Swedish Folktales: Västerbotten

Sami Sleighride

Early one morning in the vast forests west of Samsele, a man was hunting birds. As midday approached he climbed a mountain, and when he reached the top a sudden whirlwind came upon him, so strong that grass and twigs swirled in the air about him. Quickly he drew his knife and threw it at the whirlwind, which then lost its strength and soon all was calm again.

Time passed, and the same man went out hunting again and got lost. After a long and tiresome wandering he came to the hut of a Sami woman, who stood stirring a kettle hanging over a fire. When she finished cooking she asked the hunter if he would like to eat, and being hungry after his long and aimless wandering he accepted gratefully. When she gave him a portion, she also gave him a knife, the very same one he had once thrown into the whirlwind.

He spent the night there, and the next morning when he tried to find his way home, he found that again it was impossible. Then the sorceress, as she clearly was, let him sit on a sled to which she had tied a heavy rope, and in the rope she put three knots.

“Untie them one at a time,” she said, “and the sled will take you home.”

The hunter untied one of the knots, and the sled took off into the air. After a while he untied the second knot, and then the sled went even faster. Finally he untied the third knot, and the sled went with such a dreadful haste that when it stopped, it sent the hunter flying straight into his own yard, where he crashed and broke his leg.