Sami mythology comes to life

The age-old Sami mythology was almost completely forgotten a few centuries ago. The ancient religion, beliefs and stories featured several Sami characters, who appeared in numerous narratives right across the Sami area. These characters have now been brought back to life.

Stories in book form and more visualised mythological characters will be forthcoming through the year. The Sami body of folk tales is rich, full of legends and beliefs that are very important in understanding man’s communion with nature, both centuries ago and today.

Together with illustrators, the Sami writer Ante Aikio has created imagery representations for the characters who appear in his forthcoming books. Most of them are now given a face and habitus for the first time – after the stories have lived for centuries.

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A Brief History

Age-old Sami mythology was almost completely forgotten a few centuries ago during the religious invasion of the 1600-1700s. The ancient religion and stories featured several Sami characters, who appeared in numerous narratives right across the Sami area. Sami folklore was rich, full of legends and beliefs that were very important in understanding man’s communion with nature. All animate and inanimate things – domestic animals, water, rocks and natural phenomena – had their own supernatural guardians and gods, which affected the daily lives of ancient people.

Different Sami tribes had their own ideas of life after death, soul journeys, and other dimensions of the universe. The belief in them was strong. Sorcerers and shamans represented the highest level of learning to the Sami. They were able to explain phenomena that ordinary people could not understand. People used seide stones as altars when making offerings to their various deities. They anointed them with fish oil and reindeer fat to bring them luck in hunting and fishing. But sometimes they got mad with their gods, if lean times in catching food continued for too long. Then the seide got the worst of people’s wrath. They were burned to the point of breaking, smashed up, and finally the pieces were thrown into a nearby lake or other water. But the belief in their gods was not shaken. They were known to be real.Sometimes they just tested the Sami people too much.

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Shaman's drum

The shaman’s drum or kannus was an important instrument for the sorcerer or shaman, through which he could obtain information about future events and possible misfortunes his community would meet. Christianity made strong inroads into the Sámi cultural region in the 1600s and 1700s. The original ancient beliefs and their power men or sorcerers were subjected to persecution by the clergy. A number of sorcerers were sentenced to death, and most of the collected kannus drums were destroyed by burning.

The real drum is actually oval shaped, unlike the drum in the top image which was made circular for easier inspection.

Nevertheless, about 70 or 80 drums ended up around Europe and now rest in the continent’s museums. During trials, attempts were made to force sorcerers to explain the symbols on the drums, but in fear for their lives, most gave explanations based on Christianity. Consequently, the secrets of shamans’ drums have still not been fully revealed, despite extensive research. Different scholars have provided a variety of interpretations, but it has not been possible to build up a congruent overall explanation. The possible explanations for the symbols on the heliocentric kannus are in the top picture.

Web Exhibition The Use of Wild Plants Has Been Launched

Mar 25, 2015 11:17 AM

The Sami Museum Siida has created a web exhibition on the use of wild plants, and the website is now available for the public. The web exhibition Eatnanšaddu – The Sami and the Use of Wild Plants is based on the plant exhibition of the same name that the Sami Museum and the Northern Lapland Nature Centre produced together a few years ago.

Would you like to know more about the Angelica? Are you familiar with dyeing, or healing with tinder fungus? On the website at www.samimuseum.fi/eatnansaddu we introduce the audience to wild plants used by the Sami and their habitats and uses. In addition to a comprehensive information package, the website also contains a plant database with the data of approximately 50 wild plants; there is also a task section in which visitors can check how much they know about the wild plants of the north.

The exhibition has been realised as part of the Sápmi Miehtá project that was financed by the European Social Fund and Lapland’s Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment. The project was run by the Sami Education Institute, and its purpose was to create a virtual development and learning environment for the Sami language and culture. The project, which lasted until the end of 2014, created an operations scheme for how to realise distance learning in the Sami language and culture nationally and how to make use of the Sami materials of museums and libraries in learning. During the project, the Sami Museum and Nature Centre Siida created material that can be used in virtual education. Eatnanšáddu – The Use of Wild Plants is one of the learning environments that were published as part of the project; it is also an information website that everyone can access.

– The exhibition Eatnanšaddu that was displayed in Siida some years ago was very popular among the visitors. It contained a lot of information that we can use even today, Museum Director Sari Valkonen says. – Thanks to the project, the knowledge of the exhibition is now available for everyone.

– Now we can all study the data of the website, and, with spring almost here, look at the theme more closely and get ready to collect useful plants already this summer, Valkonen says.

The web exhibition Eatnanšaddu is available in three languages: Finnish, English and North Sami.

Sample from Aigi I Fathoms of the Fenlake

The Ulda-fell was peculiarly shaped. It was like any other fells, but the night and day side of it was split by a crag quarter of a league deep and a stone’s throw wide, cracked asunder by the thunder god Termis with one of his great bolts of lightning, marking a sort of border for Hahtezan and Njavezan, who were perpetually at odds over all things possible. The crag was thus referred to as the canyon of Termis.

Thus had the god created a symbolical border in the Ulda-fell, which also marked the boundary on other fells lining it. The other side he had given to the darkness and its powers, the other to light and its forces. Unfortunately the borders did not always hold, for the powers of darkness tried to capture more lands time and time again. Occasionally they spun secret plots with Hahtezan as the mastermind, with the aim to crush the forces of light for good.

The ray of sunshine of the New Year was a source of constant quarreling between the rivaling forces. The forces of darkness tried to grab the sunray each time to hide it in the depths of the Unfathomable Saivo lake, preventing the spring and summer from ever arriving for the whole year. Not once had Hahtezan succeeded in that plan, though.
The setup was not fair for the forces of light, for the ray of sunshine was cast down from the dark side of the fell. This meant that the light forces had to always have someone ready for the task; someone fast enough that Hahtezan and her cronies could not catch the champion. That in addition to the fact the forces of light had to catch the ray of sunshine before the forces of darkness. So for the light, the task was ridden with peril from the start.

In earlier years Njavezan had counted on the Golden arctic fox, a magical being created by the wind god Biegga himself, faster than any other to act as the “lightbringer.” Termis had decided that the lightbringer must be a living creature, not fae like Hahtezan or Njavezan, forcing both parties to choose a separate lightbringer. Njavezan had always had the Golden arctic fox, whilst Hahtezan had Stallu and his raito-sleigh.

The wind god Biegga was unwilling to create a swift lightbringer for Hahtezan, for he knew that Hahtezan’s plans were of a foul nature. Other gods were unable to create anything as fast as Biegga could, and didn’t see any need to. They thought the cycle of years in the Realm of the Living should go on as it always had; there would be a winter with bitter chills and snow, followed by summers with sweltering heat waves.

This time, however, Hahtezan and her co-conspirators had managed to catch the Golden arctic fox and held it captive in a secret place in the dark side of the Ulda-fell. Hahtezan had managed to fatten up an especially plump and delicious-looking vole, and with that as bait, had managed to trap the fox in a cage. Stallu had then quickly grabbed the cage and ferried it, along with the fox, back to Hahtezan.

No one knew where Hahtezan had hidden the Golden arctic fox. Thus Njavezan was in a terrible situation. If the fox was not found, who could possibly succeed in fetching the first sunray of the year, for her to hand to the sun god Beaivi to be placed back into the sun, bringing light and warmth to the Realm of the Living?

Njavezan was at her weakest during the wintertime. She lived in the Realm of the Gods, where light and warmth were plenty year around for her to survive. She could not enter the Realm of the Living during winter, for she would’ve perished for a lack of light and warmth. She could only return when the sun had started to light and warm the fells and creeks enough. Njavezan couldn’t communicate with denizens of the Living World except for fae, spirits or special individual humans with the blood of witches running through their veins.

People whose bloodline stemmed from witches could receive messages from her when they dreamt. Njavezan only contacted them in situations of dire emergency, though. Now she had entered Aigi’s dreams, for Aigi was a descent of the great aerial sorcerers. She had learned to trust Aigi ever since he had rescued Zuovga, her beloved butterfly pet from the clutches of the corpse beetle Zahpe. After that she had entrusted Aigi and his friends with all tasks requiring trust.
Aigi has received a message from Njavezan in a dream, telling of the Golden arctic fox and its disappearance. Njavezan had been horrified and asked Aigi for help to settle the situation. Without the fox the winter would go on for at least until the next New Year’s sunray was cast.

If that happened, Njavezan would have a hard time rousing the children of summer, like the bees and the flowers, after a long winter. The plants would wither for a lack of sunlight. The bees and insects would fall into a sleep lasting evermore. The reindeer would start falling into extinction with their food supplies running low, and with the reindeers the peril would come onto the humans as well. There was no time to waste, actions had to be taken right away. The first sunray would appear in one day. The Golden arctic fox must be found, so the sunray could be caught and the forces of light could prevail. Stallu’s raito was so fast that only the fox could match its speed; mundane sleighs would have no chance against Stallu and his mottled collection of sleighbeasts.

In addition to that, Stallu was a very experienced competitor when it came to catching the sunray. Even if he hadn’t been able to snatch the sunray yet to take to his mistress Hahtezan, he knew the route like the back of his hand. Stallu has learned to choose fast beasts to pull the raito, possessing of enough stamina to make the long climb to the peak of the Ulda-fell. Stallu was spending time in his own peaten kota, enjoying a hearty meal of reindeer flank soup brewed by Lutic and laid to rest on a moose pelt. The mistress Lutic had thrown out the bones left from the soup out of the kota for the beasts to gnaw, so they would be well fed before the trial.

As Stallu tended to the fire Lutic mused on what to next make for her husband. She knew that Stallu was an incurable glutton, as she herself was. Mostly the meals were comprised of such delicacies as reindeer flank soup, smoked moose or fat Nordic grouse birds grilled on a pole, gobbled up whole. At times, when other food was scarce, Lutic ordered Stallu to slaughter one of the sleigh beasts. If the hunger was a fierce one, it would be a wolf or a bear, but for a smaller craving a wolverine, a fox or a weasel would do. A vole was a small snack, snatched and gobbled up by Stallu if he had a craving for something sweet.

Sometimes, though rarely, Stallu could catch a human child, which he considered the greatest delicacy. Lutic could stew the most delectable meal from children, seasoned with juniper berries, pine branches, lichens and tree moss. Stallu knew of no better meal than a hearty stew like that. He was only irritated by the wailing and screaming that the children made when he hunted them. He could not see what the fuss was about, for stallus never felt sad and could not comprehend the plight of humans. Stallu and Lutic were members of the stallu family, a rare folk. In ancient times they had been around the Living World in more populous numbers. Back then the world of the Living was dominated by an allyear winter and endless night. At that time Hahtezan could stay up all year without having to hide in the veil in the depths of the Unfathomable Saivo Lake. Stallus could do as they pleased, with no one to bother their lives. By the actions of the sun god Beaivi, Njavezan and humans things changed for good. The habitats of the stallus and other creatures of the darkness narrowed down. Stallus were big and strong beings, but their intelligence was no match for humans. Despite that, they had spent millennia in adapting to cold Nordic winds and freezing temperatures. They were protected by a thick black fur coat, underlined by a layer of fat, further enhancing their survival capabilities. Stallus, like Hahtezan, had a deep hatred towards light. They hated Njavezan, Beaivi and the humans for bringing about the pesky sunlight, and called humans the “bastards of Njavezan.”

The trail to catch the sunray was not the easiest to traverse, but in fact one of the hardest and trickiest of the Living World, and the Golden arctic fox with his lightning-like speed was the only match for Stallu’s raito and its beasts. This fox was quite extraordinarily supernatural for a living creature.

Sample from Aigi I Fathoms of the Fenlake

Aigi had to wake up and get moving. He felt slightly irritated, since he had just tended the fire pit of the kota enough to extinguish the flames and only leave glowing embers. He had also draped a deer pelt over the smoke hole just moments before, to prevent the heat from escaping the dwelling after the embers had died out. A sharp frost was shaping up in the air, making the tree trunks snap and crack as the temperature dropped lower and lower.
Aigi had just managed to fall asleep when Njavezan’s distress call reached him: The Golden Arctic Fox had gone missing. The message only instructed Aigi to harness Njaiti, his sleigh puller, and to make a dash to the dark side of the Ulda fell to find the missing fox.

Aigi did as he was bidden, fetching a harness collar for Njaiti from the front of the peat kota and some pelts to keep the sleigh warm. He collared Njaiti quickly and made haste towards the Ulda fell.
The duo travelled on for hour on end in the moonlight, stopping once in a while to check their bearings. The distance to the Ulda fell was several reindeerstreaks and the journey was not an easy one. Finally, after several fells and crooks, a heartening sight shimmered in the horizon: The Ulda fell, beautiful in its stark and imposing magnificence, one of the landmarks of the Realm of the Living.
Aigi dashed through the landscape in his sleigh as fast as he could, so no moments would be wasted. The fell slowly came closer in the distance. The height and size of it made it seem close despite it still being far away. Many travelers had noticed the size of the fell to be annoyingly distracting, but on the other hand the fell made for a good focus point, keeping travelers in the Living World from getting lost even in the cold dark winter nights.

Aigi and Njaiti were almost there. They stopped at the Karhakka Hill, checking their bearings to reach the Big Pine, a millennia-old tree, that had sat at the western edge of the Canyon of Termis, stalwart and uncaring of the matches between Hahtezan and Njavezan. It was a good place to enter the dark side of the fell, might be that the pine would shelter them from the eyes of Hahtezan and her cronies.

Aigi pulled the sleigh to a halt near the Big Pine. It was easier to continue on foot, so the pair would attract less attention. He decided to walk Njaiti along, checking their surroundings for signs of noise and squealing, typical sounds of the zarahus, pests created by Hahtezan.

The scream of a zarahus, if heard abruptly, might freeze the blood of a traveler and stop their heart, sending them quickly to the Realm of the Dead. Hahtezan had created the zarahus with a particularly ugly and evil shrieking voice, so they could call out quick and loud warnings during their sentry duties.
Aigi and Njaiti managed to slip to the dark side of the fell without hassle, with no zarahus or other creatures attacking them. Aigi did however sense that they were not traveling to the nicer parts of the Living World. They were headed towards perhaps the most dreaded place: straight into the seat of power for the evil fae, Hahtezan. Aigi had his hands full in making his unwilling reindeer to continue on their way, even though he was one of the bravest beasts around. Njaiti knew that the chances of ending up boiling in Lutic’s kettle or ending up as a pile of bones for Zahpe the corpse beetle to gnaw on were real. In the end it decided to surrender to its fate, following its master’s directions. All in all, Njaiti trusted Aigi enough to even dash through a sea of flame at his bidding. Aigi knew this too, and would have wanted no other companion on his quests than Njaiti.

Aigi didn’t have the slightest clue of where Hahtezan had hidden the Golden arctic fox. He just had to follow his instincts, trust his wits and continue searching. The duo continued on foot. The landscape on the dark side of the Ulda fell was no different from the light side; the only difference was the knowledge of the evil things that lurked about. Making their way past large boulders and crisscrossing the land, the journey continued onwards.

Njaiti twitched when the shrieks of zarahus started sounding from further off. The creatures had not noticed their arrival, though, and were just shrieking in general. They had to keep vigilant, however, since the shrieks started sounding closer and closer in thicker intervals. Crows could also be seen flapping about in the direction of the zarahus.

As a seasoned woodsman Aigi knew crows to fly around the places where they knew food was around. They informed their kin of corpses to feast on with their ugly croaking, sometimes anticipating ahead. Sometimes the crows had lead Aigi to mountain deer during his hunting, knowing that he would leave the remains of the deer for the crows to feast on.
Wizened by his experiences, Aigi knew that it might be good to continue towards the croaking and shrieking made by the zarahus and the crows. Njaiti protested a bit, but decided to follow. Where would it go alone, it pondered; best to stay with the master.

The ugly voices grew louder as they progressed. At moments especially loud shrieks made their ears hurt, especially Njaiti’s; reindeers have much sharper ears than humans. The pair made their way slowly, sheltered by large stones, towards a clearing at the bottom of a creek, carved there by the flowing stream. The shrieks came from the clearing and more and more crows could be seen hovering over it. Aigi decided to hide Njaiti from sight, tying him off in a sheltered spot between two large boulders.

From here on out Aigi made his way alone, proceeding by silently sneaking onwards. With about a stone’s throw to the source of the noises the distance was not long, but Aigi paid heed not to leave Njaiti off too far from him. Their exit from the clearing would possibly have to be fast, either to flee or to race to catch the sunray. Aigi had decided that he and Njaiti would match themselves against Hahtezans lightbringer in the race for the sunray, even if Stallu and Zahpe had gobbled up the Golden arctic fox. They had to try, even if it could mean their demise.
The first sunray of the year could not be attained by just climbing the fell to wait for it to land on one’s palm. The thunder god, Termis, had devised rules that the sunray had to be raced for. He had drawn a path crisscrossing the slopes of the Ulda fell, which both of the lightbringers tasked by Hahtezan and Njavezan had to traverse if they wished to catch the sunray.

The path never ran the same way twice, swirling around the forests and boulders, sometimes making steep climbs up hills. The path of Termis only revealed itself once a year, moments before the first glimmers of the sunray could be seen from behind the fells. It showed itself to the lightbringers as a glowing blue path, a couple of feet wide, crawling up the slopes of the fells like a snake and shimmering like the northern lights themselves had settled to rest on the fell.
Termis had made the path forbidden to either Hahtezan of Njavezan. He had ensorcelled the path with a powerful spell, which would unfold if either of the fae set a foot on it. By stepping on the path either fae would burst into flame, disappear in a puff of smoke and would have to spend an eternity in Rotaimo, the deepest pit of despair of the Realm of the Dead, with only murderers and other bad souls to keep them company.

Aigi crept right up to the clearing. He noticed a small pile off stones; a good vantage point to spy on what was happening at the clearing. From his spot he peered at the shore of the brook, seeing Hahtezan herself, with Zahpe the corpse beetle in tow, standing along with Stallu and a large group of zarahus. He also saw a sack lying on the ground, around which the evil beings had gathered.

It looked like something was desperately trying to escape the folds of the sack, seeking escape. Aigi realized immediately that the Fox must be trapped within its folds. He kept an eye on the situation with a growing worry. Midday, the time when the sunray would appear to unleash the powers of summer and to vanquish winter for the year and force it to the depths of the Unfathomable Saivo Lake would soon be upon them. A light started shining from beyond the fells, casting shadows in the lowlands to mark the impending beginning of the race to the top of the fell.
Aigi thought fervently on how to obtain the sack and free the Fox. The situation was a tense one, but he knew he had to take action soon. He noticed Stallu’s raito parked by the edge of the stream, close to Hahtezan’s creatures swarming by the twitching sack. He could try and sneak behind Stallus’ sleigh, then make a mad dash for the sack. Then he would try and run as fast as he could. There was no time to lose, just to steel his mind and get going. As if by fate, Hahtezan and her cronies moved from the struggling sack to a fire blazing by the shore to plot their next move.

Aigi knew that this was his chance. He crept towards the raito, using the stones as cover. Sleighbeasts ranging from shrews to bears were stationed at the sleigh. They had taken the moment to take a rest a while before the race, though like Stallu and Hahtezan, they thought the race would be an easy one this year with the Golden arctic fox at their mercy. Aigi was only a few spans away from Stallu’s sleigh, with the sleighbeasts obvious to his presence. When he reached the raito he had an idea: he would scare the beasts to make a stampede straight towards Hahtezan’s group, making it easy for him to nab the sack and make his escape.

The idea was a bold one, true. Anything might go wrong. Maybe the sleighbeasts wouldn’t be scared; maybe they would dash into the completely wrong direction. It still seemed like the best possible option, so he decided to do it. There were only moments before the path of Termis would appear by the fellside.
Aigi took a good grip from the runners beneath the sleigh, rising to a crouch, preparing to lift the raito. He snapped his back up, roaring louder than the bear harnessed at the front of the sleigh. He lifted the sleigh as high as he could, bringing it crashing down and snapping all the beasts up in a flash.
The beasts took fright and made a mad stampeding dash towards the fire blazing a few spans off, around which Hahtezan’s cronies had gathered. Aigi used the confusion to his advantage to sprint forwards and grasped the sack squirming on the ground. Tossing the sack on his shoulder, Aigi started his flight with no thought of looking behind him. He ran as fast as his feet carried him, his furred shoes making sharp crunching noises on the snow, heading for the crag where he had left Njaiti.

Behind him he could hear the shrieks and squeals of the zarahus, though not right at his heels. He had managed to get ahead of his pursuers by a small margin, but had no time to stop and check. He knew Stallu would soon get control of his sleigh and begin pursuit of him, faster than he could possibly move.
Hahtezan would pursue him, even though the fae would be slower than him. She could only move as fast as her sleigh could carry her, and he had not seen Hahtezan’s sleigh on the shoreline, meaning it would have to be fetched from further off, maybe the other side of the clearing. Aigi had heard from Njavezan that Hahtezan’s reindeer was no faster than a regular sleighbeasts, so he didn’t particularly fear her catching him.
Soon Aigi reached Njaiti. He quickly untied the reindeer from the brush; he had in prior left Njaiti in harness and attached to the sleigh to make a quick escape. The sounds of pursuit were closing in, so Aigi hastily tossed the squirming sack to the end of the sleigh and started his flight.
He thought he could release the Fox once he had made it to the light side of the Ulda fell. Now he could only focus on the survival and escape of the trio. He didn’t know where the path of Termis would appear, but it made no difference. They had to escape. Aigi and Njaiti sped through the forest, making the bushes billow as if hit by a tornado. Aigi only hoped that Njaiti would not break a leg in the high speed. If the reindeer did, they would be out of luck. He just had to believe in a good turnout and hope for the best.

Aigi glanced behind; Stallu had closed in on them, with only a few hundred meters between the two sleighs. Soon his snapping beasts and the raito would be right behind his sleigh. Stallu’s bellows to his beasts roared through the forest, surely loud enough to be heard all the way from this realm to Saivo. As Stallu roared, his nostrils fuming so mightily that billowing clouds of steam were left behind his raito. Njaiti felt the bellows, making him shudder and almost double his running speed. The sleigh teetered perilously from side to side, bumping on things in the frosty ground. Branches brought down by the weight of snow snapped the duo, but there was no time for dodging them. The wind sharpened to a knife-edge, growing colder and colder the higher the duo climbed. The frosty environs of the fell along with the biting wind would’ve surely brought even the most stalwart Nordic travelers to the brink of tears. No respite was available though; they had to keep going. The alternative would be to end up boiling in Lutic’s pot.
As Njaiti thundered on, Aigi had a moment to think of this option. Which would be worse; to freeze to death in the sleigh or to be boiled alive in a huge pot?

Stallu had gathered the sleighbeast crew for the raito from unwitting forest creatures, charmed by Hahtezan to pull the sleigh. Closest to Stallu, right in front of the sleigh, a large bear lumbered onwards. In front of the bear a wolf, a wolverine, a fox and a weasel labored on, harnessed from largest to smallest in order. First in line, to split the wind, was a small Lapland shrew. This troupe was the force behind the speed of the raito-sleigh used by Stallu to try and catch Aigi and Njaiti. Stallu’s sleigh snapped and crashed about. Aigi bade Njaiti to make haste, and the reindeer sped towards the top of the fell, antlers frosting. Njaiti’s hooves scraped the icy cliff, at moments they almost running out of speed. The glow of the sun started to appear in the horizon, peeking from behind the furthest mountains. There were still several leagues to go to the summit. The distance was enough to let the forces of dark to catch the duo making their way across the frozen tundra. The higher the duo climbed, the starker the landscape grew. Gone were the tall trees with their thick boughs, only small stunted fell birches could be seen across the land, covered by a thick coat of glimmering hoarfrost and snow, battered by the elements up to a point where they stopped growing altogether.
Aigi reminisced on the past. He remembered all the perils they had gone through, even though he hadn’t even seen more than twenty turnings of the seasons in his life.

Sample from Aigi I Fathoms of the Fenlake

Finally, right before midday, the path of Termis emerged into the fellside. To Aigi’s luck the starting point only seemed to be about a stone’s throw away to the west from where the two were standing at. He yanked the reins, correcting Njaiti’s gait a bit to the right. The sleigh-puller’s concentration was beginning to wean, and the high speed made the reindeer miss some of the bigger rocks and bushes, making the sleigh hop and bounce like a hare on the ground, careening off the larger stones and logs.
Aigi could not make the sleigh go slower, for Stallu was almost upon them. Aigi wanted them to reach the beginning of the path before Stallu’s raito. If Stallu would try and surpass them on the path, they could always try and bump him off the narrow pathway.

Then something unexpected happened: Njaiti failed to notice a large rock jutting through the snow. Snow had been blown under and over the boulder, making it look like a harmless snowcap, which usually burst into puffs of snow when the sleigh thundered through them. This one was different: It was a big boulder with the weight of dozens of men, and had lain there through millennia with no concerns to the strife and turmoil around it.
This boulder couldn’t care less, being of immense size and similar mind; it simply did not have to care for the things happening around it, its place in life laying where it had been created to squat at. It had always sat on the descending slope of the Ulda-fell’s dark side, since the dawn of time. So there it was, even as Aigi’s sleigh happened to trounce into it, sending the sleigh along with the rider and beast careening off high into the air and finally crashing down like an eagle caught dead mid-flight with a mighty rumble and an explosion of snow.

Njaiti kept going, not noticing the commotion, and Aigi came to his senses and shook his head. He was dazed from the sudden aerial stunt and for a moment he had no idea of what was happening around him. For a small moment he gazed upon the stars and the tweeting small birds with no care in the world, oblivious of Stallu and his raito mere feet away from his sleigh.
Slowly Aigi came to his senses. Njaiti was continuing his loping gait towards the beginning of the path of Termis. He glanced behind the sleigh, noticing that there was a small gap that had formed between his sleigh and Stallu’s raito. What could have caused that? Just moments ago the front most Lapland shrew had been but inches away from his sleigh’s back end. With growing dread Aigi glanced around the sleigh. The twitching sack was gone; it had bounced off during the short flight through the air. The Golden Arctic Fox was once again in peril. After noticing the sack fall off Stallu had halted his raito and checked the bindings of the sack, then started off again, leaving it to Hahtezan and the zarahus to pick up.
Stallu of course knew that he couldn’t stop and wonder at the sack for long, for that would give Aigi and Njaiti a far too big head start. Aigi felt terrible. Everything had gone so well, and just at the last moments before entering the path of Termis, this had happened. Njaiti and he would have to continue on, even if it meant that the fox would be destined as Zahpe the corpse beetle’s next meal. That would please the beetle, no doubt! One’s loss is another one’s gain.

A small hillock signaled the start of the path. Stallu had gained up on the duo and was slowly closing in. The race to the top of the fell would be fierce. Njaiti dragged the sleigh on as fast as his hooves could carry them, and suddenly they were upon the path. It was a truly spectacular sight; a glowing blue path, shining like embers in a fire, though of a different hue. Njaiti enjoyed the change too; the reindeer’s gait changed from trundling through soft snow to a hard, well-holding surface; just like the optimal path should be like. Continuing along it the journey would be swift. Only the more steep parts of the path were a bit worrying. Would Njaiti gain enough traction with his hooves?
Stallu whipped his beasts, urging them onwards. He was not as stupid as many people thought. He had understood what the beginning of the path meant, and knew very well he could not stop and inspect the sack dropped by Aigi. His main mission was to catch the duo and surpass them. He stopped just for long enough to check that the sack was closed.
He had seen Hahtezan dashing towards them about a half-league behind them, knowing that the fae would take care that the Fox would not escape the sack to race for the sunray. After that the Fox would probably live for a short while, before the final end would be upon it.

Stallu knew that the Fox would end up in Zahpe’s pincers in the end. He still kindled a small hope that Hahtezan would reward him with the Fox if he succeeded in fetching the sunray. Of that, he was sure of, though. Stallu was sure that Aigi’s beast was no match for his pack and the arctic fox was not of concern this time, as was usually the case in this race. He had always lost to the pesky Fox, but not this time.
Stallu would be the celebrated hero of the hour, with toasts raised to him over the fire. Hahtezan and the zarahus would humble themselves before him, for he would be the one to bring eternal winter to the World of the Living. Oh how he would feast, with the zarahus capturing human children and other delectable meaty delicacies or him to gorge himself with. He would just lie on a moose pelt and maybe rise to dance with his wife Lutic from time to time. He wouldn’t have to be at Hahtezan’s beck and call every waking moment, leaving himself free to just enjoy life as the lightbringer in the biting cold winter and the freezing Nordic winds. At this moment he was concerned on who got to eat the Fox this evening. Would he be eating Aigi and the reindeer while Zahpe would feast on the Fox? Or could Hahtezan possibly let him gobble the fox, while Zahpe would have to satisfy himself with the reindeer and the human?
Stallu roared so loud that his sleighbeasts jumped up in fright, making them double their efforts. They were catching up with Aigi’s sleigh with every roar and it wouldn’t be long before they surpassed the duo. Stallu entered the path of Termis. He had traversed it more than anyone else, if you didn’t take the Golden Arctic Fox into account. The path was always different each year, but Stallu knew the region. He had oft inspected it in the moonlight, knowing every stone and cranny that the fell hid in its boughs.
As he barged onto the path he failed to hear Hahtezan, who was trying to signal him something. Hahtezan could not come to the path, as was deemed by Termis ages ago. Well, whatever the issue the fae had, it could wait. Stallu discerned that Hahtezan was just yelling cries of encouragement to her brave subject who would soon carry the sunray to her, the fae of darkness and cold, for the first time.
The journey stretched onwards. Stallu’s pack was upon Aigi, but the top of the ruggedly handsome Ulda-fell could already be seen. When ascending the cold seemed to ease down, though the wind was so fierce at the top of the fell that the milder weather didn’t really help the racers. The wind beat on the sleigh, biting Aigi’s cheeks like strong spirit in an open wound. Still, Aigi was a descendant of men who had traversed the harsh fells for millennia. His blood had refined in the harsh tundra winds and cold temperatures. He felt like this world could not show him a climate to which he would succumb to. These climates had not caused his ancestors to lie down and die; how could they possibly do that to him! Aigi felt a bit more hopeful. Stallu could not make it to his side no matter how hard he tried. The path of Termis was narrow and Njaiti was fast enough to make overtaking a hard task indeed. There was not a long way to go before the top. Only one steeper slope remained, after which a quarter-league of steady fellside ascent would remain. Aigi trusted in Njaiti, who had fared well so far. In the end the duo would just have to try and ram Stallu and his raito if they made it to their side. It had been crucial to reach the path first, for the opportunities for passing the other racer were scant at best.
Aigi felt bad for the Fox, though. He had possibly caused his death with his careless placement of the sack. Aigi pondered on who would take up the mantle of lightbringer in the years to come. Would Biegga the wind god create another fox for Njavezan, when he found out how the previous lightbringer had been so ill-mannerly protected?

Stallu in turn thought of ways to win. Despite his tries he could not urge his sleigh to catch up to Aigi. The damn reindeer of Aigi’s was more than he had anticipated. Usually no being in the world of the living could offer a decent challenge to his raito, and usually those unfortunates who tried got eaten, either by him or his beasts. Stallu noticed the same thing that Aigi had. After the cliff there would be no hard spots, merely a straight line on which he could not surpass Aigi and the reindeer. Stallu decided to place all his efforts so that he would overtake the sleigh on the cliff, or if all else failed, manage to halt Aigi’s sleigh. He decided the matter and pulled a long whip from his bag, snapping the two front beasts, the shrew and the weasel, off from his raito. Then he turned the whip on the other sleighbeasts, snapping at them to run for their lives.
Aigi and Njaiti had made it to the other side of the cliff when Stallu got into range. At this time the front beast was a fox, which Stallu commanded in a roaring voice. He commanded the fox to grab hold of the backboard of Aigi’s sleigh, slowing him down. The fox did as it was bidden, crunching his sharp teeth on the backboard and holding on for dear life. Aigi tried to pry it loose but the grip held.
Njaiti tried to scrape its way up the icy slope, but the reindeer’s strength was beginning to drain. It couldn’t possibly drag the whole convoy up the slippery cliff, with both Aigi and Stallu in his raito dragging along. Njaiti called up the last of its strength, but to no avail.
Aigi rummaged his sleigh for an axe to beat the fox with the blunt end to make it loosen its teeth from the sleigh. He was sitting on his knees in the sleigh, gazing the fox eye to eye. He was just raising his axe to strike when something terrible happened; the leather harness attaching Njaiti to the sleigh snapped. Njaiti continued coursing up the cliff, while Aigi and Stallu’s raito started to slide downwards.

The fox still held the sleigh in its jaws. The sleigh turned on its side, mixing all the sleighbeasts and the raito into a big pile of wooden runners, arms, legs and paws tumbling down the cliffside. Meanwhile Njaiti, running free, had made it to the top of the cliff and turned to look at the jumble of beasts and sleighs rolling down the cliff, making the snow billow around it. One couldn’t make sense of who was who in the pile. Slowly the jumble slowed down, grinding to a stop. Njaiti surveyed the situation, clearly worried. What would it do if Aigi had perished in the fall and how would it know Aigi was dead? Njaiti felt nervous. It understood clearly that Aigi would want it to continue along the slope and fetch the sunray to save the summer of the coming year. Still, it felt bad at leaving Aigi, the reindeer’s long-time friend, lying on the dark side of the Ulda-fell to be ripped to shreds by the forces of darkness. The act would haunt Njaiti for the rest of its life. Thus, the reindeer decided to keep a cool head and survey the situation more before making rash decisions.
Aigi’s head felt like it was about to split and both of his shoulders also ached. Stallu and his beasts had come to quicker than the human. Aigi noticed he was being held up by the wolf and the wolverine, under Stallu’s command. He could not escape. Glancing up, he also noticed Njaiti standing on the top of the cliff, eyes wide. He knew he would have to call out to the reindeer at some point to make haste to the top of the fell to catch the sunray, leaving him in the clutches of the dark monsters. The sunray was of greater importance, though; Aigi knew that with no sleigh and rider to burden him, Njaiti would win the race at this distance. He would have to send Njaiti on his way if Stallu got the idea to send one of his sleighbeasts to race the reindeer. Stallu roared at Aigi who was pinned in the jaws of the wolf and wolverine. “You ruddy human runt; you’ll end up in Lutic’s pot for this!” Stallu had the idea to tie Aigi up and continue the race. He hadn’t yet grasped that he could not catch Njaiti, but he firmly believed the reindeer to be winnable. It gave Aigi some hope. He tried to think of a way to escape and reach the reindeer feverishly, so the two could continue to the top of the fell.
Aigi thought that he could grasp the snapped harness dragging behind Njaiti. If he could grasp that, Njaiti could drag him along to the top. The idea had its risks though; the reindeer might not make very good headway with Aigi dragging along. Thus Stallu would very well surpass them to the top and win, condemning the both of them to the claws of the dark forces. He weighed his options, but nothing felt good. He just had to keep a cool head and check what Stallu would do. Stallu decided to tie Aigi up and fetched a coil of rope from his sleigh. Aigi started to feel dread; is this how it would end? His life started to flash before his eyes, both the good and the bad moments. He had thought that his destiny was written into the stars; he had believed that his life goal was to become one of the great aerial sorcerers, following the footsteps with his ancestor Vuolab.
Aigi understood, though, that the worlds did not revolve around him. What was meant to happen would happen. He was but one small being amongst others, drifting in the great stream that was life like a leaf fallen from a fell birch, with no further purpose but to endure the swirling waters.

Sample from Aigi I Fathoms of the Fenlake

Stallu’s raito was lying on the snow, turned over and as battered as Aigi’s sleigh. The fact if either of the contraptions could be used for transportation was certainly debatable. Aigi tried to think of a trick to reach Njaiti feverishly. Stallu’s sleighbeasts kept a close eye on the reindeer, who was gazing at the scene from the top of the cliff. They were poised to strike and rip Njaiti to shreds if it attempted anything to save his master.
The situation did not bode well for Aigi. He prayed for all the gods and good fae he knew to send help. He gazed at the horizon, wishing for the cloudbank to break and for his ancestor Vuolab to crash through the skies to rescue him from this plight. Still, nothing happened. He just kept watching how Stallu uncoiled the rope one layer at a time. As each coil of rope straightened, Aigi knew his life was shortening with each layer. He tried to stay calm and gather his thoughts but panic was slowly welling up inside of him, mixing his thoughts. Stallu stood by his fallen sleigh. The wolf and the wolverine had Aigi pinned to the ground to keep him from escaping. The rest of Stallu’s beasts kept sentry on Njaiti’s movements. As he eyed Stallu uncoiling the rope, Aigi noticed a flash of gold at the edge of his vision. The flash seemed to have come from under Stallu’s raito. Aigi gazed at the jumble of wood but could not see anything. Was he going mad, he thought? He looked upon Stallu again but only moments later the same thing happened; he glimpsed a flash of burnished gold in the corner of his eye. He checked below the raito again and gazed upon something that made his heart jump with joy; the Golden Arctic Fox was peering at him from under the sleigh.
Aigi knew then that he had hope again. The Fox was one of Njavezan’s creatures and like him the fox had stayed under the sleigh only to rescue him and Njaiti. Otherwise it could’ve just run up to the top of the Ulda-fell to fetch the sunray. The Golden Arctic Fox had the spirit of a good fae, and it surely would not leave brave Aigi and his reindeer on the dark side of the fell, unless things started looking extremely bleak.
Aigi just had to come up with a way to make use of the fox’s presence. The fox was not strong enough to just snatch him up from the maws of the wolf and the wolverine. The only factor which it had was its immense speed. Aigi concentrated on thinking hard. Stallu had uncoiled his rope and started to lumber towards him to tie him up.

Suddenly Aigi had an idea. He knew that Stallu wanted to eat him himself but would probably have to hand him over to Hahtezan, who in turn would give him to Zahpe to feast on. Zahpe loved living, fresh flesh. The beetle refused to eat meat that was even a little bit cold. It wanted its meals warm and heartbeat racing, wanting to feel the life flow away from its prey as it descended upon them. The act brought euphoria to the corpse beetle.
Stallu on the other hand would eat anything, though he preferred to eat things he had not tried before. Aigi also knew that Stallu found human flesh the most delectable of morsels. Thus Stallu wanted to eat Aigi himself, thinking of this as his right; he had caught the human so he should be the one to eat it.
Maybe Aigi could draw on the simpler, primal greed of Stallu? He could pretend to rather be eaten by Stallu than the corpse beetle. It might hold the key to his freedom, Aigi thought. Maybe he’d propose this idea to Stallu, coaxing the huge creature to hand him the lasso so Aigi could hang himself dead in the nearby birch. After that the beetle would not care for his cold corpse. Stallu could lament to Hahtezan that the poor boy had made his escape to the Realm of the Dead by his own hand before Stallu happened along.

Aigi would propose that he do it himself, so Hahtezan could not discover any foul play from finding Stallu’s footprints by the birch. It would be dangerous for Stallu if Hahtezan would find out that he had tricked her. If the fae would find that out, the days of both his wife Lutic and himself would be numbered. Aigi would hang himself in the birch alone and no one would trounce around the tree before Hahtezan herself would have checked the situation. After the fae would have made her decision, Stallu could carry the cold corpse to Lutic to be made into hot human stew.
Aigi pitched his idea to Stallu. He hesitated for a moment, but with some coaxing Stallu was swayed to the idea that it was a masterful plan. He even thought of it as an honor of sorts; that Aigi wanted to be rather eaten by him than Zahpe. Aigi further encouraged the idea by telling Stallu that he had finally met his match in the mighty being and that Aigi thought of him as the true lord of the whole Living World.
Stallu nodded stupidly along, taking the bait, hook line and sinker. He was so moved by Aigi’s rapacious speech that he even shed a single tear from the corner of his eye. No one had ever given him such bolstering commendations, especially Hahtezan, from whom Stallu would’ve wanted at least once to hear other things than orders and screaming.
Stallu thought for a moment to release the poor boy on account of his pretty speech. It felt fair for that Aigi had given all his strength to race Stallu for the sunray. In a way he valued the boy’s courage to race him. Not every man could do that. The touching moment was a fleeting one, though. After the tear he remembered the supple taste of human flesh and with saliva dripping from his mouth, he commanded Aigi in his ugly voice to wade through the snow to the birch and hang himself posthaste. Stallu still had a lot to do; he should try and make a show of racing the reindeer for the sunray. Stallu started pondering on maybe losing to Njaiti, but if so, he decided he’d just be quicker in ferrying Aigi’s body to Lutic to cook. The tundra birch stood on top of a small boulder. It wasn’t high in itself, but grew at a great height. Aigi had pointed the tree to Stallu, declaring that it was the tree he wanted to be hung by. It would make a good spot, for it was high enough; ample room to swing from. The fell didn’t provide many other good spots, for tundra birches grow to a small stunted height, and many of them were covered by snow.

Aigi started to spin the coiled rope in a lasso to snap the loop around the birch. It was sturdy and would make for a good swing to swing by and draw one’s last breath while gazing upon the magnificence of the dark side of the Ulda-fell – or so Stallu thought Aigi would think. Aigi was spinning the lasso, but he kept his eye on the Golden arctic fox laying low under the upturned sleigh. Aigi spun and spun until he reached the required velocity for a toss. Then he started to whistle, thinking that the Fox would make it out as the signal to rush past him so he could lasso the beast by its neck. The Fox would pull him and they would make a dash to the top of the cliff, where Njaiti waited them.
The plan worked. The Arctic Fox ran past Aigi and he lassoed it by the neck. With blinding speed they rushed up the cliff as Stallu roared behind them like a bear shot in the flank. Stallu realized he had been tricked, and that if anything made him mad. The fox dragged Aigi up the cliff with the man tagging along to the best of his ability. His reindeer-hide shoes made for a good slide on the hard snow bank of the blueglowing path of Termis.
At the cliff top the Fox slowed down enough for Njaiti to tag along with them. Stallu had started to catch up with them but they weren’t as fast as Njaiti and the fox by a long shot. Moment by moment, the raito disappeared behind them. Aigi’s troop made it to the top of the fell, where Njaiti took point in dragging them along. Aigi loosed the lasso from the fox’s neck, coiled it and looped it over his shoulder. The Golden Arctic Fox then hopped on Aigi’s shoulder. He took a good grip of the snapped harness dangling behind Njaiti, and they were ready to continue. They had made such headway that the threat of Stallu catching up was gone.

Njaiti had to tow Aigi and the Fox along, so they could catch the sunray in a group. They would reach the sunbridge formed by the ray, and use it to cross the Canyon of Termis which was splitting the Uldafell in two. They made it to the top. The first ray of the yearly sun struck their eyes, blindingly bright. After a harsh winter of darkness and all their toils the sight warmed their hearts and minds. The evil forces had been dealt with, and summer was ready to arrive into the Realm of the Living. They could enjoy their respite until the next midwinter race was upon them. Now was not the time to worry about such things though, but enjoy the moment of triumph. The sunray cast a glimmering bridge across the canyon, which the heroes used to dash towards their home and the cheering living creatures. The good forces of Njavezan had once again shown their strength in the fight against Hahtezan and her evil beings.

Later in the spring small birds were hopping from branch to branch. Spring geese honked as they flew towards the first snowmelts of the arctic lakes, where new green plants started shooting up from the soil along with the warming weather. The fell brooks were overflowing and angling their flows towards the larger rivers which roared downstream, ice banks cracking, with a force to snap larger trees off the riverbank if they grew too close to the shore. The forces of summer and light shone in unison with the sun itself, and all the marks of the cold and dark winter would be soon all but abolished. Aigi was sitting at the foot of his peat kota, admiring the spring in all of its glory. He had built his peaten dwelling on the shore of the roaring banks by the Gárgu River. There he lived in peace, did small chores and enjoyed the little things life offered. He had let Njaiti wander off because so far into spring, a sleigh-puller was of no use with the snows vanishing. He trusted that Njaiti would not stray too far from the peat kota, and would return by the end of the snowmelt when he would be needed to carry things.

Aigi glanced towards the shore, eyeing the honking geese. He saw Njavezan herself on the shore, skiing towards Aigi’s kota. Zuovga the butterfly flew merrily along the fae. Aigi was extremely pleased to see her, for it would be nice to catch up with her and revisit the adventure they had during the winter with Njaiti and the Fox. The day slowly started turning into night. Aigi and Njavezan had spent the whole time conversing about this and that. The friends had not met for a long time so there were ample subjects to talk about. Njavezan was already getting ready to leave when Aigi finally asked “So, how’s the Golden Arctic Fox doing?”
Njavezan told that the Fox was well. From there they started recalling the story of the wintry adventure. It was still a mystery to Aigi how the Fox had appeared under Stallu’s raito and what had the struggling sack contained, if it wasn’t the Fox? Njavezan told Aigi: “The Golden Arctic Fox had been trapped in the sack, but he had been freed by you arrived by the fell brook. An unknown figure had let the fox loose the previous night and replaced it with a bound zarahus, gagged of course so it couldn’t reveal the plot to Hahtezan and her forces. The Fox was hiding in Stallu’s sleigh by the time you arrived. The Fox of course didn’t know you had been sent to the rescue, but had planned that hiding in Stallu’s sleigh would give it a free ride to the path of Termis. As Stallu would have arrived at the foot of the path it had planned to just hop of and make a dash towards the top of the Uldafell and the sunbridge.
“The plans of the Fox went a bit cross with your plans, but luckily it all turned out well,” Njavezan continued. Aigi nodded along, admitting that luck had certainly been a factor. He wondered on who on earth had freed the fox and swapped it with the zarahus. Njavezan didn’t know the answer, but pondered that it might be an ulda or some form of gnome, certainly not one of Hahtezan’s cronies. She only had wild guesses on the identity of the mystery figure. It was possible that it would forever remain a secret. Well, whomever it was, it was good that they had done what they had; the important thing was that Aigi and the Fox along with Njaiti in tow were the three to snatch the sunray and escape the clutches of the evil beings, saving all the summer creatures from humans to small buzzing insects.
The evening sun shone bright red in the horizon. Njavezan and Zuovga went on their way. Aigi waved them good-bye and wished them well, reminding that they were always welcome at his home. The Gárgu river flooded in abundance and life flourished. Once again a wedge of geese returning from the south swept over the sky above…

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Stallu

Stallus are big, strong creatures. They are incorrigible gluttons, who love the dishes conjured up by their wives. Their favourite meal is a soup made from human children, but they may even snack on their own animals that pull their sleds, including bears, wolves, foxes, wolverines, and even little tundra voles. As well as food, Stallus adore gold and silver, and anything else that is fine and shiny. They decorate their clothes with ornaments made from animal skulls and bones. Their long knives, leuku, are silver, and they use them to slaughter their victims ready for cooking.

Stallus have no sympathy for their victims. They cannot understand why the children they have captured cry so much when they are put in the pot. Nor do they feel pity for the daughters of humans they kidnap for their wives. Indeed, men are often forced to save their family members from Stallus' claws. It is said that whistling is heard from the depths of the forest before meeting a Stallu. On hearing that sound, the wanderer had best make a quick getaway.

Sometimes Stallus challenge men to wrestle with them, and on losing, they ask their opponent to kill them with their own knife. One should not comply with this request, however, as Stallus do not meet their ultimate death by their own blade. It is also said that some Stallus have an invisible dog, which a human must kill, having killed its master. If not, the dog will lick the Stallu’s wounds, and it will come back to life many times stronger than it was before it died.

Stallus occupied their habitats before people arrived, and perhaps that is why they are so difficult to live with. They had lived peacefully with no interference from anyone, until, after the appearance of humans, the Stallus began to cause trouble by stealing and killing their reindeer. Mannu (Moon) is said to be their father. That is why they prefer winter to summer and like night-time better than the light of day.

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Gufittar

Gufittars are a mythical people, often talked about around eveningtime campfires and at bedtime. They live unseen by humans in the Saivo world, which is an inverse world beneath our feet. Only a few people have had the opportunity of meeting them. Tales are often spun about handsome reindeer and beautiful Gufittar maidens, compared to whom human girls look something like the creations carved with an axe by Stallu. The ‘earthly’ wealth of the Gufittars is an object of fascination for people, as they have all heard about their treasure, fur coats made from snow-white reindeer skins, enormous reindeer herds, and jewellery that sparkles as brightly as the starry sky and northern lights.

It is even rumoured that a human has once or twice managed to steal some of the Gufittars’ reindeer, when they and their herds have strayed to graze in the land of the Living. Gufittars’ reindeer can be stolen by throwing a leuku or some other bladed object over their backs, whereupon they become the property of the human. The stolen reindeer are usually spotted by other people, and that is the reason why the tales of the Gufittars' existence persist; everybody knows that reindeer of such noble bearing and unusual colouring are never found in reindeer herds in the world of the Living. Gufittars are a little smaller than humans, but so much the prettier, although in other respects they are like humans. They have a tendency for extravagant lifestyles with frequent feasts, where the tables groan with the finest fare: roast smoked reindeer, black puddings made with reindeer stomachs, reindeer brain cakes, cloudberry jam, fried spring geese and meat stew containing various kinds of wild berries, like bilberries and crowberries. Some Gufittars are very fine joiku-singers, and many humans have learned impressive joikus when staying with them.

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Njavezan

There once lived a man named Njavvis, who managed to marry the beautiful daughter of Beaivi (Sun) himself. The girl was called Njavezan. After a time, Njavezan became pregnant to Njavvis, but her husband was tragically murdered together with the husband of Hahtezan, daughter of the Moon, before the child was born. Hahtezan was pregnant at the same time as Njavezan, and around the same time they both had their babies – Njavezan a son and Hahtezan a daughter. Njavezan’s father, Beaivi, was sorry for the widowed friends, so decided to give them wild mountain reindeer for taming. So they trained their wild reindeer, turning them into biddable beasts, and each began to tend her own herd. But Hahtezan became embittered towards Njavezan, because she had had a beautiful son and Hahtezan only a plain-looking girl. A cunning woman, Hahtezan managed to kidnap Njavezan’s child and left her own daughter in his place.
Years passed, and the boy grew up into a skilled hunter and wise man. At long last, he managed to uncover his real origin, and he also revealed his knowledge to his real mother, Njavezan. The boy was so angry with his foster mother that he decided to kill both Hahtezan and her daughter. In his rage, he burned their bodies. Then, all kinds of animals began to spawn from Hahtezan’s ashes. Later, Hahtezan became a malevolent guardian spirit, and Njavezan after her death became a mild and bright female guardian spirit – Hahtezan’s counterpart. Njavezan created hoverflies and other pollinating insects, to provide people and wild animals with an abundance of cloudberries, lingonberries and other soft fruit to eat and even to preserve for winter. As the guardian of light, Njavezan rules the sunny side of the fells, good spirits, and the light season of the year. Her most faithful friend is a little butterfly, which always flutters at her side. Njavezan loves best of all to wander on the summery fells of the nightless night, when she can see her father, Beaivi, always in the sky giving light.

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Hahtezan

There once lived a man named Ahcis, who married the passionate and haughty daughter of Mannu (Moon) himself. The girl was called Hahtezan. After a time, Hahtezan became pregnant to Ahcis, but her husband was tragically murdered together with the husband of Njavezan, daughter of the Sun, before the child was born. Njavezan was pregnant at the same time as Hahtezan, and around the same time they both had their babies – Hahtezan a daughter and Njavezan a son. Njavezan’s father, Beaivi (Sun) was sorry for the widowed friends, so decided to give them wild mountain reindeer for taming. So they trained their wild reindeer, turning them into biddable beasts, and each began to tend her own herd. But Hahtezan became embittered towards Njavezan, because she had had a beautiful son and Hahtezan only a plain-looking girl. A cunning woman, Hahtezan managed to kidnap Njavezan’s child and left her own daughter in his place.
Years passed, and the boy grew up into a skilled hunter and wise man. At long last, he managed to uncover his real origin, and he also revealed his knowledge to his real mother, Njavezan. The boy was so angry with his foster mother that he decided to kill both Hahtezan and her daughter. In his rage, he burned their bodies. Then, all kinds of animals began to spawn from Hahtezan’s ashes. From them arose frogs, toads, hawkmoths and other troublesome insects, like mosquitoes, warble flies and midges. The reindeer Hahtezan had domesticated also turned into these creatures after she died. She herself became an evil guardian spirit of darkness, who still rules the night side of the fells, evil spirits, and kaamos, the dark season of the year. Her most faithful friend is a big dung beetle, which is constantly by her side. She sends her nasty insects to sleep under the snow for the winter, but when the next summer comes, these pests are again eagerly sucking the blood out of humans, reindeer, and other inhabitants of the land of the Living. The spots seen on the Moon are said to depict Hahtezan and her dead daughter.

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Water Draug

Water Draug is the ghost of a drowned person. It is embittered towards humans for its fate and wants to avenge its death to all the Living it happens to come across. That is why people and animals are best keeping as far as possible away from its habitat. It often tries to lure people to drown into its underwater realm. It is especially interested in children, who would otherwise have a long life ahead of them. The children’s parents must instruct them and take care that they do not go alone to swim or play by the water, as then the Draug could snatch them and take them to the depths. All in all, Water Draug is a very gloomy, bored and desolate creature that has no mercy. Never again can it regain the life of a Living being, therefore it feels that no other beings deserve to live normal lives either. The creature lives in rivers, lakes, seas and even in smaller waters, such as ponds and wells. It is often heard to call from the water, but catching sight of it is very much rarer. Those who have seen Water Draug say that it has the naked body of a man or a woman, with a long nose, big mouth, or long hair. Some speak of water weeds growing on its body. The sightings differ greatly from each other, and nobody has got to eye Water Draug very closely. One time, a Water Draug heard a man asking his fishing cronies for a knife to gut his fish. It heard the request word-for-word, and began to repeat the man’s question from the lake. The man got fed up with listening to the Draug’s repeating and decided to take action. He boiled a potful of water and hid behind boulders on the shore, waiting for the caller to come. At last Water Draug came ashore, and the man poured the boiling water from the rock over the creature. It ran screaming back into the water and was never again heard calling from the lake.

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Skaimmadas

The Skaimmadas are supernatural guardians of the water and at the same time elders of their fish tribes. Each fish species, such as lavaret, pike, trout and perch, has its own elders, watching over their smaller kin and at the same time regulating their fishing. These fish rulers are much bigger than humans. It is said that specimens the length of boats have been seen. Consequently, many have suspected that the creature swimming around the lake is not a fish at all, but a whale, familiar from the seas. Skaimmadas may be met in all kinds of lakes, both smaller and larger, but they seem to particularly inhabit the depths of ‘double-bottomed’ Saivo lakes. By nature, they are cruel, quick to anger, and at times pretty vengeful. If fishermen overfish their lakes, the revenge may be pretty ferocious. They can raise a wind on the open lake and whip it up into a storm that tosses boats around until they sink. And even when fishermen have honoured Skaimmadas and caught fish for food, keeping to its rules, it may have surfaced to give them a fright. Some believe that the mere sight of it portends disaster. The Skaimmadas value peace and quiet above all else and become cross if they hear people making a racket and yelling on their lake shores. Therefore, people must move quietly and remain silent near lakes where they know these beasts lurk. Sometimes, the Skaimmadas listen carefully to what people say about their home lake. There was one pike-elder, said to have a disproportionately large head and a pair of backwards-slanting antlers upon it, that heard fishermen call the pike in its lake skinny rubbish fish. As soon as it heard the insults, it had ferociously attacked the nets set by the men and torn them to shreds. Sometimes, all the fish vanish from Skaimmadas’s lakes into thin air. Then people say they have either eaten all the fish in their lake or taken them far into the depths. But fishermen have found a way of buttering up the Skaimmadas. They trap a really juicy bird and throw it into the lake, feathers and all. Poultry is said to be the Skaimmadas’s favourite snack. Not one fish-elder has ever been heard to get caught in fishermen’s traps. Indeed, few would dare to try to catch them…

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Lihatontta

People tell a Stallu and Tontta apart because Stallus are pretty much like humans, with a pair of eyes. A Tontta only has one eye. Tonttas have been described as very malevolent spirit folk, but in fact they, too, are guardian spirits of sorts. In fact, they take good care of the things they have taken upon themselves to look after. They do serious harm to strangers in order to bring good things to those they have decided to guard. However, Tonttas have their superior: their supreme god Olle Tontta, who can be an extremely unpleasant being towards those he does not consider his own. The character of these elf-beings has been exploited through all time by the most mischievous of witches and sorcerers. They have created a Lihatontta as their helper, fashioning it from clay or cloth, or carved it from wood. This way, they have made themselves a Tontta effigy to help them, used it to protect them and to do their evil deeds to their enemies. But creating a Lihatontta is not easy or without danger for sorcerers. They must shed half their blood and half their soul into their work of art, before the creature is ready to come to life. The sorcerer might send Lihatontta after his enemy, but if it does not find its victim within the year, the creation returns to capture its creator. And if a person succeeds in killing a Lihatontta sent after him, the sorcerer who created it is faced with mortal danger. After all, he has given it half his soul, so death throes loom as a distinct possibility.

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Ulda

The Ulda folk live in the Saivo world underground. They are noisy and lively creatures – who can also be quiet, timid and retiring, depending on the situation. They live in the inverse world, so their dwellings are topsy-turvy compared to human homes. The Ulda are a human-like people, but much smaller. They are invisible beings, who may nevertheless show themselves to people they favour. So, not all people are able to see the Ulda, but most are able to hear the sounds of their living. Animals do see them, and people may be puzzled by the behaviour of their domestic animals, if they themselves see nothing unusual in their surroundings. Uldas occasionally visit the surface of the Earth or the world of the Living, and from time to time, the odd human may stray to drop in on them. In such an event, they are hospitable and generous, if they happen to like their guest. If the visitor has helped them in some way, the Ulda will reward him handsomely and treat him well. They are not entirely harmless to humans. There is talk of Uldas who have managed to change a human baby for one of their old wrinklies, to save them the bother of caring for them as they grow aged. Then human mothers wonder why their good babies have suddenly become ugly and crotchety mock-ups of children. It is also said that some people have made the mistake of setting up their kota dwelling in a spot where the Ulda have their underground homes. Then an old Ulda woman has appeared from the depths of the forest and asked the people to move elsewhere. If they have failed to comply, the Uldas have brought all kinds of disruptions on the people, in any which way they could think of.

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Zarahus

Zarahus is a spirit being that torments people while they sleep. It is a pest plaguing them in every imaginable way in their dreams. Its intention is to create both trouble and embarrassment. Zarahus appears in many guises. Men might see and experience it as an alluring female figure, who sends them into a shameful state. For young children, it may appear as a shrieking and scary ‘little devil’ that makes them wet their beds. Sometimes it does not appear at all, but merely makes frightening and weird noises that people hear through their dreams. It may rattle about by the bed or knock on the kota door, making people puzzled. Zarahus can also heighten a person’s mistaken assumptions about something. It might make believe that a wife has another man, and so cause jealousy. Sometimes it points a finger at someone having stolen a sleeping person’s possessions, even though this is not the case. It convinces people that their worst fears are true, making a lot of trouble for its victims. Zarahus might also occasionally get up to quite funny tricks. It makes a person talk and call out embarrassing things while asleep. This causes much mortification, when the sleeper is forced to explain his nocturnal utterances in the morning. It might also mock and jeer at a person who has had severe bad luck and sadness in his life.

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Goranus Oy

Goranus Oy is a company established in 2013 and based on a deep respect and pride of ancient Sami beliefs. The mission of the company is to increase all people’s awareness of Sami mythology. Today this is possible, but this has not always been the case. Some centuries ago, we would probably have been persecuted for sorcery.

The company wants to carry on business in an authentic Sami spirit, which is why the basis of the company and creation of its story have been entrusted to Sami people. We are a Sami company at heart and in spirit, and this spirit we feel to include a strong respect for nature and awareness of the wisdoms passed down to us from our ancestors. Our innovations spring from the fells and mountains of Samiland and its virginal nature – now and always!

Goranus is in entertainment business. We are now publishing books and stories and related promotional products. The first book was published in Finnish and is now translated in English. The mythology guide is translated in six languages. Goranus is planning games, movies and theme park based on Sami mythology and is working in close relationship with Sami exhibition Samiland which belongs to Unesco Cultural Village program. Our R&D has produced first illustrations of Sami characters after intensive study of the ancient culture and heritage.

Learn more at www.facebook.com/goranus

Contact

Goranus Oy
Hillatie 1 E 31, 99130 Levi, Finland
Company Reg.No.: 2519861-5

Managing Director Ante Aikio
Tel. +358 (0)40 5457832
ante.aikio@goranus.com

Aigi - Fathoms of the Fenlake

Aigi's journey into the mythical world of the Sami people starts with a race for the first ray of sunlight of the New Year, and continues with a plunge into the mythical Saivo realm to search for a childhood friend. On the journey, for those who know, the knowledge of beings such as the gobmi, skammaidas and other mythical creatures will surely be needed. Fathoms of the Fenlake is a ground-breaking fantasy story: strong ties to nature, full of resourcefulness and courage, along with mystical powers have always been present in the Sami culture. The Aigi-saga draws from that legendary folklore. The bewitching novel will charm its readers.

Ante Aikio

Ante Aikio is a reindeer herder and modern entrepreneur living between two worlds himself, splitting his time between his company and his reindeer herd. Both are far beyond the polar circle - in the land of Sami mythology and tales.