Metsad, niidud

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.