THE GOLDEN TIME AND HOW IT ENDED
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THE GOLDEN TIME AND HOW IT ENDED
The Golden Time is an old southern Sami tale retold by Kirsti Birkeland.
When Jupmele, God, created the world, he made it good and beautiful in every way. The mountain was clad in gold and silver. In the valleys the flowers sprang forth, and the birds sang everywhere. In the forest, every leaf was fresh and green, and there was not a withered branch.
There was plenty of food: the trees did not bear fruit, but boiled meat and cheese grew on the branches, and in the trunks the fat marrow flowed. On the heather and bushes there was an abundance of berries, and the springs that gushed everywhere were full of sweet milk. In the rivers and streams, the fish were packed densely. You just had to take what you needed. No one knew what work was.
Jupmele gave the world to Biejjie, the Sun, her son, and set him to guard it from his place in the sky. Where the sun rules, darkness must give way. There is no cold, no night, no sorrow.
In this lovely land there lived two brothers: the pious and good Naevie, and Adtjis, who was fierce, greedy and had no shame in life. It is said that Biejjie liked Naevie so much that he gave him his daughter to wife and named her Naevie-ietnie. Adtjis got the one that suited him best, Adtjis-ietnie. She came from the underworld and ruled over all diseases. She brought them with her in a sack.
The world had an abundance of everything, and all people had received it for nothing. But laziness breeds evil, and one day greed awoke in Adtjis’ heart: He wanted to own land, and he wanted to put a fence around what he owned. He went to Naevie and said:
-Let’s divide the land equally between us, so everyone can own theirs.
– Why? said Naevie – There is enough of everything here, and it is right to have it together. But Adtjis didn’t give up, and in the end Naevie let him have what he wanted.
It wasn’t long before Adtjis thought he had received too little. He moved the fence further into Naevie’s side. Naevie said nothing. He just let it happen. But soon Adtjis cast his eyes over the fence again. He thought everything Naevie had was better than his own. And then he moved the fence even further into his brother’s land.
The good Naevie would not yet tire with his brother.
-He must have had enough soon, he thought.
And then he said nothing now either, but let his brother keep everything he had taken. In the end, Naevie only had a single spring with milk and an empty plot of land for himself and his family.
Then the darkness completely got the better of Adtjis, and envy gained such power that he seized a reindeer antler, struck Naevie with it and killed him.
At the same time, a terrible scream broke out in the forest. It hit the rock and grew, and darkness extinguished all lights. Eerie figures fluttered out of cracks and crevices, out of marshes and water. Adtjis-ietnie laughed and took out the bag in which she had all the diseases. She untied the string and released them into the world. Soon it smelled of death from the water and sorrow from the forest. The birds couldn’t bear to fly, and the fish rolled over with their bellies up. The humans began to fight. The men swaggered about shamelessly, and the women killed their children.
The people had not endured wealth and good times when they got it for nothing. Biejjie turned away and cried.
When Jupmele saw what Adtjis had done, he was both saddened and angry. All his gifts had not become a blessing to men.
Jupmele descended to the ground. He took the milk from the last spring, the meat from the last tree and the fish from the last puddle in the river. Now he wanted to hide the gifts so that no one could get hold of them without hard work.
Then Jupmele overturned the mountain and hid the gold and silver under the stone. He distributed the meat among the animals’ bodies, and of the milk he put some in each udder. He gave the fish fins to swim with. Then he gave them all fear of humans and the ability to flee from them.
Thus life became difficult for the people. From now on they had to strive and struggle if they were to manage.
But Jupmele wanted people to remember Naevie and the golden age. Therefore he let the reindeer’s beard grow long and named it Naevie. Nothing is warm and soft like Naevie. Nothing in the world hides so much light within itself. The humans put Naevie under the toddler in the gïerhkeme, (wooden cradle that you can carry) so that it lies comfortably.
And Jupmele promised that if people became good like Naevie, then the good times would return, and everything would be as before he overturned the earth.
The sun guards the world from its place in the sky. As long as the sun shines, we can hope…
The Golden Time is Translated with Google Translate. The story was found on these site: https://ndla.no/nb/subject:1:50dfc86d-6566-4a45-a531-d32b82e8bfa1/topic:3:b34684b3-3e91-44ee-88b4-1c3e588586dc/topic:1:0afdaacf-3fff-4b2b-b95e-685c27251ec8/resource:1:115920
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