Finnkjerringa (10th anniversary edition) Lyrics

En gong sku’a Anne tel kjerka
En unge skulja bli døft
Hu gjekk på ski ner Mannaskaret
Ei rett så fæl og stri ei løype

Langt om lenge kom’a seg ner
men da mangla brått ungen huet

I skinnpåsa på ryggen hadde ungen vøri
Kanskje deist borti ei gran, eller i berja

“Som’n hadde hue da je drog hemantefrå
og je veit å det ligger hen”
__

Hennes ektemann
døktig klein mot slutten
bare låg der
han bare låg der

“Men tel slutt sette je kneet i prøsten på’n
og finga i hølamotet
Så kom den hellige Kuds fader
og slokte pina”

“Samuel, salig han var
Da’n for satt tre svarte Kuds engler og gol
som korper”

Heller ville’n itte i jorda
Kista vart børi frå skauen ner
Men da døm kom tel kjerka nær
nekta hesta plent å gå


Det var nok’n Hønn-Erik som var på ferde, ja!


ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Anne was going to church
Her child was to be baptized
She skied down the Manna cleft
Quite a harsh and winding trail

At last she made it down
but her child was missing its head

She’d kept her child in a leather pouch on her back
Maybe she’d grazed a pine tree or the mountainside

“He had his head when I left home
and I know where it was left behind”
__

Her husband
quite ailing towards the end
just laying there
he just laid there

“But in the end I sat my knee against his chest
and put my hands around his throat
Then came the Holy Father
and quelled his suffering”

“Samuel, blessed he was
When he died, three black angels of God crowed
in the form of ravens”

He did not want to go six feet under
His coffin was carried down from the woods
But when they neared the church
the horses refused to move another inch


It must’ve been the Devil’s work indeed!