Mahtoi maata miun emoni

SKVR III1 196·Soikkola·1858·Collector: Länkelä, Jaako

In the SKVR edition: [Soikkola t. Narvusi]. J. Länkelä. v. III 21. 1858.

SKVR textEnglish

1Mahtoi maata miun emoni,My mother could lie down,

2Mahtoipa mahona maata,She could lie as a belly,

3Kesät leskenä levätä,Summers resting like a widow,

4Talvet juosta joutavana,Winters running idle,

5Pestä pieniä kiviä,To wash small stones,

6Kapaloia karttusia,To tend bundled cabbages,

7Imetellä ikkunoja,To suckle the windows,

8Kylvetellä kynnyksiä,To sprinkle thresholds,

9Laatia lauan päällisiä,To arrange tabletop things,

10Ennenkun teki minua,Before she made me,

11Tätä lasta laaitteli,This child she fashioned,

12Näille päiville pahoille,For these evil days,

13Musteille muurehille,For dark sorrows,

14Lakkas ijäksi itkemään,She ceased crying forever,

15Kuuroksi kuleksimaan.Turned deaf to wander,

16Katsok muita tyttölöitä,Look at other maidens,

17Katso muita kassapäitä,Look at those cat-faced ones,

18Kuin noilla emyt elääpi.How their mothers live.

19Mamma maata tallajaa!Mother, trample the earth!

20Miull' ei ilmalla emyttä,I have no mother in this world,

21Eikä maata maireutta;Nor the earth's softness;

22Mie meen kummana kujalle,I go strange to the alley,

23Imehenä ihmisissä,A marvel among folk,

24Hajotan haluiset hiukset,I let loose the longed-for hair,

25Haluisille hartioille.Onto longed-for shoulders.

26Sanoot nuo kyläiset naiset:The village women say:

27Kenen kumma tuo kujalla,Whose odd one is in the alley,

28Kenen ihme ihmisissä,Whose wonder among folk,

29Hajoitti haluiset hiuksetLet loose the longed-for hair

30Haluisille hartioille?Onto longed-for shoulders?

31Miull' ei emyttä elääpi,I have no mother alive,

32Mamma maata tallaelee,Mother tramples the earth,

33Ei ken ehittelee.No one tends to me.

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.

Source

Text: SKVR (Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot), the digital edition of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS), licensed under CC BY 4.0.

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