Anders Fjellner — Peivebarnen suongah jehtanasan maajisn (1873)

This is the most important poem of Sami mythological literature — the only Sami epic to survive from oral tradition in anything close to its complete form. It was recorded by Anders Fjellner (1795–1876), a South Sami priest and poet born in the parish of Sorsele, who transcribed it from the recitation of the Lapp Leuhnje in Tornio Lappmark. Fjellner rendered the poem into Swedish verse, preserving the compressed, alliterative style of the original. The Sami text was never fully written down — only fragments survive in footnotes — making Fjellner's Swedish the primary literary form of the poem.

The poem tells of a young man from the Sun-side — the southern, light-filled land below the Arctic Circle — who sails beyond the North Star to the land of the giants in search of a bride. There he courts the daughter of a blind giant through eloquence, trickery, and gifts. The Giant's daughter receives from the goddess Máttaráhkká three magical knots in a bathing-linen. When the Giant's sons pursue the bridal pair across the world-sea, she unties the knots one by one — breeze, gale, storm — until the brothers are turned to stone by the rising sun. The bride is then wedded on a bearskin, shrunk to human size, and with her axe enlarges the Sun's Son's little house. She bears the Kalla-sons — the legendary Sami hero-lineage whose stars are visible in the winter sky as Orion.

The poem was previously published only in excerpts or heavily adapted versions. This is the complete text in its original meter, as presented by Gustaf von Düben in Om Lappland och Lapparne (Stockholm, 1873), with von Düben's and Fjellner's scholarly notes translated. No prior complete English translation of this edition is known to exist. The archive also holds Friis's 1871 Norwegian retelling of the same poem, which presents the story in prose commentary with verse fragments — a companion to this complete text.

The older Lappish poetry appears mostly in the same form as the Finnish rune. The Lappish and Finnish songs are so alike in both content and form that one could sometimes consider them translations of each other. Fjellner, too, often considers this to be the case, and in the northern Lappmarks — Tornio and Kemi — he heard Finnish verses mixed into Lappish songs, and Lappish into Finnish songs. Since these Lappish songs are little known or not known at all — as scarcely anyone other than Fjellner has collected them, and they have now more or less died out on the people's lips — I have thought it fitting to present some samples. The song of the Sun's Son's Courtship has already been published, after Fjellner's transcription, in several places, but either incomplete, as in Læsning för folket (XV, p. 341 ff.), or — as in Dr. Bertram's adaptation — scarcely recognizable. I give here the song complete in the original's meter, including in both text and notes remarks which may clarify the compressed text. Here and there in the notes are also samples of the Lappish text, to show the meter and alliterations, which could not be preserved in the translation.

— Gustaf von Düben, 1873

Scarce were suitors in those days,
girls far too few for all the men
— that is, on the sun-side, among its folk.
Where a man had clasped his wife,
where his blood with hers was mingled:
the mother gave her breast to the boy,
the strong boy she bathed and raised.
When he had kicked the cradle from him
he had in inheritance from his forebear
supple and strong sinews;
the grandmother had poured
wit into the Kalla-sons' descendant.

A legend has spoken, a saga has sung:
far beyond the fixed star,
westward past sun and moon,
there lay in lichens gold and silver,
anchor-stones and sinker-stones —
the gold gleams, the silver shines.
Glaciers mirror their own images;
suns, moons, stars shine,
laugh at their reflections.

The Sun's Son looses his vessel,
takes aboard the foremost men.
The wind blows into the sails,
the sea-spirit drives the boat forward;
the waves flee before the men,
rolling, they wrench the steering-oar.
The east wind brings the boat
past the moon, past the sun's
gleaming and rounded disc.
Sun and moon grow smaller
than the fixed star — and this
grows larger than the great sun,
reddening with other rays,
dazzling with another light.
Years they held on sailing,
the waves struck the ship,
the billows tolled against the ferry.
At last from the wave the land rises,
at last the giant-strand opens,
glimmers before the eye, gleams.

The Giant's young daughter,
the blind old man's only seamstress,
by a birch-bark torch on the strand
washes garments, beats and slaps,
gently pours, lets flow
streams of water.

When she sees the stranger approach she breaks off her work and adorns herself:

She smooths her bosom, beautifies it
and sweetens it;
lets her gaze swiftly roam,
fixes her bright eyes sharply on the boy.

She addresses him:

"Whence come you? Whom seek you, O Sun's Son!
Death's tablecloth —
for my father a fitting quenching-drink,
for myself a morsel to suck,
for the brothers a little taste,
for the brothers-in-law a little cooked meal?"

The Sun's Son replies — it is not so bad as all that:

"Sáráhkká gave me from my father
taut sinews; strong powers
I sucked from my mother's breasts —
fair inheritance of father, mother.
Juks-áhkká into the milk has mixed,
poured into my head the wit.
Whom do I seek? Against the storm
I seek one who will calm it —
noble wit to tame the fury,
faithful companion through life,
counsellor in life's adversity,
steadier in fortune's favour,
healer of the heart's sorrows,
comforter in need and anguish,
sharer of the hunt and fishcatch,
knowing of the other life —
of us, after us, an offspring."

Enchanted by this wooing-speech, the Giant-girl answers:

"Swiftly the blood in me seethes,
the maiden-bosom sweetly swells,
the dear wit is turned inside out.
Let us mingle, Sun's Son, mingle the blood,
mingle the sorrows, mingle the joy —
my innocent mother's offspring!

She turns to her father:

Best of fathers! To you I entrust
this wish, this longing;
tenderly I let my tear resound
to my mother in sand and birch-bark."

The blind father will not accept the unseen suitor without a trial; he says:

"Sun's Son, come — let us first test
the finger-hooks of taut sinews,
first pull each other's hands,
first wrench each other's fingers:
whose fingers are crooked strongest,
whose claws are toughest."

The girl, foreseeing the Sun's Son's defeat, holds out an iron anchor to her father; he pulls on it and exclaims:

"Strong they are in truth,
the Sun-side-folk's finger-sinews,
this Sun's Son's finger-hooks!"

On the girl's advice, the Sun's Son now offers the old man betrothal-gifts:

Betrothal-mead: a barrel of whale-oil.
Betrothal-sour: a barrel of tar.
And a whole-hoof as a side-bite.

The old man tastes, enjoys, speaks:

"Sweet, sweet is the sun-side's mead,
the betrothal-mead sinks down easy.
Very strong is the Sun's Son's sour-drink,
enticing is the betrothal-sour.
Excellent and delicious is your side-bite!"
Then, it may be, he grew drunk,
the hard skull grew quite giddy;
the tree's fat, the fish's rich grease
ran to his heart, loosened it.
So he grips the anchor,
pulls, squeezes, warms, sweats.

At last he gives in.

Blind and light-bereft Giant
leads them forth, sets them down
on a deerskin, on a whale-hide —
cuts open the little-finger-tips,
mingles the blood, hand in hand
places them, embrace in embrace
closes them,
ties the knots of kisses,
rends Juks-áhkká's cursed knots,
parts the hands, cuts away the knots,
ties new brow-hair knots.
Wedding-kettles were filled, were emptied.

To his spinner, his only one,
to his sinew-thread-braider,
to his only seamstress —
the blind old man gave a dowry:
cliffs of gold beside the strand
he broke loose, had them carried down;
silver slabs he had rowed
to the shaggy maiden's heart-mate,
as the curly-locked young maid's dowry,
in the hemp-sail-winged vessel.

He asks the Sun's Son:

"Can your boat bear yet more?
Can it, the swimmer, bear more than on the voyage?"

So full was the boat packed. The girl makes herself ready for departure:

Her maiden-shoes she takes off,
consecrates herself to new duties,
to a new, an innocent kinsman;
receives in secret the magic keys;
bears from the tent's center three chests,
three from the young ones' bridal chamber —
one is light blue, the second red,
the third white; they contain:
peace, war, fire, blood, sickness, plague, death.
The bathing-linen's three knots
are consecrated to Sáráhkká, Juks-áhkká, Máttaráhkká:
breeze and wind and storm they bring;
braided, three chastity-knots —
in safekeeping Máttaráhkká received.

The bridal pair departs; then the Giant-sons come home:

The sons came from the hunt —
the hunt for shark, whale, and walrus —
missed their sister at home,
the tent-center's beauty;
only her tracks and her place they found.

They ask:

"Who is it that captured her?
Who has lured the fair one?
To whom did she give her hand?
Who had a man's sinews?
Who played manhood's feats?
Who amuses the young girl?
Who caresses the fair maiden?"

The answer comes:

"The Sun's Son — he who sails there."

They shoved the boat onto the deep
to pursue the young one,
to bring back the bride-to-be.
Loud are heard the oar-strokes,
the murmur, the shouts, the roar of waves;
already the thole-pin's creaking nears.

The first knot the girl unties —
from it a breeze blows into the sails,
drives the ship forward, snaps
on the waves; the Giant's sons
are left behind.
More strongly they seized the oars,
sweat was pressed from their eyes;
cries, challenges, threats, and malice —
the bile seethes, the fury boils.
The bride in her mind rejoices,
her eye shines, her heart beats;
she looks lovingly at her bridegroom,
gazes at the Sun's Son and says:
"Can your boat endure stronger winds?"
"The mast, the rigging — they are strong!"

Then she loosed the second knot:
the west wind began to blow,
lifted the sea's children high,
stretched, bellied out the sails.
The brothers are left from sight.
The blood boils, vengeance thirsts,
the last strength is summoned,
bloody sweat from the brow is wiped,
backs are bent, hands stiffen,
the nails harden, grip, grow in
to the oars — the heart glows,
the boat races,
the world-sea's wave is violently cloven;
again they threaten to overtake.

The girl asks:

"Can the boat endure yet more?
Can it endure yet fiercer blasts?"

Then she loosed the third knot.
Then Ilmari himself, the sky-ruler's
first servant, grows wrathful.
The storm heaves, the yards are bent,
the taut sails are violently thrown,
the boat leaps, heels to the side.
The bride herself draws back,
lays herself in the bottom of the boat,
hides her quick eyes.

Night fell and the pursuit ended.

When the sun rose again
the brothers climbed a mountain peak
to see where their sister had gone —
the sun's light turned them to stone;
still at the fishing-place they stand like pillars;
the copper boat became a cliff.

The voyage is over; the young couple arrives at the Sun's Son's home. There the wedding is renewed in his small dwelling — too humble for a giant-maiden:

The bride is wed on a bearskin,
consecrated on a two-year reindeer cow-hide,
then shrinks to human likeness;
and with her chest-axe
the little hut's doors are widened,
the house is broadened, enlarged.
And she bore the Kalla-sons.

As a later addition, known only to the Tornio Lapps, these five verses follow:

The lineage ended in Sweden
with the unmarried, shot son.
Another branch to the Russian side,
another to the southern side,
beyond the Danes, beyond the Jutes.

Notes

Von Düben's and Fjellner's scholarly notes on the poem, translated from Swedish.

On the recording. The original was recorded by Anders Fjellner from Tornio Lappmark, after the Lapp Leuhnje. The Sun's Sons — the sun-side's folk — says Fjellner, probably inhabited the southern part of High Asia. The upper, northerly-lying part was called the night-side, the folk the night-side's sons.

On the Kalla-sons. Kalla barnei maddon maddaj — one could call them "carla-sons" (man-sons). They descend from the Sun's Daughter (see the companion poem Peijen neida). They invented skis, hunted and tamed elk, and were raised to heaven — "so that the stories should not be forgotten." There they are Orion; the Great Bear is their bow; the stars of Cassiopeia are the elk they hunted; Jupiter is the bright elk; Venus is the colour-shifting elk-cow; the planets generally are young elk-bulls driven from the herd during the rutting season by the old ones; the Pleiades is their storehouse — all after Fjellner. Friis (Mythol., p. 84) calls Orion the ships, Cassiopeia the reindeer, the Pleiades the maiden-flock. The Eskimos call the stars of Orion "the lost ones" and tell in a saga that they are seal-hunters who have not found their way home (Tylor, Primit. Culture, I, p. 263).

On the legend. Literally "breathed." Uneven meter in the original.

On the fixed star. Nuoratun nasti — the nail-hammered star, the North Star. Bohe-navle — the north-nail (Friis).

On the anchor-stones. Aijan kedge — literally grandfather-stones. Stones bound with withies that held nets in their place in the lake. The song seems to indicate that in Giant-Land they, like the anchor-stones, were of precious metals.

On the glaciers. The passage about glaciers mirroring their images in the sea refers to glaciers along some sea-coast — perhaps the Norwegian.

On the steering-oar. Mela — a broad oar bound at the stern to steer the vessel.

On the Sami fragments. Von Düben preserves several passages in the Sami original. The Giant-girl's toilette scene: Njabbodalla, tjabbadalla, njämositis njalgodalla, vuojuomitis viilotalla. The blood-mingling passage: Mastathemen, varrardemen vaivitemen, vuoloitemen. The old man drinking: Karre skuure kaareh tuovaimuoran, kuolen, vuoja vuoja vaimoi vieka njuore-nahta. The sea-chase passage: Jahnam jaokehsahta, baroit baiskesahta.

On the Giant-girl's threat. Her greeting — "Death's tablecloth, a quenching-drink for my father" — means in short: you come, little one, only to meet your death, to be devoured by us, giants.

On the Sun's Son's reply. The name Sáráhkká identifies the first of the three divine mother-goddesses of the Sami tradition — the birth-goddess who shapes the child in the womb. Juks-áhkká is the door-goddess, guardian of the threshold, who determines the child's sex and pours wisdom into it.

On her consent. "My innocent mother's offspring" means: son of the one who shall become my mother-in-law, she being still innocent — that is, not yet related by marriage.

On the prayer to the dead mother. Refers to the Sami custom of burying their dead in sand, wrapped in birch-bark — an idea that recurs often in the poetry.

On the betrothal-gifts. The tar corresponds to jobmo (a fermented drink). "Whole-hoof" (hel-klöf) is a poetic circumlocution for horse.

On the water-worth. Tjatse-haldein — on a sea- or water-worth (i.e., the whale-hide).

On the wedding knots. The prolonged knotting refers to the wedding ceremonies. Juks-áhkká's knots are those of jealousy. At the betrothal a pair of knots were tied, which were torn at the consummation of the marriage. What is meant by brow-hair knots is unknown.

On the wedding feast. The brevity of "Wedding-kettles were filled, were emptied" well signifies the haste of the feast.

On the tent-center's beauty. Kaska-kåten fauro — a term of courtesy for girls, daughters of the house, who have their place in the middle section of the tent.

On the three chests and knots. To the woman Máttaráhkká entrusted three chests with their keys; from them help could be drawn in times of need — or rather, they contained magic which could be used so long as the woman remained chaste. The three bathing-linen knots and their significance as magic are demonstrated in the pursuit scene of the poem.

On Ilmari. The sky-ruler's first servant — the thunder-god, cognate with Finnish Ilmarinen. Lightning begins when Ilmari grows wrathful.

On the fishing-place. Vaake — "So is called Lofoten, but also other rich fishing-places" (Fjellner). The petrified brothers still stand at Lofoten; the copper boat became a cliff.

On the bearskin and cow-hide. The hide is that of a two-year-old reindeer cow.

On the unmarried, shot son. Charles XII (1682–1718), last of the warrior-kings of Sweden, shot at the siege of Fredriksten. The poem connects the mythological lineage of the Kalla-sons through Swedish royal history to the death of Charles XII without an heir — the end of the lineage in Sweden. Branches survive to Russia and to southern Scandinavia, beyond the Danes and Jutes.

Colophon

Source: Anders Fjellner (1795–1876), Solsonens frieri i Jätte-land (Peivebarnen suongah jehtanasan maajisn), recorded from the recitation of the Lapp Leuhnje in Tornio Lappmark. Published with introduction and notes by Gustaf von Düben in Om Lappland och Lapparne, Företrädesvis de svenska: Ethnografiska studier (Stockholm, 1873).

This poem is the most important surviving text of Sami mythological literature — the only Sami epic recorded in substantially complete form from oral tradition. Fjellner, himself a South Sami born in Sorsele, rendered the Sami original into Swedish verse, preserving the compressed, alliterative style while translating the language. The Sami text was never fully written down; only fragments preserved in footnotes survive. Fjellner's Swedish is therefore the primary literary form of the poem. The poem was known, says Fjellner, from Härjedalen all the way to Jukkasjärvi — across the full breadth of the Sami lands.

The existing file in the archive — Bæive Barnek — The Sons of the Sun — presents the same poem as retold by J. A. Friis in his Lappisk Mythologi (1871), with the story told in Norwegian prose and Fjellner's Swedish verse quoted in excerpts. This translation presents the complete, continuous poem from the von Düben edition for the first time in English.

Blood Rule: CLEAN — translated independently from Fjellner's 1873 Swedish verse as published by von Düben. No prior complete English translation of this edition is known. The Friis retelling in the archive was not used as a source, though it was consulted for verification of proper names. The Swedish is Fjellner's rendering of a Sami oral original; the English is independently derived from reading the Swedish.

Good Works Translation — New Tianmu Anglican Church Archive, 2026. Scribal credit: Luonto (Uralic Beta Translator, scheduled).

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Source Text: Solsonens frieri i Jätte-land — Peivebarnen suongah jehtanasan maajisn

Swedish verse text from Anders Fjellner, as published by Gustaf von Düben in Om Lappland och Lapparne (Stockholm, 1873). Digitized text sourced from heimskringla.no. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Den äldre lapska poesien der imot uppträder mest i samma form som den finska runan. De lapska och finska sångerna äro hvar andra så lika till både innehåll och form (meter), att man ibland skulle kunna anse dem vara öfversättningar af hvar andra. Så anser ock Fjellner förhållandet rätt ofta vara, och han har i norra Lappmarkerne (Tornio och Kemi) hört i lapska sånger inblandade finska strofer, samt lapska i de finska sångerna. Då dessa lapska sånger äro föga eller alls icke kända, enär knapt någon annan än Fjellner har samlat dem, och de nu mer eller mindre dött ut på folkets läppar, har jag trott lämpligt att meddela några prof: Solsonens frieri i Jätte-land, Pischan-paschan-sonen och Solens dotter, tre längre runor. Sången Solsonens frieri är redan, efter Fjellners uppteckning, flerstädes meddelad; men antingen ofullständig, såsom i Läsning för folket (xv, sid. 341, följ.), eller, såsom i D:r Bertrams bearbetning, knapt igen kännelig. Jag lemnar här nedan sången fullständig i originalets versmått, der vid i både text och noter intagande en del anmärkningar, hvilka kunna förtydliga den korta samman trängda texten. Der och hvar finnes ock i noter ett eller annat prof på den lapska texten, för att angifva metern och alliterationerna, hvilka icke kunnat i akt tagas i öfversättningen.

Peivebarnen suongah jehtanasan maajisn.
(Solsonens frierier i Jättarnes land)

Glese voro svenner fordom,
flickor allt för få för männen
(nämligen å solsidan, bland dess folk).
Der en man sin hustru famnat,
der sitt blod med hennes blandat.
Modren gifvit di åt gossen,
starke gossen badat, fostrat.
När han vaggan från sig sparkat
han i arf af aflarn hade
spänstiga och starka senor;
aflarinnan hade ljutit
vett i Kalla-söners ättling.

En sägen har sagt, en saga har sjungit:
fjerran bortom fasta stjernan,
vester ut om sol och måne,
fanns i lafvar guld och silfver,
ärilstenar, sänkestenar;
guldet blänker, silfret skiner.
Jöklar sina bilder spegla;
solar, månar, stjernor skina,
le åt sina spegelbilder.

Solens son sitt fartyg löser,
tar om bord förnämste männen.
Vinden uti seglen blåser,
sjö-rå't drifver båten framåt;
vågorna fly undan männen,
rullande de vrida styr-årn';
östanvinden bringar båten
förbi månen, förbi solens
glänsande och runda skifva.
Sol och måne blifva mindre
än den fasta stjernan, denna
större blir än stora solen,
rodnande med andra strålar,
bländande med annat skimmer.
År de höllo på att segla,
slogo vågorna mot skeppet,
klämtade mot färjan böljor.
Sist ur vågen stiger landet,
sist sig öppnar jättestranden,
skymtar fram för ögat, glänser.

Jättens unga dotter,
blinde gubbens enda sömmarinna,
vid ett näfverbloss på stranden
tvättar kläder, knackar, klappar,
gjuter sakta, låter rinna
vattenströmmar.

(När hon ser främlingen nalkas afbryter hon sin sysselsättning och gör sin toilett:)
Glättar barmen, den förskönar
och försötmar;
låter blicken hastigt fara,
fäster ljusen skarpt på gossen:

(Hon tilltalar honom:)
"Hvadan kommer du? hvem söker du, o Solson!
Dödens bord-duk,
åt min far en lagom läsk-dryck,
åt mig sjelf en bit att suga,
bröderne en liten smakbit,
svågrarne ett litet kokmål?"

(Solsonen svarar: Det är väl icke så farligt:)
"Sarakka mig gaf från far min,
spända senor; starka krafter
sög jag utur modersbrösten:
sköna arf af fader, moder;
Uks-akka i mjölken blandat,
gjutit i mitt hufvud vettet.
Hvem jag söker? jo mot stormen
söker jag en hejdarinna,
ädelt vett som tämjer vreden,
troget följe genom lifvet,
råderska i lifvets motgång,
stäfjerska i lyckans medgång,
boterska vid hjertats sorger,
trösterska i nöd och ångest,
smakerska vid jagt och fiskfångst,
kunnig om det, andra lifvet,
af oss, efter oss en ättling".

(Förtjust af detta friare-tal svarar Jätte-flickan:)
"Hastigt blodet i mig sjuder,
jungfru-barmen ljufligt sväller,
kära vettet vändes afvigt.
Blandom, solson, blandom blodet,
blandom sorger, blandom glädje,
min oskyllda moders ättling!

(Hon vänder sig så till fadren:)
Bäste fader! dig förtror jag
denna önskan, denna längtan;
ömt min tår jag låter ljuda
åt min mor i sand och näfver".

(Blinde fadren vill dock icke antaga osedde friaren utan prof; säger derföre:)
"Solson, kom; låt först oss pröfva
spända senors fingerkrokar,
draga först hvar andras händer,
rycka först hvar andras fingrar,
hvilkens fingrar starkast krökas,
hvilkens klor väl äro segast".

(Flickan, som förutser Solsonens nederlag, räcker fram ett jern-ankare åt fadren; han drager deri och utbrister:)
"Starke äro de i sanning
Solsid-folkets finger-senor,
denne Solsons finger-krokar".

(På flickans råd bjuder nu Solsonen åt gubben fäste-gåfvor:)
Fäste-mjöd: af tran en tunna,
fäste-syra: en tjär-tunna,
och en hel-klöf såsom tilltugg.

(Gubben smakar, njuter, talar:)
"Sött, sött solsidans mjöd är,
fäste-mjödet sjunker lätt ned.
Ganska stark är solsons-syran,
lockande är fäste-syran.
Utmärkt läckert är ditt tilltugg!"
Då, kan hända, blef han drucken,
hårda skallen blef helt rusig;
trädets, fiskens feta fetma,
lopp till hjertat, löste upp det.
Så i ankaret han griper,
drager, kramar, värmes, svettas.

(Slutligen gifver han med sig.)
Blind och ljus-beröfvad Jätte
leder fram dem, sätter ned dem
på ett dyr-skinn, på en hval-hud,
ristar upp lillfinger-spetsar,
blandar blodet, hand i handen
lägger, sluter famn i famnen,
knyter kyssars knutar,
sliter Uks-akkas fördömda knutar,
skiljer händer, afskär knutar,
knyter nya pannhårs knutar.
Bröllops-kittlar fylldes, tömdes.

Åt sin spinnerska, sin enda,
åt sin sentråd-flätarinna,
åt sin enda sömmarinna
skänkte blinde gubben hemgift:
klippor utaf guld vid stranden,
bröt han lös, lät ned han bära,
silfverhällar lät han ro till
lurfvig jungfrus hjerte-make,
till kruslockig ungmös hemgift,
i hamp-segel-vingad farkost.

(Han frågar Solsonen:)
"Bär din båt än mera?
bär han, simmarn, mera än på resan?"

(Så full packades båten. Flickan bereder sig särskilt till affärd:)
Sina jungfru-skor hon afdrar,
helgar sig åt nya pligter,
åt en ny, en oskylld broder;
får i löndom trolldoms nycklar;
bär ur kåtans midt tre kistor,
tre utur de ungas brudrum;
en är ljusblå, röd den andra,
hvit den tredje; innesluta:
fred, krig, eld, blod, sjukdom, pest, död.
Bade-linnets trenne knutar
helgas Sar-, Uks-, Mader-akka:
flägt och vind och storm de bringa;
flätade, tre kyskhets knutar,
i förvar fick Mader-akka.

(Brudparet reser, då hem komma Jätte-sönerne:)
Sönerne från jagten kommo,
jagt på haj, på hval och vallross,
saknade i hemmet systern,
kåta-midtens fägring
hennes spår och plats blott funno.

(De fråga:)
"Hvilken är som henne fångat?
hvilken har den fagra lockat?
och åt hvilken gaf hon handen?
hvilken hade manna-senor?
hvilken lekte mandoms-bragder?
hvilken roar unga flickan?
hvilken smeker fagra ungmön?"

(Här på svaras:)
"Solens son, han som der seglar".

Båten sköto de på djupet,
att den unga efter jaga,
att brud-ämnet återföra.
Starka höras åre-slagen,
mumlet, talet, dån af vågor;
redan nalkas årtulls-gnisslet.

Första knuten flickan löser;
deraf blåser flägt i seglen,
skjuter så på skeppet, smäller
på vågorna; jättens söner
lemnas efter.
Åror starkare de grepo,
svetten pressades ur ögon;
skrik, utmaning, bot och ondska;
gallan sjuder, vreden kokar.
Bruden i sitt sinne glädes,
ögat lyser, hjertat klappar;
blickar kärligt på sin brudgum,
ser på solens son och säger:
"Tål din båt mer starka vindar?"
"Masten, tågen, äro starka!"

Då hon löste andra knuten:
vestan började att blåsa,
lyfte hafvets barn i höjden,
sträckte, spände seglens bukar.
Bröderne ur sigte lemnas.
Blodet kokar, hämden törstar,
upp de sista krafter bjudas,
blodig svett från pannan torkas,
ryggar krökas, händer stelna,
klorna hårdna, fastna, ingro
(i årorna), hjertat glöder,
båten simmar,
verldshafs-vågen våldsamt klyfves;
åter hota de att hinna
(upp Solsonens båt).

(Flickan frågar:)
"Tål väl båten ännu mera?
tål han ännu värre ilar?"

Löste så den tredje knuten.
Då sjelf Ilmar, himlaherrskarns
förste tjenare, blir vredgad.
Stormen vräker, rårna böjas,
spända seglen våldsamt slängas,
båten hoppar, krängs åt sida.
Bruden sjelf sig drager undan,
lägger sig i båtens botten,
gömmer sina qvicka ögon.

(Natten kom och förföljelsen upphörde.)
När som solen åter uppgick
brödren stego på en bergspets
för att se hvart systern färdats;
solens sken i sten dem vände,
än vid fisket stå de stöder;
kopparbåten blef till klippa.

(Färden är slut; de unga komma till Solsonens hem. Der förnyas vigseln i hans, för jättemön, oansenliga stuga:)
Bruden viges på en björnhud,
helgas på en två års ko-hud,
minskas se'n till mensko-likhet;
och med hennes kiste-yxa
vidgas lilla stugans dörrar,
breddas huset ut, förstoras.
Och hon Kalla-söner födde.

(Såsom senare tillägg följa dessa fem versar:)
Ätten slutade i Sverge
med den, ogift, skjutne sonen.
Annan gren åt ryska sidan,
annan åt den södra sidan,
bortom Danskar, bortom Jutar.

Von Düben's and Fjellner's Footnotes (Swedish original)

[1] Originalet är af A. Fjellner antecknadt från Tornio Lappmark efter Lappen Leuhnje. Solens söner, solsidans folk, säger F., bebodde förmodligen södra delen af Hög-asien. Den ofvan, nordligt, liggande kallades nattsidan, folket nattsidans söner.

[2] Kalla barnei maddon maddaj: man skulle kunna kalla dem "karla-söner". De härstamma från Soldottern, om hvilken här nedan se "Peijen neida"; de uppfunno skidor, de jagade och tämjde elgar och upphöjdes — "på det sagorna icke skulle glömmas" — till himlen! Der äro de Orion; Carla-vagnen är deras båge: deras elgar träffas i Cassiopea; i Jupiter: blank-elgen; i Venus: färgskiftande elgko; i allmänhet i planeterne, hvilka sägas vara unge elg-tjurar, vid brunst-tiden bortkörde från hjorden af de gamle; sjustjernan är deras njalla, o. s. v., allt efter Fjellner. Friis (Mythol., sid. 84) kallar Orion skeppen; Cassiopea rentjuren; sjustjernan jungfruflocken. Eskimåerne kalla stjernorna i Orion: de borttappade, och berätta i en saga att de äro säl-jägare som icke hittat hem. (Tylor, Primit. culture, I, sid. 263.)

[3] Egentligen andats. Ojemn meter i originalet.

[4] Nuoratun nasti, den fastnaglade stjernan, nordstjernan. Bohe-navle, nord-nageln. Friis.

[5] Aijan kedge egentligen farfars-stenar. Så kallades med vidjor ombundne stenar, som fasthöllo näten vid sin plats i sjön. Sången tycks antyda att de, liksom ärilstenarne, i jättelandet voro af ädla metaller.

[6] I hafvet. Detta häntyder på glaciererne långs någon hafskust; den norska?

[7] Mela = en bred åra, bunden i aktern på båten, att styra denne.

[8] Dessa tre rader låta på lapska: Njabbodalla, tjabbadalla, njämositis njalgodalla, vuojuomitis viilotalla.

[9] Betyder i korthet: du kommer, du lille, blott att gå döden till mötes, att förtäras af oss, jättar.

[10] Dessa två rader låta på lapska: Mastathemen, varrardemen vaivitemen, vuoloitemen.

[11] = son af henne, den ännu oskyllda, som skall blifva min svärmoder.

[12] Häntyder på Lapparnes sed att begrafva sina döda i sand, omgifna af näfver; en idé som ofta åter kommer.

[13] Tjäran skall motsvara jobmo (sid. 140). "Hel-klöf" är en poetisk omskrifning för häst.

[14] De tre versarne lyda på lapska: Karre skuure kaareh tuovaimuoran, kuolen, vuoja vuoja vaimoi vieka njuore-nahta.

[15] Tjatse-haldein = på hafs- eller vatten-värdet.

[16] Detta långdragna knytande afser bröllops-ceremonierna. Uksakkas knutar äro svartsjukans. Vid trolofningen knötos ett par knutar, hvilka sletos vid äktenskapets fullbordan. Hvad som menas med pannhårs-knutar är okändt.

[17] Bröllops-kalaset antydes med dessa ord, hvilkas korthet väl betecknar brådskan.

[18] Åt qvinnan anförtrodde Maderakka 3 kistor med deras nycklar; af dem kunde hjelp hemtas i tillfälle af nöd; eller rättare: de inneslöto trolldom, hvilken kunde brukas så länge qvinnan var kysk. De tre bade-linnets knutar äro de samma som omtalas här ofvan (sid. 277), och deras betydelse såsom trolldom ses här nedan i poemet. Sanguis in coitu primo effusus lavando colligitur in linteolo et adservatur; nodi tres in tali linteolo facti "nodi virginitatis" appellantur et de his in poemate loquitur.

[19] Kaska-kåten fauro: artighets-benämning på flickor, husets döttrar, hvilka ha sin plats i mellersta rummet af kåtan. Metern är i originalet lika ofullständig som i tolkningen.

[20] Giftermålet var icke ännu fullbordadt.

[21] Jahnam jaokehsahta, baroit baiskesahta. Metern är afvikande på samma sätt i original och öfversättning.

[22] Vågorna.

[23] Let börjar åska. Om Ilmar se Pischan-paschan-pardne, sid. 328.

[24] Egentligen kisande.

[25] Vaake. "Så kallas Lofoden, men äfven andra rika fisken". Fjellner.

[26] Hud af två års ren-ko.

[27] Carl XII.

Source Colophon

Anders Fjellner (1795–1876), Solsonens frieri i Jätte-land (Peivebarnen suongah jehtanasan maajisn), in Gustaf von Düben, Om Lappland och Lapparne, Företrädesvis de svenska: Ethnografiska studier (Stockholm, 1873). Digitized text sourced from heimskringla.no (Old Norse and Scandinavian text archive). Public domain — Fjellner died 1876, von Düben died 1892; the work is well outside copyright in all jurisdictions.

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