Recordings from the Estonian Folklore Archives 3

The King Game

Liisa Kümmel Tori (1961)

Teine ol´li üks kuningamäng jälle. Kuningamäng jälle ol´li sedasi. Sellel põlnd muud kedagi, muudku inimesed on ringis kõik ja üks on seal sees, ringi sees ja siis akat´:

And then there was another one called the King Game. Well, the King Game went this way. There was nothing to it, just the people all around in a circle and one player was there in the middle of the ring and then they started:

Kuningas, kuningas,
miks sa mullu meile ei tulnud,
murumullu meil ei käinud,
kuningas, kuningas,
kui käisid käsud järele
ja sõitsid sajad sõnumida,
kuningas, kuningas?
Nüüd sina tul´lid san´dil ajal,
kevadisel kehval ajal,
kuningas, kuningas,
nüüd sina riisud riide'eida,
kakud kaelakardasida,
kuningas, kuningas!
Võtke kinni kuningas,
võtke kinni kuningas!

King, oh King,
why did you not come to visit us last year,
did not come to visit just last year,
King, oh King,
when word was sent out [to you]
and hundreds of messages rode out,
King, oh King?
Now you come in bad times,
in the spring during poor times,
King, oh King,
now your are stealing our shirts,
you are stripping us of our finery.
King, oh King!
Capture the king,
capture the king!

Siis võt´tis ja akkas siis tõmmama, kelle piast rätiku, kellelt mis ta midagi kätte sai ja ikke sinna oma kotti. See, kes see sääl sees oli, kes riisus, see kuningas sis. Ja siis nad kukkusid seda kuningast taga ajama ja, ja-ja sis kõik ajasid ja kuningas ledis ees. Niisugune suine mäng väljas sis ol´li vanast.

Then he started to rip things off the people, a kerchief off someone's head, or whatever he could grab and he stuffed it all in his sack. The one that was in the middle of the circle, the one stealing everything, he was the king. And then the others began to chase the king, and, and, and they all chased after him and the king skedaddled off ahead. That was the type of game we played in the old days in the summer outside.

RKM, Mgn. II 521 c < Pärnu raj., Tori kn., Ore k. (Tori khk.) – H. Tampere Kirjandusmuuseumi ekspeditsioonil 1961. a. < Liisa Kümmel, 73-a.
[LP VII 7; CD3-7].