Talo täss' on ennen ollut

SKVR XIII1 600·Rautu·1854·Collector: Ahlqvist, A. E.

In the SKVR edition: Rautu. Ahlqvist A 385. 54.

SKVR textEnglish

1Talo täss' on ennen ollut,A house here once stood,

2Talo ennen, linna muinoin,A house once, a fortress in ancient days,

3jossa nyt on kumia korpi,where now lies an uncanny swamp-forest,

4kolme korvessa lähettä,three springs in the wilderness,

5kolme lohta lähtehessä:three salmon in the spring:

6yks' on lohi nuoren neion,one salmon is a young maiden,

7toinen nuoren morsiamenthe second a young bride,

8ja kolmas les'en emännän.and the third the widowed mistress.

9Puuttui leski kuulemahan,The widow came to listen,

10alla seinän seisomahan:standing beneath the wall:

11"En ole leski, en ole lento,"I am no widow, no fleeting bird,

12en ole varatoin vaimono unsupported wife,

13enkä turvaton tutilas.nor defenseless dependent.

14Kolme poikoa minulla:Three sons I have:

15yks' on Ruotsissa rovasti,one is a dean in Sweden,

16toinen piispa pappilassa,the second a bishop at the rectory,

17kolmas on kotona herra."the third a master at home."

18Puuttui surma kuulemahan,Death came to listen,

19alla semän seisomahan,standing beneath the wall,

20tappoi Ruotsissa rovastin,killed the dean in Sweden,

21toisen piispan pappilassa,the bishop at the rectory,

22kolmannen kotonta herran.and the master from home.

23Alkoi leski leinaella:The widow began to wail:

24"Nyt olen leski, nyt olen lento,"Now I am a widow, now a fleeting bird,

25nyt olen varatoin vaimo.now an unsupported wife,

26sekä turvaton tutilas,and a defenseless dependent,

27sekä sauva saatettava."a staff to be guided by."

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.