Luulin lumen pitävän

SKVR IV1 826·Kaprio·1859·Collector: Törneroos, A.

In the SKVR edition: [Kaprio-Tyrö?]. A. Törneroos. n. 83. (69). 1859.

SKVR textEnglish

1Luulin lumen pitävän,I thought the snow would hold,

2Meren kaislon kannattavan;The sea's reed would bear;

3Ei lumi pitänytkään,But the snow did not hold,

4Meren kaisl ei kannattanut.The sea's reed could not bear.

5Alko lumi lutkaella,The snow began to falter,

6Meren kaislo katkaella;The sea's reed to splinter;

7Jäi tyttö veen varalle,*The girl stayed by the water's side,*

8Jäivät sormet soutimeksi,Her fingers became oars,

9Käsi-varret kääntimeksi,*Forearms as a rudder,*

10Kämmenet meren meloiksi.Palms the sea's paddles.

11Mie sopotin sormillein:I coaxed my fingers:

12Soua, soua, sormueini,Row, row, my fingers,

13Käänä, käsi-vartueini,*Turn, my forearms,*

14Soua, soua sille maalle,Row, row to that land,

15Miss ei puut punalle paista,Where trees don't glow red,

16Kellalle petäjän kerkät,Nor pine tips gleam gold,

17Hopialle hongan oksat,Spruce boughs shine not silver,

18Vaskelle katajan varret,*Juniper stems burn not copper,*

- - -

20Joss' ei muut miusta tunne,Where none know my name,

21Mie vaan muita tunnustelen,I alone know others,

22Inkäröistä isokseni,Ingrians as my father,

23Äyrämöistä äitikseni,Äyrämöinen as my mother,

24Venäläistä veikokseni,A Russian my brother,

25Savakoista sisarekseni.Savonian my sister.*

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.

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