Kuin mie laulaja olisin

SKVR III1 139·Narvusi·1858·Collector: Länkelä, Jaako

In the SKVR edition: Narvusi. J. Länkelä. v. II 2. 1858.

Song types: Kasva kallis tyttäreni, Laulan meret mesiksi, Silloin itkin ilman syytä

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SKVR textEnglish

1Kuin mie laulaja olisinIf I were a singer

2Ja se vanha virren seppä,And that old smith of songs,

3Laulasin merot muroksi,I would sing seas into crumbs,

4Kivet kalliot kaheksi,Split rocks and cliffs in two,

5Suolaksi meron somerot,Turn the sea's gravel to salt,

6Meron liivat lietteheksi.The sea's sands to mud.

7Emyt kasvatti minua:My mother raised me:

8Kasva kallis tyttäreni,"Grow, my precious daughter,

9Kasva kaunis ja ylene,Grow fair and rise high,

10Siusta saapi sikuri naisen,From you will come a suitor's wife,

11Hevoispoika helmikaulan!A horseman with a pearl-strung neck!"

12Mie marsin manterehen,I marched to the mainland,

13Menin kohta katsomahanWent forth to survey

14Leviältä leipämaalta.The broad bread-rich land.

15Siellä saapi saanilla ajellaThere one could ride on sledges,

16Raputella rattahilla.Rattle along with wagons.

17Tuli susi, söi hevosen,A wolf came, ate the horse,

18Tuli karhu lehmän kaato,A bear felled the cow,

19Lampahan repo revitti;A fox tore the lamb;

20Tuli tuli, poltti tuvan,Fire came, burned the home,

21Tuli tauti, tappo miehen.Plague came, killed the man.

22Menin miestä mättämään,I went to bury the man,

23Tuli vesyt, vei veneen.Floods came, took the boat.

24Mitä silloin lauletaan,What then should be sung,

25Kuin vesi venettä viepi,When water steals the boat,

26Laine lasta leikuttaa?Waves toy with the child?

27En mie silloin suuri ollut,I was not mighty then,

28Kuin mie maitona makasin,When I lay as milk,

29Lehtilintuna lepäsin,Rested as a leaf-bird,

30Kuin itkin emän sylessä,When I wept in mother's lap,

31Kaljun kantajan käsissä;In the bald bearer's hands;

32Silloin itkin ilman syyttä,Then I cried without reason,

33Ilman vaivatta valitin;Lamented without true pain;

34Ohto nyt on itkemista,Now there's ample cause for tears,

35Vaivoja valittamista;Troubles to lament;

36Ohto on miun osaksi,Abundance is my portion,

37Kahen kasvion varaksi.For two generations' sake.

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 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-007150 · Read at SKS ↗

Added by RunoVerse: the English translations, the song types, the verse numbers and the links.