Votian and ingrian folk songs

Songs

Päivöin poiga valgiaine

(The Courtship)

Mari Sarv and choir

Download .mp3 file

In Ingrian

Päivöin poiga valgiaine,
Mannun poiga, mies mattaal(a)

saduloi sada hevoista,
sada ratsutta ragenz(i)

sattoihe sattulavöihe,
tuhattihe valjahiss(e),

valjahat vaselle paistoid,
suitset kullin kuumoittiid.

Mäni Tuonelda tüärdä,
Manalalda morziand(a).

Tuoni istui tien selällä,
Maan-allain maan rajall(a).

Küzüi Tuonelda tüärdä,
Manalalda morziand(a):

“Anna, Tuoni, tüttöjäzi,
Maan-allain marjojaaz(i)!”

Tuoni vaide vastaeli:
“Ku siä tehned miun tekkoon,

ku siä käüned miun kässüün,
assud jalkoi askeloond:

ku juoksed verriizen verssan
niegloin nenniiä müöd(e),

niegloin nenniiä müöde,
kervehen terriiä müöd(e),

kassurin kassooja müöde,
naskalin nassooja müöd(e).”

Päivöin poiga valgiaine
otti tuonkin tehhäksee(he) –

kuite ilma ollakseehe,
naizeda elelläksee(he)?

Paha on naizeda elellä,
paha paijan sotkiad(a),

kurja naizeda elellää,
kurja ilma kumppalid(a).

Päivöin poiga valgiaine,
Mannun poiga, mies mattaal(a)

saduloi sada hevoista,
sada ratsutta ragenz(i)

sattoihe sattulavöihe,
tuhattihe valjahiss(e),

valjahat vaselle paistoid,
suitset kullin kuumoittiid.

Mäni Tuonelda tüärdä,
Manalalda morziand(a).

Tuoni istui tien selällä,
Maan-allain maan rajall(a).

Küzüi Tuonelda tüärdä,
Manalalda morziand(a):

“Anna, Tuoni, tüttöjäzi,
Maan-allain marjojaaz(i)!”

Tuoni vaide vastaeli:
“Ku siä tehned miun tekkoon,

ku siä käüned miun kässüün,
assud jalkoi askeloond:

ku toi ujud uhluizessa,
läbi pangan paineleed,

ku külvet tulliizen saunan,
tuli tuiskaa ikkunast(a),

lemmen löühähti ovesta.
Siiz miä annan ainueen(i).”

Päivöin poiga valgiaine
otti tuonkin tehhäksee(he) –

kuite ilma ollakseehe,
naizeda elelläksee(he)?

Paha on naizeda elellä,
paha paijan sotkiad(a),

kurja naizeda elellää,
kurja ilma kumppalid(a).

Päivöin poiga valgiaine,
Mannun poiga, mies mattaal(a)

saduloi sada hevoista,
sada ratsutta ragenz(i)

sattoihe sattulavöihe,
tuhattihe valjahiss(e),

valjahat vaselle paistoid,
suitset kullin kuumoittiid.

Mäni Tuonelda tüärdä,
Manalalda morziand(a).

Tuoni istui tien selällä,
Maan-allain maan rajall(a).

Küzüi Tuonelda tüärdä,
Manalalda morziand(a):

“Anna, Tuoni, tüttöjäzi,
Maan-allain marjojaaz(i)!”

Tuoni vaide vastaeli:
“Ku siä tehned miun tekkoon,

ku siä käüned miun kässüün,
assud jalkoi askeloond:

ku siä teed munnaaha solmen,
solmen tundumattomaks(i),

jott’ei päivöi pääsekkähä,
kuu jumala alendelekaa;

punod nuoran rummenista,
aganoista sään azed(ad);

kuin vaa teed meroihe sillan,
laaid sillan Laugahass(e)

üksin öizistä vezoista,
kahen vuoen kandoloist(a);

ku taot tammen tanvahasse,
tamme’e tassaized oks(ad),

igä oksalle ommenan,
igä puuhu päähkenäiz(en),

laaid linnud laulamaha,
käet kullin kukkuma(ha).”

Päivöin poiga valgiaine
otti tuonkin tehhäksee(he) –

kuite ilma ollakseehe,
naizeda elelläksee(he)?

Paha on naizeda elellä,
paha paijan sotkiad(a),

kurja naizeda elellää,
kurja ilma kumppalid(a).

Päivöin poiga valgiaine,
Mannun poiga, mies mattaal(a)

saduloi sada hevoista,
sada ratsutta ragenz(i)

sattoihe sattulavöihe,
tuhattihe valjahiss(e),

valjahat vaselle paistoid,
suitset kullin kuumoittiid.

Mäni Tuonelda tüärdä,
Manalalda morziand(a).

Tuoni istui tien selällä,
Maan-allain maan rajall(a).

Küzüi Tuonelda tüärdä,
Manalalda morziand(a):

“Anna, Tuoni, tüttöjäzi,
Maan-allain marjojaaz(i)!”

Tuoni vaide vastaeli:
“Ai miä polloine poig(a),

ai miä polloine poiga,
polloin poiga pikkarain(e),

tein senen, midä ei pittänt:
annoin aino tüttäreen(i),

idedin ementüeeni,
vedüdin pozet verrööv(äd).

Ei oiz Aino annettava,
helle tüttö ei heidettäv(ä),

helle tüttö ei heidettävä,
pää kassoi ei kaodettav(a).”

In English

Fair son of Sun,
Son of Mannu, short man

Saddled a hundred stallions,
Harnessed a hundred horses

In hundreds of girths,
In thousands of bridles.

The bridles had a coppery sheen,
Mouth pieces a golden gleam.

He went to propose to Tooni’s daughter,
To Maanallain’s* bride.

Tooni was sitting on the road,
Maanallain on the world’s edge.

[Son of Sun] asked Tooni for his daughter’s hand,
Asked Maanallain for a bride:

“Tooni, give me your daughter,
Maanallain, give me your berry!”

But Tooni replied:
“Only if you do as I do,

If you obey what I say,
Follow [my] footsteps:

If you run a verst of blood
Along the points of needles,

Along the points of needles,
Along the blades of axes,

Along the blades of billhooks,
Along the points of awls.”

Fair son of Sun
Accepted the challenge—

How is he supposed to be without,
Live without a wife?

It’s bad to live without a wife,
Bad without a shirt washer,

It’s sad to live without a wife,
Sad without a companion.

Fair son of Sun,
Son of Mannu, short man

Saddled a hundred stallions,
Harnessed a hundred horses

In hundreds of girths,
In thousands of bridles.

The bridles had a coppery sheen,
Mouth pieces a golden gleam.

He went to propose to Tooni’s daughter,
To Maanallain’s bride.

Tooni was sitting on the road,
Maanallain on the world’s edge.

[Son of Sun] asked Tooni for his daughter’s hand,
Asked Maanallain for a bride:

“Tooni, give me your daughter,
Maanallain, give me your berry!”

But Tooni replied:
“Only if you do as I do,

If you obey what I say,
Follow [my] footsteps:

If you swim in a pail,
Bend yourself through the handle,

If you whisk yourself in the hot sauna,
Fire blazing through the window,

Flames waving from the door.
Then I’ll let you have my only [daughter].”

Fair son of Sun
Accepted the challenge—

How is he supposed to be without,
Live without a wife?

It’s bad to live without a wife,
Bad without a shirt washer,

It’s sad to live without a wife,
Sad without a companion.

Fair son of Sun,
Son of Mannu, short man

Saddled a hundred stallions,
Harnessed a hundred horses

In hundreds of girths,
In thousands of bridles.

The bridles had a coppery sheen,
Mouth pieces a golden gleam.

He went to propose to Tooni’s daughter,
To Maanallain’s bride.

Tooni was sitting on the road,
Maanallain on the world’s edge.

[Son of Sun] asked Tooni for his daughter’s hand,
Asked Maanallain for a bride:

“Tooni, give me your daughter,
Maanallain, give me your berry!”

But Tooni replied:
“Only if you do as I do,

If you obey what I say,
Follow [my] footsteps:

If you tie a knot in an egg,
An unravellable knot,

So that sun couldn’t get through,
The moon god couldn’t pass below;

[If] you twist a rope from chaff,
Warp thread from chaff;

If you build a bridge over the sea,
Make a bridge over the Lauga River

From tree shoots, only a night old,
From tree stumps, two years old;

If you bring an oak to the village lane,
An oak with pretty branches,

Hang an apple on every branch,
A hazelnut on every tree,

Make birds sing,
Cuckoo birds call gold.”

Fair son of Sun
Accepted the challenge—

How is he supposed to be without,
Live without a wife?

It’s bad to live without a wife,
Bad without a shirt washer,

It’s sad to live without a wife,
Sad without a companion.

Fair son of Sun,
Son of Mannu, short man

Saddled a hundred stallions,
Harnessed a hundred horses

In hundreds of girths,
In thousands of bridles.

The bridles had a coppery sheen,
Mouth pieces a golden gleam.

He went to propose to Tooni’s daughter,
To Maanallain’s bride.

Tooni was sitting on the road,
Maanallain on the world’s edge.

[Son of sun] asked Tooni for his daughter’s hand,
Asked Maanallain for a bride:

“Tooni, give me your daughter,
Maanallain, give me your berry!”

But Tooni replied:
“Oh, poor me, poor boy,

Oh, poor me, poor boy,
Poor small boy,

I did as I shouldn’t have:
Gave away my only daughter,

Made my mistress lament,
Soaked her blood-red cheeks.

I shouldn’t have given away Aino,
Shouldn’t have cast the sweet girl,

Shouldn’t have cast the sweet girl,
Lose the one with braided hair.”

* Maanallain(en), ‘the one under the ground’, or Tooni, is the mythological deity of the underworld.

The son of Sun goes to Tooni, ruler of the world of the dead, to ask his daughter’s hand in marriage. Tooni gives him three impossible tasks to complete and, finally, when the son of Sun performs them against all odds, Tooni is forced to give him his daughter. At the same time, Tooni bitterly regrets giving her up.

According to Matti Kuusi, Finnish runo song researcher, the folktale-like ballad about a betrothal journey to the otherworld and redeeming the bride is one of the earliest and most popular ones in the Finnish-Karelian-Ingrian singing tradition. In the Karelian variant, god Väinämöinen and the mythical blacksmith Ilmarinen emerge as suitors to Tooni’s daughter. Many of the tasks given to the suitor to complete are known also in international folk narrative tradition (Kuusi 1963: 150–153, 164–165; 1980: 223–224).

The performance style of the song here was inspired by the characteristic intensive singing of young women in Soikola (Soikino) on a 1906 recording.

T M Anna Mitri tütar Frolga naine, 23 a, Mäkkülä (Armas Launis 1906, SKSÄ A 300/30a, ph 23a).

T Natelia Otsuest, Mäkkülä, õpitud Ühimäe kandist (Volmari Porkka 1881–1883, SKVR III1 1215).

Supporters

Estonian Ministry of Education and Research

Kindred Peoples' Programme IV; IUT 22-4

Tartumaa Central Folklore Association

The Paul Ariste Centre for Indigenous Finno-Ugric Peoples of the University of Tartu

Publishers

MTÜ Rahvalauluselts Hellero, Estonian Folklore Archives of the Estonian Literary Museum, 2015

ISBN 978-9949-544-56-1 (html)

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