Sami Folktales
The Sami, formerly called Lapps, live in the far north of Norway, Sweden, and Finland in a land where the sun never sets. Storytelling has a strong tradition among the Sami, with tales that are a little different from other Nordic folktales. Join us as we read story translations from the first collectors, J. A. Friis and J. K. Qvigstad, and from ethnographer Emilie Demant Hatt. We read from the 2019 translation of Demant Hatt’s “By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends” (translated by Barbara Sjoholm).
We also hear Nick Ericson of The Six Feet Back Band playing “The Dwight Lamb Polka” on his button accordion.
Join us for the unusual stories about reindeer, sheep, Stallo the troll, and a shaman!
Links
Emilie Demant Hatt’s By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends, translated by Barbara Sjoholm, is described on Barbara’s blog Northwords (scroll down to the March 28, 2019 entry). Demant Hatt’s Sami stories and amazing woodcuts that go with the stories, take up about half the book. Barbara’s fascinating history of Demant Hatt, taken from the ethonographer’s own field notes –where, when, and from whom she got her stories from (including photos), makes up the rest.
Rarely do you learn the name of the storytellers that an author transcribes, let alone how the authors got them. Sjoholm helps the reader understand and appreciate this. Emilie Demant Hatt travelled with the reindeer-herding Sami, lived with them, and heard these stories literally “by the fire”.
There are very few collections of authentic Sami folktales, especially in English, so this book is a real gem; one of a kind.
Sjoholm talks about her book in this article in the Norwegian American in 2019. I was fortunate enough to meet Barbara at a NaNu Sami Fest put on by Pacific Sami Searvi in Seattle, around the time she wrote the article. I found her gracious, humble, and very dedicated to the cause of bringing Sami culture to light.
The Goodreads description of By the Fire.
With the Lapps in the High Mountains is another Demant Hatt book translated by Sjoholm; also published by the Universtiy of Minnesota Press.
Just Qvigstad, Moltke Moe, and G. Sandberg’s book in Norwegian, Lappiske Eventyr og Folkesagn, can be viewed free online at the Internet Archive. In the podcast, I read my own translation of “Shaman Kolpa” from this book.
J.A. Friis’ Lappiske Eventyr og Folkesagn from 1871 can be viewed online also at the Internet Archive. I read my own translation of “The Ashlad Fools Stallo” from this book.
The “woodcut” of the Sami man by the fire with the reindeer in the background (the illustration for this podcast) was my attempt to emulate Demant Hatt’s woodcuts, with the help of Affinity Illustrator. You can see many of the real Demant Hatt woodcuts here.
