Läksin pien̄ä paimenen

SKVR XIII1 1199·Etelä-Karjala·1837·Collector: Lönnrot, Elias

In the SKVR edition: ? Lönnrot R 111. 37.

SKVR textEnglish

1Läksin pien̄ä paimenen,I went as a small shepherd,

2Lassa lam̄asten ajohon;To carelessly herd the sheep;

3Toi surma susia paljon,Death brought wolves in multitude,

4Lempo kanto karhuloita,Lempo hauled away little bears,

5Söit nuo lehmäni leholta,Those [wolves] ate my cows from the grove,

6Vasikkani varvikolta.My calves from the thicket.

7Läksin itkein kotiin;I went home weeping;

8Isä kysy ikkunasta,Father asked from the window,

9Emo aitan rappusilta:Mother from the storehouse stairs:

10"Mitä itket, piikaiseni,"Why weep, my little one,

11Nuorimpaiseni, nurajat?"My youngest, downcast one?"

12"Toi surma susia paljo,"Death brought many wolves,

13Lempo kanto karhuloita edel.Lempo took bears beforehand.

14"Elä itke, piikaiseni,"Don’t weep, my little one,

15Vielä tuo sulhosi."Your suitor will still come."

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.