Voi mun ehtoini emoni
In the SKVR edition: Keltto. Saxbäck 1075. 59.
SKVR textEnglish
1Voi mun ehtoini emoni,Oh my dear evening mother,
2Voi mun maire mammasein!Oh my sweet little mother!
3Laitot nuorra ukkolaanYou sent the young one to the husband's home,
4Ja nuorra anoppilaan.And the young one to the mother-in-law's.
5Tuost suutuin emoni pääl,From that, I grew angry at my mother,
6En mennyt kotini käymään,I did not go to visit my home,
7Ennenkun kului kolme vuotta.Until three years had passed.
8Lensin lintuna kottiin,I flew as a bird home,
9Lensin ison saavon päälleI flew onto a big trough,
10Ja emmoin omenus puuhun.And into my mother's apple tree.
11Emo oil vettä ottamassa:Mother was fetching water:
12"Mikä lintu saavossain"What bird is in my trough
13Ja oksalla omennus puussaAnd on the apple tree's branch,
14Suru suulla lauleloo?"Singing with a sorrowful mouth?"
15Alko linnulta kysellä:She began to ask the bird:
16Vain lie nuorin tyttäreni,"Could it be my youngest daughter,
17Miten on neito miehelässäHow is the maiden in marriage,
18Ja neito anoppilassa?And the maiden at the in-law's?"
19Lintu varsin vastaeli:The bird answered plainly:
20"Voi mun ehtoni emoni,"Oh my dear evening mother,
21Niin on minjä miehelässä.So it is for me in marriage:
22Kuin on koira kahlehissa."Like a dog in chains."
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-018566 · Read at SKS ↗
Added by RunoVerse: the English translations, the song types, the verse numbers and the links.