The most important source of Sami legends and fairy tales is Just Qvigstad's four volumes of ”Lappish Fairy Tales and Legends”.
Qvigstad was born in Lyngseidet in 1853 and died in 1957. He was rector of the teacher training college in Tromsø, a philologist, folklorist and researcher on Sami languages. Qvigstad was also a politician and minister for the Ministry of Church Affairs.
Qvigstad devoted the last 40 years of his life to the study of Sámi culture and history, and also to linguistic research in Finnish Kven and Sámi.
His work resulted in many large collections of texts. He also used his large network of teacher contacts in the northern counties to collect legends and fairy tales.
Just Qvigstad's publications are digitally available at the National Library of Norway.
Sami stories, digital book, National Library of Norway
Fairy tales and legends from Lyngen, digital book, National Library of Norway
Overview of Lappish fairy tales and legends at the National Library of Norway
More about Just Qvigstad:
About Just Qvigstad in Wikipedia
About Just Qvigstad in the Norwegian Biographical Encyclopaedia
