Two Sami legends. From Just Qvisgtad's «Sami fairy tales and legends».
From Just Qvigstad «Sami legends and fairy tales»
1.
There were two men from Olderdalen. They went rowing in the Risfjord to look for otters. It was in the spring when the nights are light. They were close to the bottom of the fjord, where there is a round reef. Then he noticed that there was an otter sitting on the reef. As they got closer, it was like a human being. It stood up and became exceedingly long.
Then the man in the front room says: ”You, too, look at what I thought was an otter. It wasn't. The sea tails are fooling us. Let's turn round while the weather is still good!”.
The other says ”No, we're not afraid of that”.
The Framrom man says again: ”We'd better turn round. The weather looks like it's going to get nasty.”.
The other replies: ”There won't be any bad weather!”
They agreed to row again because the weather was so good. They looked towards the reef, but couldn't see any more. The sternman says: ”I don't think it was anything other than the sea tails that hurt our eyes. I've probably been in such a mess before.”.
They continued rowing along the land and came to a wedge with flat sides. It was a little long on the inside. They rowed to see if there were any traces of otters there. Inside the wedge, there was some old snow and grey sand. Here, they can see that the otter has had its way. The two talk amongst themselves:
”We move the boat a little further away. Then we go to either side of the keel to keep watch until the otters come out of the holes.”.
As they sit there, a human figure seems to be sticking out of a hole:
”You must leave here immediately! Go to the east side of the headland. There are a lot of otters there. You must not stay here. This is our place!”
They ran to the boat. Then rowed to the east side of the headland. Then the foreman said: ”We're going to row home. It won't go well for us.” The other says: ”Don't hesitate. We'll row wherever the old man tells us to.” In a little while they came to a rocky wedge. The foreman saw a large otter run into a hole. They rowed in quietly and put the boat in the mouth. They stood guard on either side of the wedge. A little later, two otters came out of separate holes. The men shot them and carried them into the boat. The Framrom man says: ”We each got an otter.” They were about to row. Then the man in the back sees again that an otter came up from the sea. It disappeared into a hole.
Once again, they took their places at the keel, on either side. They sat on guard almost until they reached sea level. Then two otters appeared. They shot and killed another otter each. They carried them into the boat and started to row back. The weather was fine and they returned to their cabin. They immediately went to sleep - before skinning the otters. After they had fallen asleep, the backroom man dreamed: ”If you hadn't rowed back so quickly, you would have had very bad weather. It wouldn't have been good for you.” By the time they got up, there was a huge storm.
2.
There were two grouse shooters. They were walking in the grouse trap between Skibotn and Manndalen. They came across a small flock of grouse. After chasing it for a while, they came within shooting range. They thought they had hit a grouse each. But the grouse flew and they didn't catch them. Once again, they found grouse. This time, they shot at such close range that the feathers ruffled. Now they were sure; now they had killed them. So they took their time and loaded
the exchanges again before retrieving the grouse. But no; this time too, they just looked and flew.
Then one of them says: ”Maybe they're not real grouse”.
Even though it was dusk, they could see where the grouse were settling. The shooters lined up, got into range and shot the grouse for the third time. As before, when they went to pick up the grouse, they jumped to either side. The men could not catch them. Nevertheless, they kept on chasing the grouse until it got dark. Then one of them suddenly said:
”This is probably the angel of the old devil. The one who died on the mountain in the old days. His angels started tormenting us. We just didn't realise it before.”
The hunters belonged in Skibotn - at the marketplace, and they were now going home. Once home, one of them dreams at night: ”If you had got hold of those grouse you would have been in trouble. You would have gone over the cliff. You're lucky you didn't realise that I've been lying there for almost a hundred years.”.
Just Qvigstad, Sami fairy tales and legends, National Library of Norway
