“Another time the Chudes¹ came in great numbers to Lake Nuortijärvi — for Nuortijärvi lay along one of their main routes through Kola — and they laid waste to an entire Skolt Sámi village, killing every soul. Only one lass they spared, taking her along with them, supposedly as a cook.

At the mouth of the Lutto River they stopped and spent the night in an abandoned cabin. There the lass began to pity the men, saying:

«You poor fellows are terribly dirty and your clothes are in a dreadful state. Would it not be a good idea now to wash all your garments clean, since there is plenty of water and a kettle here? I will do the washing.»

«Well, that would be fine,» said the men, and they took off all their clothes and lay about completely naked in the sauna while she went off to do the washing. But she stuffed the rags, the kettles, and everything else into the ice-hole and fled.

At last the saundrels² realized the washergirl’s treachery and set off in pursuit of her. But they all froze in the winter frost. One of them managed to run as far as Rippisalmi before collapsing onto the ice, bent over and exhausted.”

— Samuli Paulaharju: Kolttain mailta (1921) [“From the Lands of the Skolts”], p. 32. Quoted segment translated by Wäinölä.

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¹) The Čuđit are hostile foreign raiders or enemies in Sámi tradition, often associated locally with peoples approaching from the south or east.

²) Neologism from sauna & scoundrel. Coined for this post. Original text has the word saunakyöpelit, but in lack of a suitable accurate translation, a wee bit of liberty was taken.

Photo: Skolt girl Marja Gerasimov doing laundry. Taken by Frans Äimä, Kolttaköngäs, Petsamo, 1927. Colorized and extended sideways [incl. actual manual work, not just clicking on buttons]. Original photo (CC BY 4.0): Finna.fi 🔗

[ Wäinölä 🇫🇮 ]