Recordings from the Estonian Folklore Archives 3

The Doll Game

Mari Sarv Karksi (1960)

Vanasti ku mia alle viil säänte jõmpsik, kodu-laits alle viil oli, sis jaanitule all mängiti nukumängü. Vanainimese laulive ja noore pidiv sis nukku juuskme, üits tüdruk oli nukk ja poiss pidi püünje oleme. Sis akati tal laulme, et:

Long ago, when I was just a little whippersnapper, just a little kid at home, then they played the doll game by the St. John's bonfire. The old people sang and the young people had to run around as dolls. One girl was the doll and a boy was supposed to catch her. Then they started to sing to her:

Ehi, ehi, nukukene,
nukku,
mõse suud, nukukene,
suiu pääd, nukukene,
pane jalgu, nukukene,
el´me kaala, nukukene,
võta lina, nukukene,
joose, nukku, nukukene!

Adorn, adorn yourself, dear sweet dollie,
dollie,
wash your face, dear sweet dollie,
comb your hair, dear sweet dollie,
put your stockings and shoes on, dear sweet dollie,
put your beads around your neck, dear sweet dollie,
take a linen, dear sweet dollie,
run now, sweet dollie, dear sweet dollie!

Sis tä pidi juuskme mineme. No poiss püünme. No sis ku poiss ta kätte sai, sis ta jäi muiduki poisi kätte, a-ku poiss kätte es saa, tüki maad juusk ärä juba, s´-akati laulme, et:

Tule kodu, nukukene,
nukku!

Aga mis tal sääl kodun-s uuta oli, vata sedä mia änäp mitte ei mälete, sii om nõnda meelest är lännu. Vanainimese laulive, nemä mõistive taad rohkem, latse es mõista tähelegi panna. Kui miä juba nuur olin, sis me änäp es mängi sedä mängü.

Then she had to run off. Well, the boy had to catch her. And when the boy caught her she had to stay with that boy, but if the boy did not manage to catch her and she had managed to run some distance they started to sing:

Come home, dear sweet dollie!

But what was waiting for her at home, well, I just don't remember that any more, I have clean forgot it all. The old folks sang it, they understood the song better, a little child just doesn't know how to pay attention. By the time I was a young girl, we didn't play this game anymore.

RKM, Mgn. II 397 f < Abja raj., Nuia al. (Karksi khk.) – S. Lätt Kirjandusmuuseumi ekspeditsioonil 1960. a. < Mari Sarv, 76-a.
[LP VII 6; CD3-6].