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<p align="justify">Njávešeatne and Á … <p align="justify">Njávešeatne and Áhčešeatne are female figures who appear in Saami legend either as spirits or as human women. Njávešeatne is benevolent and kind, while Áhčešeatne is greedy and cruel. The tradition relating to Njávešeatne and Áhčešeatne is common to all the Saami peoples, and it must be considered a very ancient one. In the western Saami tradition, Njávešeatne is associated with the spirit daughter of the Sun and Áhčešeatne with the daughter of the Moon. The mythology relating to this has become known through the epic chants published by Anders [[Fjellner, Anders (engl. ver.)|Fjellner]] and used by Gustav von Düben in his famous book <i>Om Lappland och lapparne</i> (1873) On Lapland and the Lapps.</p>
<p align="justify">According to the texts published by [[Von Düben, Gustav (engl. ver.)|von Düben]], in the beginning of the world, people got fish, roe, milk, etc. without doing any work. Their happiness was shattered, however, by a kind of Fall: men began to kill one another. Two heroes called Njavvis and Attjis got married, the former to Njávešeatne, the daughter of the Sun, and the latter to Áhčešeatne, the daughter of the Moon. While both the women were pregnant, their husbands were murdered. In consequence of this, the women themselves tamed wild reindeer and began herding them. Njávešeatne had a son and Áhčešeatne a daughter. Once when they were picking berries in the forest, the women made a bet that the first to fill her basket would win the boy for herself, while the loser would get the girl. Áhčešeatne cheated by putting moss in her basket, won the bet and departed with her adopted son. After this she grew in wickedness; she became pregnant by the North Wind and gave birth to a boy called Atsits, who became the ne er-do-well pest of later legend, Askovis. Atsits, too, committed all kinds of wicked deeds and took poor care of his reindeer, but he finally met his just deserts after he had insulted the Moon, his mother s father, by calling him paler than the Sun. For this, the Moon took him, and there he can still be seen to this very day. However, once the adopted son came to the lodge of his real mother and learnt the truth about his birth. He killed his adopted mother, who had dishonestly won him for herself. The reindeer of Áhčešeatne were turned into frogs, toads and various other noxious animals after she died.</p> noxious animals after she died.</p> +
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