Minä mies metsän käviä
In the SKVR edition: Iisalmi. Snellman, Sofia n. 11. --1885. Hernejärvi. Ananias Savolainen, 35 v.
SKVR textEnglish
Jäniksen pyyntö.
1Minä mies metsän käviä,I, the man who walks the forest,
2Uros korven kolkuttelen,A hero roaming the deep woods,
3Mitä kiskot viihytellen,Why do you drag [traps], amusing yourself?
4Aho vieren oinastellen.The glade sways by the border.
5Anteles, aho kapanen,Offer, o small glade,
6Usko villa palliasi,Trust the wildness of your fleece,
7Kupaile kuontaloitas'!Tend to your tangled locks!
8Kuin minä langat tielle laitan,As I lay threads on the path,
9Liinat liittelen lumelle,I fasten cloths to the snow,
10Utu lasken langan päälle,Mist I drape over the thread,
11Utu silmille sivallan.Mist I smear on [their] eyes.
12Purppura puhas emäntä,Purple, pure forest-mistress,
13Kuihkanen metän kuningas,Loon-like king of the woods,
14Lyö virkkua vitalla,Strike the snare with your lash,
15Nopeita nuoran päällä,Swift ones on the rope’s length,
16Karita karin perällä!Avoid the snare’s final coil!
17Käy hiien vinttura vipuun,Move, demon’s winch to the lever,
18Kanttura kahaan,Bend into a hooked curve,
19Pyörä silmä pyydykseenWheel-eye into the trap’s hold,
20Ennen auringon ylenemistä,Before the sun ascends,
21Jälkeen päivän laskeemista!After the day descends!
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-027481 · Read at SKS ↗
Added by RunoVerse: the English translations, the song types, the verse numbers and the links.