When translating tales about mythical beings, it is often advisable to keep their original names, because their identities are usually tightly bound to their local folk belief cultures. You don't translate centaur, yeti, norn, for instance. But there are some that do have international parallels, you can say that the belief in them has spread across the borders of language and is common to several cultures. For instance 'nissar' is in many ways the same as brownies in English, and fairies are closely related to the Scandinavian subterraneans, although some local variations have developed.

I don't know so much about the Swedish saga creature, but I have asked some knowledgeable friends, and I'm awaiting some replies from them.

But I do know that Saga, or more correctly, Såga (Old Norse Sága), is a byname for the Norse goddess Frigg, who later took on an identity of her own. Unfortunately it seems not much is known about her except that she shared a cup of two with Oðinn at her estate Søkkvabekkr, that her name means 'seeress', and that her name also was used as a 'kenning' (alternative word) for 'woman' by poets.

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Note added at 2002-09-11 12:02:39 (GMT)
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I received a reply to one of my inquiries yesterday:
\"Jan Wall har bett mig att svara på Ditt mejl om sagan som ett nyare
folktroväsen. Vi har inga som helst uppgifter om något sådant väsen eller någon föreställning som kan höra samman med detta. För mig verkar sångtexten Du citerar \"Sagan gick til saunan\" snarast som en sentida metafor, dvs att sagorna, berättelserna (norskans eventyr), vilka ofta återges under avkopplingen i saunan, omtalas som ett verkligt väsen, utan att detta har något som helst stöd i folktro eller tradition.

Vänliga hälsningar

Bodil Nildin-Wall
1:e forskningsarkivarie
Folkminnesavd., SOFI
Box 135, 751 04 Uppsala
tel. 018/65 24 31
e-mail: [email protected]\"

Seh says that no creature with the name \'saga\' is known in Swedish folklore. Maybe we can conclude that \"sagan\" here is just a metaphor for storytelling. \"Sagan går\" implies that some people are exchanging stories, in a sauna or elsewhere.

The only possibility for a real mythic creature I guess is if the \'Saga\' is Finnish instead of Swedish (not the reference to sauna). But I reckon the people at Folkminnesavd. would have known about it even if it was Finnish.