Äsken oisit, poika, poika

SKVR VII2 2425·Ilomantsi·1846·Collector: Ahlqvist, A. E.

In the SKVR edition: Ilomantsi. Ahlqv. B, n. 188. -46.

SKVR textEnglish

1Äsken oisit, poika, poika,Just now you'd be, boy, boy,

2äsken, poika, äitin lapsi,just now, boy, mother's child,

3kun uuen tuvan tekisit,when you'd build a new cottage,

4uunin uutehen tupahan;the oven into the new cottage;

5äsken oisit, poika, poika,Just now you'd be, boy, boy,

6äsken, poika, äitin lapsi,just now, boy, mother's child,

7kun leivän lehosta toisit,when you'd bring bread from the grove,

8punakuoren kuusikosta,from the red-barked spruce forest,

9kakkaran katajikosta.a gnarled one from the juniper forest.

10Äsken oisit, poika, poika,Just now you'd be, boy, boy,

11äsken, poika, äitin lapsi,just now, boy, mother's child,

12kun toisit hyvän miniän,when you'd bring a good daughter-in-law,

13saisit saunan lämmittäjän,you'd gain a sauna stoker,

14vastan hautojan hakisit,fetch the soaking bath whisk,

15vastan taittajan talusit,bring the whisk preparer,

16vesikorvon vierettäjän;the water-bucket carrier;

17sanosi emännällensä:he said to his mistress:

18"Mene, emäntä, kylpemähän!""Go bathe, mistress!"

19Emäntä kovin korea,The mistress, fiercely proud,

20tuopa päänsä niskoillensa.tossed her head onto her shoulders.

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.