Forests, meadows

In the old days, the trees of our forest all spoke, just like the folk song goes: “Long ago in olden times, in times of firs’ clamour and war.” Once, an old man went into the forest to cut down trees. Birch pleaded right away:
    “Don’t cut me down, I can be a tool.”
    Fir said: “Don’t cut me down, I can be a log.”
    Aspen said: “Don’t cut me down, I can be a dugout.”
    Hazelnut said: “Don’t cut me down, I can be a barrel hoop.”
    And so on. In this way, all the trees pleaded not to be felled, and the old man’s tender heart wouldn’t let him cut down a single tree. In the end, the trees got so out of hand that they started giving up all the secrets of things that might be hidden in the forest.
    So, as time passed, the trees even told humans where the Forest King’s treasure was hidden and guided them to it. This enraged the Forest King, and as a consequence, he jumbled up the trees’ language so that no one may understand it anymore, and so the trees cannot plead for their lives when someone wants to cut them down. People do still hear the trees’ rustling, but can no longer understand what they are trying to say. Perhaps they are regretting and lamenting the loss of their beautiful chatter.  

A long time ago, a mother and father had two children. One was the daughter, she was the eldest, and the son was the younger child. One day, the mother and father went to work, but the children stayed at home. The mother and father said to the older child: 
    "Don't leave him to play with the other children in the village, play with your brother!" 
    And the mother made the son sit on the green grass in the yard and gave him a golden egg. The children started playing outside. Father and mother went to work. The children played as long as they played, but the older child still went to visit the other children to play. She left her little brother alone outside with a golden egg in his hand. In the meantime, some cranes flew by and took the little boy with the golden egg away from the yard. The little girl ran home and saw her brother was no longer outside. She watched the cranes fly away, holding her little brother. The girl started running in the direction where the cranes were flying. She ran and ran, and happened upon an appletree.     
    "Dear apple tree, show me which way the cranes flew!" 
    The tree answered: "Run on!"
    The girl again ran and ran, and came across a maple tree. 
    "Honey  maple tree, tell me which way the cranes flew!" 
    "Run on!" 
    She started running again, running and running, and happened upon a stream. She asked the stream: 
    "Dear brook, show me which way the cranes flew!"
    The stream answered her: "Run on!"
    Again the girl ran on and reached a house. She looked and saw her little brother playing with the golden egg in the window. The girl wondered: “Who lives in this house?” She didn't see anyone but one little granny, whose sons had gone wandering. Then the girl broke the window, grabbed her little brother and started running towards home. She ran as far as she could run and the cranes flew and started beating at her. They wanted to take the child away. 
    She reached the stream and began to beg: "Dear brook, hide me! The cranes really want to kill me." 
    The brook said: "Taste my banks, and I will hide you!" 
    The girl tasted the brook's water, and the brook hid the girl in its banks. The cranes were flying and flying over the stream, but the girl and the child were nowhere to be seen, so they flew away. The cranes had flown away and the girl came out of the banks and started running towards home again. She ran and ran but the cranes flew again and started beating at the girl. She came to the maple, saying: 
    “Honey maple tree, hide me! The cranes really want to kill me." 
    The tree answered: "Shake off the leaves down from me, and I'll hide you!" 
    The little girl shook the leaves from the maple, and the maple hid her under its big leaves. The cranes were flying, flying over the maple, but the girl and the child were nowhere to be seen, and so they flew away. When they had flown away, the girl came out from amongst the leaves and fled home. She ran and ran but the cranes flew again and started beating at the girl. She came up to the apple tree. 
    “Honey apple tree, hide me! The cranes will really kill me." 
    "If you shake off my apples, I'll hide you!" 
    The girl shook the apples from the tree, and the tree hid the girl inside the apples. The cranes were flying and flying over the apple tree, but the girl was nowhere to be seen. And so the cranes flew away again. When they had flown away, the girl and her brother came out of the apples and set off towards home.
    But the cranes flew again and started beating the girl. She got home with great difficulty from the cranes and put her brother into the room through the window, but she herself escaped into the room through the door. The cranes were flying, flying around the house, and went on their way. Just then, the mother and father came home and the daughter told them all about her troubles. The mother was pleased with her daughter and gave her a head-sized golden egg as a gift for saving her son from the cranes.

On a green branch,
    Refr: one and two and three,
two little birds were singing.
    Refr: one and two and three.
Where the young man left the maiden,
                   the young man left the maiden,
a singing bird sang.
    Refr: one and two and three (2x).

Before I leave you,¹
stones must melt away,
golden stars must turn black,
the sky must fall on the cliffs.

Before I leave you,
the spruce forest must fall,
the rivers must stop flowing,
the lakes must dry up.

On a single green branch,
two little birds were singing.
Where the young man left the maiden,
a singing bird sang.

¹ The structure of the stanza and the refrains repeat similarly in the following stanzas.

We are three sisters,
where will we three come together,
the three together, four join – 
the three to call out together,
the four to sing jointly?
Brushwood stands between us,
a spruce grove is over our heads. 
    Oh my brother, dear young brother,
sharpen your axe with the patterned handle,
make the blade sharp as fire,
chop the brushwood between us,
the spruce grove over our heads,
then the three of us will get together,
the three together, four join –
the three to call out together,
the four to sing jointly?
    There’s plenty of song when I sing,
plenty of tune when I roll the tune.
I have eaten the crane’s throat,
I have eaten the lark’s jaw,
that's why my throat is deeper,
that's why my voice is brighter.

Who is screeching there, in the warped forest? 
There'sa Kalev boy.
Well, what work he was doing?
He made big sledges in summer
and hewed their runners in winter.

Who is cutting trees in the forest?
    Refr. Birdcherry's trunk, birdcherry's top,
birdcherry's beautiful blossoms.

Mihkel cuts down trees in the forest.
Who's there for the food?
Manni brings food.
"Eat, eat, dear Mihkel."
"I cannot eat, dear Manni."
"Why is that, dear Mihkel?"
"Broken hand, dear Manni."
"I'll wrap it up, dear Mihkel."

The forest and the earth all breathe in peaceful sleep,
all the world is covered with dark night,
:,: the moon is rising from the edge of heaven,
all the day's work is done. :,: 

A pretty maiden was walking at the woods
with a little child in her arms.
:,:: "Come, child, one last time in my arms,
my bosom will shelter thee no more." :,: 

The maid hurried towards a little house,
she put the baby by the door
:,: and then with a quick step, she hurried
into the swift flowing river. :,: 

"Thou are the forbidden fruit of love,
thou bearest the sin of thy parents,
:,:: for when thou wakest out of thy sleep,
my breast shall shelter thee no more." :,:

A hunter went out
by the birch wood,
    a hunter went out, out,
    by the birch wood..

Refr: Summer was coming,
         winter was passing,
         :,: the bird cherries budding,
         everything in bloom. :,:

On the way, he met
a young, beautiful girl.

He greeted her and asked:
"Where are your thoughts?"

"Where else would they be,
but by the birch forest?"

A hunter went out
to the birch wood.

Refr: Go to the cabbage, go to the cabbage,
         don't mess with the turnips,
         :,: if you go after the turnips,
         I’ll let the dogs loose on you. ;,:

"Where else would they be,
but by the birch wood?"

¹ The refrains are persistently added to verses throughout the song, but for two last stanzas is used a different refrain.

All I know about Ridassaare is this – my father was 74 years old when he died, and it's been 40 years since he died, – and he told me that Ridassaar and Kääbassaar and all the islands here in this swamp are the result of fire – that here used to be a big forest everywhere. This is proved by the fact that at the shore of the Peipsi lake here, when the wave washes down the shore, there comes out peaty earth, and large burnt stumps of pine. And even I once got a big oak from the meadow, from which I got two steres of wood with burnt trunk. 
Well, that is to say, there was a great forest here, and the islands in the swamp are the sandhills that remained there, the kind that hasn't burned. So there's Palksaar – 'Trunk Island', Mikitsaar, Ridassaar – 'Row Island', Vaheliksaar – 'Between Island', Kääbassaar – 'Mound Island'. There were two farms in Kääbassaar in its time and now there is still a house there. 
It was said about Ridassaare, that once in the old days, during the war, so many people were killed, that there was a row of corpses, and so the place became Row Island, my father said.
Kääbassaar was also a result of the war, because there were mounds or burial grounds, so that afterwards it was named Mound Island.

Well, I do not know anything else. I once asked, I wrote to the Naturalists' Society, whether it is in our old books that there was a large forest here. In Pedaspää – 'Pine Head' village there probably was a large forest. In the far past Estonians might have come here from the present Russian area. And they started to build their dwellings here, and when they tied a cow to a tree, they started to make a field, and so soon a village emerged, which was named Pedaspää.