Himpi or Humpi, the introductory word, with which the troll-mother calls to her child, is probably the child’s name, and may be the Norwegian word “hympe”, n., clumsy figure; foolish, odd person Tel. (R.), prop. piece of meat (Aa.), from “hump”. Cf. Sw. dial. hympel, m., a boy, not full-grown, from hump, piece. “Hympe” in the horn, hoi! (hou!).
A troll legend. (Fe.)
Katta mŏga de li̇̄de lō.
A man found a fiddle-case out of doors and hung it up on the wall of his house. But his wife, who thought it was troll-gear, made him put it back again. Then a voice was heard calling out the above words. The voice was thought to be that of the old troll or troll-wife calling to the child in the fiddle.
The line is no longer intelligible. katta moga may, however, be a *kattar mǫgr in sense of troll’s son, as O.N. ketta, f., cat, tabby, also denotes a troll-wife. O.N. mǫgr, son, is found again in the Shetlandic trollamog, prop. troll’s son; see Dictionary. “kǫttr” and “kattar sonr” are given in Lex. Poet. (F.J.) as names for a giant: “kattar sonr”, prop. giant’s son.
The Cow-call Verse.
The following is a verse or formula used in calling the cows together:
Kɔmə kɔmə hastə kɔmə
so sal du ek skam (skäm)
fal·aldəral·də kjø̄ra
nepərt nāni læŋsprāli
stɩl kɔm ɔu(ə)r mi ʂålma
fal·aldəral·də kjø̄ra.
Come, come quickly and you will not get a scolding (shame)! Here follow a couple of cow-names “nipperd Nani” (see Dictionary), and Lengsprali. still kom ower mi Sjålma. “still” is doubtless the English adv., still. kom ower, come over here. mi Sjålma, my white-headed cow, *Hjálma.
“Fallalderalde kjøra”, as a kind of refrain, ending the rhyme, is also found in the middle of the verse, as if to divide it into two parts.
As the Færoese and Icelandic cow-rhymes, corresponding to the Shetlandic verse, end in the words: all the cows are counted (Icel.: “þá eru taldar kýr kalls allar”. Fær.: “komnar” or “taldar eru kýr okkrar allar”), it is reasonable to assume that the Shetlandic verse has ended similarly, and that “fallalderalde kjøra” is a corruption of an original “taldar eru allar kýrnar”, all the cows are counted. “Taldar allar”, not being understood, would easily become corrupted
