Publisher Description

A rich multivoiced anthology of folktales, legends, joik songs, proverbs, riddles, and other verbal art, this is the most comprehensive collection of Sámi oral tradition available in English to date. Collected by August V. Koskimies and Toivo I. Itkonen in the 1880s from nearly two dozen storytellers from the arctic Aanaar (Inari) region of northeast Finland, the material reveals a complex web of social relations that existed both inside and far beyond the community.

First published in 1918 only in the Aanaar Sámi language and in Finnish, this anthology is now available in a centennial English-language edition for a global readership. Translator Tim Frandy has added biographies of the storytellers, maps and period photos, annotations, and a glossary. In headnotes that contextualize the stories, he explains such underlying themes as Aanaar conflicts with neighboring Sámi and Finnish communities, the collapse of the wild reindeer populations less than a century before, and the pre-Christian past in Aanaar. He introduces us to the bawdy humor of Antti Kitti, the didacticism of Iisakki Mannermaa, and the feminist leanings of Juho Petteri Lusmaniemi, emphasizing that folktales and proverbs are rooted in the experiences of individuals who are links in a living tradition.

Author Biography

Tim Frandy is an assistant professor in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at Western Kentucky University. A member of the Sámi American community, he has been active in Indigenous cultural revitalization movements in North America and Scandinavia.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Storyteller Biographies Glossary of Frequently Used SÁmi Terms Index of Significant Place-Names 1 Songs Joik Songs Cradle Song Bear Song Reindeer Song Raven Song The Tawny Owl Whitefish Liv'e Trout The Old Man HÆÆnda-Maati Joik Taavvad-Piera Joik ListrÖm Aila-Jussa Ristn-PiÄtr Eerki-Piera Other Songs Stuorravuona (Isovuono) Market Song The Girl's Song This and That VÄinÄmÖinen's Nephew I Saw Daughter and Mother Song The FiancÉe's Beauty 2 Animal Tales The Fox's Tale The Fox's Tale, Version 2 The Fox and the Fisherman The Story of the Fox's Blindness The Man and the Bear The Bear and Fox's Wild Reindeer Hunt The Mouse and the Cat The Raven and the Fox The Horse and the Wolf The Fox and the Hare The Wagtail and the Dipper The Story of the Moose and the Bear 3 Fairy Tales The Poor Boy and the King's Daughter The Great Lord's Son-in-Law The Boy and the Golden Bird Acorn Finding Endless Discontent The Reindeer Calf's Hooves Mattias the Fearless and the Devil & Mattias the Fearless The Man Who Lashed His Fortune The Story of Three Girls 4 Short Tales The Resourceful Boy The King and the Bank Thief A Merchant God's Miracles MeniŠ-Antti's Life Story The Poor Boy's Wedding Luck 5 Humorous Stories and Anecdotes The Noaidi Axe The Travels of the u'it The Wife's Stupidity Shingle-Stick The Story of the Girl's Spinning Rack The Girl and Her Suitor The Fool's Doorposts Three Lazy People Good Day—Axe Handle It Is Truly True The Butter Churn The Wild Reindeer Hunters 6 Belief Legends Etiological Legends Aaan, Who Tarred the Moon The StÁllu The StÁllu, Version 1 The StÁllu, Version 2 The StÁllu, Version 3 The StÁllu, Version 4 The StÁllu, Version 5 Andras Pejvi Gufihtarat The Maker of Seven Churches Gufihtar ahalig—Treasure Guardians ahalig ahalig, Version 2 Giants A Giant Fights with Small Men Two Giants The Sieidi The Sieidi Root Cluster A Story about Äjjih Island The Sieidi of Ij-jÄvri Noaidi Tales The Old Man Noaidi Skolt SÁmi Noaiddit The Noaidi Wife The Moose Skiers Two Jealous People Shapeshifting Tales The Whitefish Daughter-in-Law The Whitefish Daughter-in-Law, Version 2 The Bear Daughter-in-Law Ghost Hauntings SÁrnoo kurr (Speaker's Gorge) The Haunting of the Old Deceased Noaidi The Haunting of the Old Deceased Noaidi, Version 2 The Pastor and the Sexton 7 Historical and Regional Legends SiggÁ's Legend SiggÁ's Weeping Strait The Cannibal Vuolli of Ij-jÄvri The Maiden Hannaa's Decapitation Story The Dead Constable The Fight of the Constables The Late Raassa PiÄj Famed Antt-PiÄttr's Eelli, FiancÉ-Waiter She Who Went to Sleep as a Maiden and Woke as a Wife 8 Stories about u'it u'it The u'it on the Move A Story from the Time of u'it The Boy Who Hunted with a Bow The Boy Who Hunted with a Bow, Version 2 The Death of the u'it Futile Fear The Disobedient Daughter Lauruk The u'it Fall into a Ravine The u'it Drown in the Rapids The u'it Die of Hunger The u'it Drown in Lake Aanaar; Hundred Pine Island Hundred Pine Island, Version 2 Lauruk Kills u'it with a Sword 9 Peeivih-Vulpp The Feats of Peeivih-Vulpp About Peeivih-Vulpp's Father, Peeivih Peeivih-Vulpp Burns a Sieidi Peeivih-Vulpp Burns a Sieidi, Version 2 The Capstone Peeivih-Vulpp on the Sea Shore Peeivih-Vulpp on the Sea Shore, Version 2 Peeivih-Vulpp Fighting Peeivih-Vulpp Fighting, Version 2 Peeivih-Vulpp Hunting Wild Reindeer Peeivih-Vulpp's Race with a Draught Reindeer 10 Stories about the Skolts Scaring the Skolt Wife Scaring the Skolt Wife, Version 2 Scaring the Skolt Wife, Version 3 Scaring the Skolt Wife, Version 4 Scaring the Skolt Wife, Version 5 Scaring the Skolt Wife, Version 6 Scaring the Skolt Wife, Version 7 KŠŠ 11 Hunting Stories The Late Haannu's Bear and Wild Reindeer Hunt A Draught Reindeer as a Wild Reindeer The Bear Hunter The Soddy Root Ball as a Bear MeniŠ-Antti's Bear Hunting Stories A Bear Story The Bear Hunters The Girls and the Bear The Bear and the Women The Squirrel Hunters The Wild Reindeer Skiers The Moose Hunters Irjn-nn ja Antti on a Fishing Excursion to LÁggujÄvri (LankojÄrvi) The Ermine Hunters 12 Personal Experience Narratives The Life of One Aanaar SÁmi An Aanaar Marriage and Life Story Some Misfortune The Old Man of Soa'igil's (SodankylÄ) Forest Memories The Autumnal Wild-Reindeer Hunt in Aanaar Vuvnum (Vuongunta), or Hunting Wild-Reindeer in the Spring JuoÂstim (Juomustus) and Netting Under the Ice 13 Proverbs and Figures of Speech Proverbs Sayings and Expressions 14 Riddles 15 Omens and Signs Appendix A North SÁmi Joiks Juhan Vesta's Joik MeniŠ-Irjan Mihkkus-slak Let us Leave Pulju Ninka-la Kre Pike Burbot Perch Stories The Lazy One Skolt SÁmi Story Letters Appendix B Introduction to the 1978 Edition by Lea Laitinen Introduction to the 1917 Edition by August V. Koskimies Notes Bibliography Index

Review

Frandy has made visible a goldmine of folklore that has been invisible to outsiders, and he introduces it in a deeply informed, nuanced context." - Krister Stoor, Umeå University

"A glimpse of a wide range of oral genres from a little-known Sámi group during the nineteenth century that will fascinate people interested in the folklore of the Sámi, Scandinavian studies, and the study of Indigenous communities." - John Lindow, University of California, Berkeley

"A work of intellectual and cultural repatriation that re-asserts SÁmi intellectual and cultural sovereignty within the field of global literature. . . . The text demonstrates how even texts and monuments taken hundreds of years ago in the name of nationalizing projects can be re-appropriated, re-signified, and ultimately returned to their communities." - Asymptote

Review Quote

"Frandy has made visible a goldmine of folklore that has been invisible to outsiders, and he introduces it in a deeply informed, nuanced context." --Krister Stoor, Ume

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