"; Wiklund s.v. oiʼve-, "Kopf"; Wiklund s.v. kopčose-, "Decke, gedeckt"), and kopčoṭī "covered"; ōhca, ohcoli are "looks for" (Halász IV s.v. uhčet, "suchen", Lule ohciet); laulūm, laulūḳōhta are from "sing" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. LAULOT, "cantare"); vērsa is a verse (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Vers: wers); spēlēṭ- is "play (an instrument)" (Wiklund s.v. spelete-, "(ein Instrument) spielen"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SPELETET); rījtū is gear (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Redskap: reido); lǟki is "made ready" (Halász IV s.v. léekét, "bereiten, zurüsten, ordnen"); karăvāsen is "ready" (Wiklund s.v. karᵃvase-, "fertig"); kœʼulamen is "peering" (Halász IV s.v. kuowŭlet, "gucken, blicken, schauen"; Wiklund s.v. kuɔulaɔte-); aʼihcā is "noticed" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. AITSET, "animadvertere … blifva varse"); ulóḳōt is "from outside" and ulhkus "out" (Wiklund s.v. olᵒku-, "von aussen", "hinaus"); kukū is "to, toward" (Halász IV p. 50 s.v. koaikā, with koaiku, koiku, "zu"); hapsāhtallā is "sniffs" (Wiklund s.v. hapsuɔtala-, "riechen, wittern"); viste is "back, again" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WIST, "rursus, iterum"); jorŏḳaj is "turned" (Halász IV s.v. jaräket, "sich umwenden, zurückkehren"); kûlhpē, kᵘœlĕpai are forms of "floor" (Wiklund s.v. kuɔlʼpe-, "Fussboden"); torᵒdnui is "to the tower" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. TORNE, "turris, torn"); raʼiṭaras is the stairs (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. RAIDERES, "scala, stege, trappa"); sū lusā is "to him" (Wiklund s.v. lusa, "zu, nach"); kahčai is "fell" (Halász IV s.v. kahčet, "fallen"); häʼihtam is "left off" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. HEITET); krohpēp̣ is the body (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KROPPE, "corpus, kropp"); jalhkahēmēn is "lying stretched out" (Wiklund s.v. jalᵃkahe-, "hinausgestreckt liegen"); vûlēn is "under" (Wilbur Table 9.3, vuolen); kûtti is "carried" (Halász IV s.v. kuottet, "tragen"); vaccī is "walked"; māhcai is "went back" (Wiklund p. 68, "umwenden, zurückkehren"); eskān, eskan is "then, after that" (Halász IV s.v. äskä, "dann, nachher"); rāffē is peace (Wiklund s.v. rafe-, "Friede, Ruhe"); owṭol is "before" (Wiklund s.v. outo-); šāvūt is "still" (Halász IV s.v. šāvot, "still"); māhtē is "could" (Wilbur §8.5.3, máhttet, "can"); juhko … jala … jala is "either … or … or" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. JOGO, "sive, aut, antingen", with jalla); ērin is "off, away" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. ERIN, "abesse, borta"); čɵǯǯūmen is "standing" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Stå: tjuodtjot); tōrās is "beside" (Halász IV s.v. tōres, "abseits liegend"); kọkte is "how, as" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KOKTE, "quomodo"); jụwlihtėn is "buried" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. JOULET, "sepelire, begrafva"); krävvihtin is "dug a grave" (Halász IV p. 70 s.v. krévet, "begraben; graben", from Swedish gräfva).

Read from context, or not settled by the dictionaries, and named here: in the second paragraph the first letter of the verb rendered "sat" did not print (only part of one letter is visible), and the reading rests on the same verb in the form čohkohēmēn, "sitting", a few lines later. Vuināċet, "to watch", is read as the verb "see" with a derivative suffix whose exact force is not decided. Lämmai, "to the loft", is read from the story (a place up in the church, reached by stairs from the tower, where the sexton sings and plays); no dictionary consulted has the word. Spēlēṭem-rījtū, "the playing-gear", is read as "playing" with reido, "gear, tool"; what instrument is meant is not said. Mañēn, "behind, after" (Wilbur p. 151, maŋŋel), is read as "with him" in "he had already taken the keys of the church door with him". Paďďēt in kahčai paďďēt raʼiṭarasast is read as "from up on", from badjel, "above" (Wilbur Table 9.3); the exact form is not decided. Torᵒdnui (jalā: fōrstohpai) gives two words for where the dog went: the tower, or the porch (fōrstohpa read as the Swedish loan förstuga, "porch, entrance room", from stohpu, "room", Halász IV s.v. stōąpa); the English gives both. Iččī känak līhka šāvūt māhtē orrūt is read as "the corpse could not keep still at all", with iččī the third person singular past of the negative verb (Wilbur Table 8.26, ittjij) and känak the negative particle; känak can also be "no one" (Halász IV p. 33 s.v. kan, with ij mi kanna, "niemand"), which gives "no one could stay quiet by the corpse"; the English follows the first reading because the next sentence tells what the corpse did. Halász's bracketed variants (kᵘolhpēp̣, lijhka) are kept in the Source Text; the English gives each word once, but gives both words where he writes jalā, "or". 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: Herrā pirra, ku’te japmēmen maññēl pētnaḳa skuivēn vāntarṭī

The Pite Sámi text as printed by Halász (1893), no. 42, transcribed from the page images in his phonetic spelling. Line-end hyphens are joined; each of Halász's first three paragraphs is divided here at the same place as the English. One letter that did not print is marked [?].

te lī akta härrā, vala ēhpe mija sū namāp̣ tētē, aināt kullam līme, āhte son lī ai akta pahās olmaj ja ī lam räkta teudnar kirhkūn ja čuggulvāsen paďďēl. ēhpe kän maiṭek tētē sū owṭēp̣ vēssumvûkēst, vala ko lī japmam, tē son vāntarṭī čähhpės pētnaḳen skuivin.

vala tē lī klohkār jupmēl pėlulač olmaj ja ī lam klohkāra häʼibma kuhkēn hērra hēimast. ku’ talle härrā lēi japmam ja ī aktak rāffē käudnu hērrā hēiman, tē klohkār aktan ijān kûhcā mûrrai ja [?]ọhkėṭī tasā vuināċet, jus nākan mannā tau palăḳau. tat mōrra lī käč kēinū kûran ja ville herrā hēima lahkan. tū japmim hērrāp̣ lijėn sijā kirĕhkui pēďďam.

unna pottočep̣, kū’ talle klohkār lēi tun mûran čohkohēmēn, te vɵidnā son, āhte čähhpės pēna lī vāssam tāp̣ mûrap̣ ja pōhtam herra häʼibmai. tē lɵihtāṭ klohkār vûlus mōrast ja vaʒʒā kirĕhkui. vallṭam lī jū son kirhkū uksan čouṭoḳīt mañēn ja ku rahpā kirhkūn uksap̣, tē son čakñā kirĕhkui ja vaʒʒa sisa kähhċat tū līhkau.

ja kū son pōhtā tohku, tē ī son līhkap̣ kāuna kistū sisne, aināt lī kähtum. tē vallṭā son čalᵉbmē-kopčosau ja vœʼlĕḳā taina pajās lämmai. ja ku’ son lī tohkō pōhtam, ōhca son aktau laulūm vērsap̣ ja lǟki spēlēṭem-rījtūp̣ karăvāsen.

kō son talle lēi čohhkohem ja kœʼulamen vûlus kirĕhkui, tē son aʼihcā, āhte čähhpės pēna pōhta ulóḳōt ja mannā līhka-kistū kukū ja ku’ tohkū pōhtā, hapsāhtallā tat pēna pirra kaihka ja ku ohcoli čalᵉbmē-kopčosau, tē viste jorŏḳaj pēna ulhkus ja hapsāhtallā kirĕhkū-kûlhpēp̣ (kᵘolhpēp̣) ja mannā nauhte ulhkos torᵒdnui (jalā: fōrstohpai). ja kū tasā pōhtā, mannā son ja hapsāhtallā raʼiṭarasau pajās. kū tē klohkār kullā, āhte tē talle tut pēna pōhta pajās sū lusā, tē son laulūḳōhta ja āi spēlēṭahċā.

kō tē klohkār lī laulūmen ja spēlēṭēmen, tē kullā son, āhte tat pēna kahčai paďďēt raʼiṭarasast ja kahčai vûlus kᵘœlĕpai. ku’ tē klohkār lēi laulūmest häʼihtam, vallṭā son čalᵉbmē-kopčosau ja vaʒʒa vûlus. ku tē pōhtā torᵒdnui, kaudna son tān herrā japma krohpēp̣ jalhkahēmēn raʼiṭarasan vûlēn. tē vallṭa klohkār līhkap̣ pajās ja kûtti kirhkūn sisā ja pīejai līhka-kisstui ja kopčoṭī sū līhka-varjui ja vaccī vistek ulhkus ja māhcai ēčas häʼibmai.

ja tē eskān rāffē šattai, ī lam käč owṭol aktak rāffē, iččī känak līhka šāvūt māhtē orrūt. juhko lī oʼivē-kopċos (jalā: čalᵉbmē-kopčos) ērin, jala tē lī līhka (lijhka) jalhkahēmēn kᵘolhpīn, jala tē lī kisstū tōrās čɵǯǯūmen. vala tāhte rajēst, ku klohkār manāi kirhkūn ja pīejai sū, kọkte kalhkai orrut, tē eskan rāffē šattai herrā hēiman ja āi tain palăḳain ja ai kirhkūn. tē sija eskan krävvihtin ja jụwlihtėn tāp̣ sammā hērrāp̣.

Source Colophon

Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V: Népköltési gyűjtemény a Pite-lappmark arjepluogi egyházkerületéből (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893), no. 42, pp. 56–57. 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, the circumflex of û, the acute-like stroke of ó, raised vowels, ð, ď, ǟ, œ, ɵ, ʒ and ǯ, both of the marks he sets over c, the caron (č) and the dot (ċ), each as printed, the raised stroke of the checked syllable (written here ʼ) and the curly apostrophe he prints in a few words (written ’), and his bracketed variants; two macrons printed slightly askew over e (in vērsap̣ and spēlēṭem-) are read as macrons. One letter that did not print in the scan is marked [?]. His Hungarian translation and his notes are not reproduced.

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