Nelj' oli neittä, kolm' urosta
In the SKVR edition: Repola (kk). Niemi n. 1. - 01.
SKVR textEnglish
1Nelj' oli neittä, kolm' urostaFour were maidens, three men
2Yhen niityn niitännässä,At the mowing of one meadow,
3Min on niitti, sen haravoittši,Who mowed, that one raked,
4Tulipa Turjan lappalanen,There came a Sámi from Turja,
5Nepä tuiskasi tulehe,They dashed into the fire,
6Pani kaikki karheilla.Placed all on rough terrain.
7Mihin ne tuhgat vietäne,Where were the ashes taken,
8Kypenet kuletettane?The embers transported?
9Ne viiäh maalla hyötyvällä,They’re taken to fertile land,
10Aholla ylenijällä.To a thriving pasture.
11Siellä kasvo kaunis tammi,There grew a fair oak,
12Yleni vihanta virpiA green sapling soared,
13Maasta soate taivaha.From earth to heaven.
14Ja peitti se pälvän paistamasta,It shielded from the sun’s glare,
15Kuuhuon kuumottamasta.The moon’s glowing heat.
16Etsitäh sitägi miestä,Seek now that man too,
17Joka tuon tammen taittais.Who’d chop down that oak.
18Nousoopi mies merestä,A man rises from the sea,
19Uros aalloista ylenöö,A hero from the waves.
20Ukko on yhtä kyynäree,The man is an ell tall,
21Ja parta 2:ta arssinoo,His beard in arshins measured,
22Hyine on hattu hartioilla,An icy hat on shoulders,
23Jäine kirves vyön tagana.Icy axe at his belt.
24Mäni tuon tammen luoksi,He went to the oak,
25Iski tammea kerran, toisen,Struck once, struck again,
26Vaan ei se ollut tammi tietäkseh.But the oak stood unyielding.
27Hivo hietrakirvestäh,He honed the stone axe,
28Tahkosi tasatereä,Whetted its even edge,
29Iskipä tammea kerran, toisen,Struck once, struck again,
30Taittopa siitä tammen tantereh,Then the oak’s trunk snapped,
31Latvoin suurehen suvehen,Its crown to the south,
32Tyvin tyrskyjäh mereh.Roots to the sea’s waves.
33Siitäpä ois oksan ottajoa,From it, branches for taking,
34Kuin ois vaan tammen koatajoa.As if mere oak-felling.
English translations by DeepSeek R1, provided by Lidia Pivovarova (University of Helsinki). AI-generated translations may contain inaccuracies.
The text is that of the SKVR digital edition of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS), with these changes:
- The editors’ signs inside the verses ([ ], ⌈ ⌉, *, [!], [?]) are left out, as in the poem reader; the letters they enclose are kept.
- The edition’s line numbers are replaced by a number on every verse, counted as in the poem reader.
- The editors’ notes, and the marks in the verses that point to them, are left out; they can be read at SKS.
Source
Text: SKVR (Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot), the digital edition of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS), licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Permanent address of this poem at SKS: http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:sks-kvr-006430 · Read at SKS ↗
Added by RunoVerse: the English translations, the song types, the verse numbers and the links.