The highest noaid is the flying noaid, and his body lies still while he flies.
There were two boys and one girl in Karesuando, and they were all flying noaids. A woman is stronger than a man when she is a flying noaid. One day one of the boys wanted to propose to the girl. The two boys were friends. The boy didn’t marry the girl, he ended up fooling her. The girl was angry and ganded (cursed) the boy, he died and the other boy was left alone.
The girl and the other boy met on church grounds. The boy said that she had ganded his friend and exclaimed: “To split the marrow of the wild reindeer’s bone made you feel good.”
The girl answered: - “I will split the marrow of the other wild reindeer’s bone too today.”
Then they had already started to gand each other. The boy could not help himself. He flew out of his body and out to the sea. The girl flew after him, and the boy dove down into the sea.
The girl started fishing in a hurry. If he could be seen in the surface of the water, then the girl would have won. But the boy started a terrible storm on the sea, and the girl could not get her peace to start fishing. Since he was flying, he couldn’t be there for long. The boy then flew out of the sea and started towards Kautokeino. The girl flew after him. She started to catch up with him by the river. In the river there was a pool where people fetched water. The boy dove into the pool. The girl started fishing again. But the boy woke up drowned people. That made the water muddy, and the girl could not fish. Then the boy got help from the people in the graveyard. Then he won, and when he won, he came first, and the girl followed him.
The bodies lay still on the ground, and these bodies must not be touched by people, not any man. When they got into their bodies, the boy said to the girl: “It didn’t make you feel good to split the marrow in the other wild reindeer’s bone”.
The one who loses, dies. Then the girl died.
Per Andersen Bær, 1924, Kautokeino
