From Ehstnische Volkslieder by Heinrich Neus (1850)
These five songs are drawn from the first volume of Heinrich Neus's Ehstnische Volkslieder (Estonian Folk Songs), published in Reval (Tallinn) between 1850 and 1852. They represent a second selection from the collection — the first, covering the creation myths and sacrificial liturgy, is archived separately as "Sacred and Mythological Songs from the Estonian Folk Songs," and the charm songs are archived as "Charms and Songs of Magic Power from the Estonian Folk Songs."
What unites these five songs is the thinning of boundaries: between the seen and unseen world (the elfin dance), between death and music (the murdered maiden who becomes a harp), between death and life (the childbirth ritual), between the mundane and the magical (the fortune-sword from the sea), and between earth and sky (the rainbow bridge). Each song preserves a fragment of pre-Christian Estonian cosmology in which the material world is saturated with spiritual presence — where trees speak, spirits dance on dew-frost, the dead grow back as birch trees, and five children of rain climb the clouds to build the arc of heaven.
This is a Good Works Translation from the nineteenth-century Estonian source text. Neus’s German translation was consulted as interpretive reference. No complete English translation of these songs has previously existed.
The Play of the Elves
Neus No. 11 — "Das Spiel der Elfen." From Pleskau. The Estonian elfin tradition (hallijas) parallels Western European fairy lore: tree-spirits who dance in twilight glades and play tricks on mortals. Neus notes that in Finnish mythology, divine beings of this kind were genuinely worshipped in high antiquity. In another Wierland song, the tree-elf is called by the uncanny name pupainas.
Song-boy, sweet of mouth,
In the cool of twilight,
Watched in the light of dusk.
What he heard there, he pondered,
Pondered with his golden tongue.
Spirits from the shadow-grove
Came with the wind’s whirl,
To dance on the dew’s frost
In the darkness of mist-cloud,
To frolic and to tease
The elf’s only daughter,
Foster-child of the meadow-mother.
The dear child in golden dress
Cried out before the twilight-sons;
Screamed for help in her terror.
The birch-elf in grey shirt,
The willow-elf in bare shirt
Came running at the daughter’s call,
To help the fainting maiden.
The spirit-boys, giant-footed,
Withdrew to the kindred wood,
Fled through the dusty field
Into the grove’s silent hall.
“Why do you weep, daughter,
Why do you cry before your time?”
“Spirit-boys, half-lords,
Half-creatures, homeless,
Came to mock me.”
“Young daughter, do not fear;
Those without bodies cannot harm you.
Worse are the rogues in flesh;
Before them, maiden,
Guard what your mother bequeathed!”
But the daughter weeps in wonder:
“The neighbor alder’s leafy son
Already stole what my mother bequeathed.”
The Harp
Neus No. 13 — "Die Harfe." A maiden is killed by her sisters-in-law and carried to a berry-marsh, where she grows back as a birch tree. The birch is carved into a kannel (the Estonian harp, cognate with the Finnish kantele), whose walls are made from a salmon’s jawbone and a pike’s teeth, and whose strings are from the maiden’s own hair. When the brother plays it, the harp sounds like the brides of Harrien weeping as they leave their mothers’ houses. The same belief — that the murdered person returns as a tree and reveals the crime through a musical instrument — appears in Latvian, Lithuanian, and Slovene folk songs, and in the Kalevala (Canto XXII), where Väinämöinen builds the kantele from a pike’s bones.
On the footpath sang the daughters,
On the footpath, on the fields,
Below the village sang the brides.
I sang on the road to church,
At the church, in the pasture.
My sisters-in-law killed me
With a great egg-shaped stone,
With a sharp-edged axe.
Where did they carry the young maiden?
They carried her to the golden berry-marsh.
What grew from me there?
From me grew a precious birch,
Rising up in the beautiful forest.
What was made from the birch?
From the birch a harp was carved,
A fiddle was fashioned.
Where came the walls of the harp?
From the great salmon’s jawbone,
From the long pike’s teeth.
Where came the strings of the harp?
From the young maiden’s hair,
From the tresses of the house-hen.
There were none to play the instrument,
None to sound the harp.
Brother, dear brother,
Carry the harp to the hall,
Set it on the bed’s edge,
Set your thumb upon it,
Rest your fingers on the tips,
Strike with the iron plectrum!
So cried the brother’s instrument,
So sorrowful the only harp,
As when they weep, the maids of Wierland,
So sorrowful the brides of Harrien,
Going forth from the father’s house,
Going forth from the mother’s house,
Into the husband’s home going,
Into the husband’s home departing.
The Woman in Childbed
Neus No. 28 — "Die Wöchnerin." A dramatic ritual song in three voices: the childbearing woman (nurganaene, literally "corner-woman"), her mother, and the narrator. The structure is a birth-charm: the mother instructs the laboring woman to call upon Jesus and Mary while the household weeps in sympathy. The woman passes through three magical forests — apple, maple, and thorn — attempting to leave her pains behind, but they follow her home. One foot in the grave, she calls for help, and Jesus arrives with straw, Mary with bedding. The moment of birth is rendered in one devastating image: "Two heads upon the pillow, four legs in the bed." The church doors are shut and the grave’s lid covered — death is averted. The household that wept now laughs, and ale is brought forth. The song is a perfect example of Estonian syncretism: the structure is shamanic (the journey through three forests), the theology is Catholic (the invocation of Jesus and Mary), and the emotional arc is universal.
Holy Mary, gentle Mary!
The Mother:
Ever call upon Jesus,
Ever pray before Mary!
Woman in childbed, frail one,
A thousand times you pace to and fro,
A hundred times to the bathhouse,
Girdleless, the girdle in your hands,
Bonnetless, the bonnet in your fingers.
Four corners in the room,
And you have wept in every corner,
Four walls in the room,
And you have leaned on every wall,
Outlasted every seat.
Jesus is called upon,
Mary is entreated:
Come to the room, little Jesus!
The household weeps beneath the bench,
The children weep beneath the table,
The husband weeps in the chamber:
Holy Mary, gentle Mary!
Woman in childbed, young one,
Then she passed through three forests;
One was a forest of apple trees,
The second was of maples,
The third a forest of thorns.
The anguish stayed with the bird-cherry,
The pains stayed with the maple,
The bitter pangs with the thorn-bush.
But the anguish came pressing forward,
The pains were kindled anew,
Came pressing back to the room,
Right before the hearth.
The Mother:
Ever call upon Jesus,
Ever pray before Mary!
The Woman:
Come to the room, little Jesus,
Come for an hour to the chamber,
For an hour before the hearth!
Good Mary, noble Mary!
Woman in childbed, young one,
One foot already in the grave,
The other on the grave’s edge,
Expecting to sink into the earth,
To be carried to the church.
The hour came to the chamber,
For an hour before the hearth.
Here the woman sways in anguish,
Groans the woman in her labor.
Jesus heard from the chamber,
Holy Mary from the window.
Then Jesus said to Mary:
Good Mary, gentle Mary,
Here Jesus is being called,
The Holy One alone is invoked.
Then Jesus came to the room,
And Mary stepped to the window.
Jesus carried straw on his shoulder,
Mary carried bedding in her arms;
Led the woman to her bed,
Into fine linen,
Into fine long linen.
Two heads upon the pillow,
Four legs in the bed.
Jesus said to Mary:
Hurry, Mary, hasten, Mary!
Shut the doors of the church,
Cover the lid of the grave:
The woman has been laid in bed,
Two heads upon the pillow,
Four legs in the bed.
The Woman:
Thanks be to God!
Jesus was an hour in the room,
For an hour before the hearth.
The Mother:
Ever call upon Jesus,
Ever pray before Mary!
Woman in childbed, young one,
Raise up both your hands,
Both hands, ten fingers!
Then the household laughed beneath the bench,
The children laughed beneath the table,
The husband laughed in the chamber.
Then ale was brought forth,
Bitter wine was carried in.
The Evening Song
Neus No. 31 — "Päwawerimisse laul." Neus confesses he cannot fully explain this song, and that it had grown obscure even to the Estonians themselves. The structure is a sun-sinking prayer that becomes a magical quest: the sun is told to sink, but the lords reject it; it sinks instead upon the watchman’s house, where a woman combs the servants’ hair with a golden comb. The comb falls into the sea. Peter and Paul are asked to retrieve it but refuse. The woman goes herself, wading breast-deep — and finds not the comb but a fortune-sword. The lords claim the sword is from war, from the finger-bones of warriors. The woman corrects them: it was found in the sea, whetted on the sea’s sand, burnished in the sea’s flood. A Finnish rune from Ingermanland has a son of Väinämöinen raising a sword from the waves when he sings. The connection to sword-veneration among the Quadi and Alans may run deep.
Sink, sink, little sun,
Fade, golden hour, fade,
Sink upon the lord’s bathhouse,
Upon the king’s house-threshold,
Down beneath the master’s window!
The lord does not welcome the sun,
The lord does not welcome it on his bathhouse,
Nor the king at his threshold,
Nor the master beneath his window.
Sink there instead, little sun!
There sits the watchman in his hall,
There sits the watchman’s wife in his hall,
She combs the servants’ heads,
She cleans the herdsmen’s heads,
She brushes heads without mercy,
A golden comb in her hand,
A silver combing-board.
The comb sank deep into the sea,
The combing-board into the stream.
Then I went to Peter, to pray:
Oh Peter, holy servant,
Pawel, faithful hired man of the Creator,
Fetch my comb from the sea,
The combing-board from the stream.
Peter would not go, nor Pawel.
I went myself, softly,
Along the road, the little one,
Along the land, the lowly one;
I went fathom-deep into the deep,
To the neck in the fish-spawning ground,
To the breast in the stream.
What struck against my knee,
What leapt against my neck?
A sword struck against my knee,
A sword leapt against my neck.
I took the sword in hand,
Carried the sword to the manor,
Set it on the lord’s table.
There the lords deliberated,
The masters marveled:
“Where was this sword brought from?
This sword was brought from war,
From the finger-bones of warriors,
From the kneecaps of boys.”
I heard and answered back:
This sword was brought from the sea;
On the sea’s sand it was whetted,
In the sea’s flood it was burnished.
The Builders of the Rainbow
Neus No. 32 — "Die Erbauer des Regenbogens." The Estonian word wikkerwihm (rainbow) means "arc-rain" or "bow-shower." The five children of the rainbow are each born of a different water: sea, lake, well, river, and spring. They ascend to the clouds and build the rainbow as a bridge — gold-colored, evening-hued at its edges, arching like the Creator’s path, blue-gleaming as Mary’s bridge. The whole of Estonian sacred hydrology compressed into fourteen lines: all water is one family, and the rainbow is their act of building. The old Estonian word for God (loja, "Creator") sits beside the Christian (Marja, "Mary") without tension — the syncretism is complete.
Five were the children of the rainbow,
Foster-children at the goblet:
One lived in the sea’s ancient brink,
The second at the lake’s fringed edge,
The third was the well’s foster-child.
The fourth, a maiden in the river,
The fifth, the spring’s orphan son.
They went up to the cloud-tops,
To build the rain’s bridge,
To weave the mist’s garment.
They made the arc gold-colored,
The arc’s edges evening-hued,
Arching like the Creator’s path,
Blue-gleaming — Mary’s bridge.
Colophon
These five songs are translated from the Estonian source text published in H. Neus, Ehstnische Volkslieder (Reval: Kluge und Ströhm, 1850), Volume I. Neus’s parallel German translation was consulted as interpretive reference for archaic vocabulary and syntactic ambiguity; the English is independently derived from the Estonian in accordance with the Blood Rule.
The songs are numbered 11, 13, 28, 31, and 32 in Neus’s original collection. Together they represent the boundary-thinning songs of Estonian folk tradition — encounters between the visible and invisible worlds, between death and life, between earth and heaven — preserved from oral performance in the parishes of Pleskau, Wierland, and Harrien in the first half of the nineteenth century.
No complete English translation of any of these songs has previously existed.
Translated from the Estonian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Neus’s German translation consulted for reference.
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Source Text: Ehstnische Volkslieder (1850)
Estonian source text from H. Neus, Ehstnische Volkslieder (Reval: Kluge und Ströhm, 1850), Volume I. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
11. Hallija Mäng
Laulo-poissi, laddus suga,
Widdewikkula willola,
Walwas ehha walgehella.
Mis seal kulis, kulutelli,
Kulutelli kulda keli.
Waimud warjola warikusta
Tullid tulila tuhhinal,
Kaste karmet kargotella
Uddo pillola pimedas,
Naksi nalja naksotella
Hallija tütteri ainosella,
Murro eide kaswandikko.
Kallis lapsi kulda ridis
Heitis ehha poegi päle;
Kissendas appi kitsikus.
Köo-hallijas halli särki,
Pao-hallijas palja särki
Tullid tütteri tüllila,
Neitsi närbeta aitama.
Waimo-poissi, warda jalgi,
Läksid lango laneessa,
Pogesid pörmola pölda
Wariko waggali kamberehhe.
„Mis sa tännid, tütterida,
Mis sa heitad enne aego?“
„Waimo-poissid, poled herrad
Poled lomad, koddota,
Tullid minda narrimaie.“
„Tüttar nori, ärra karda;
Kel ei kehha, ei kela sind.
Kehhaga kelmid on kurjemad;
Neide eesta, neitlikene,
Hoia, mis emalta pärri-niud!“
Tüttar agga ikki imelik-kul:
„Lähemb leppa lehhis-poega
Risus, mis emalta pärri-sind.“
13. Kannel
Tela laulid tüttarlapsed,
Tela laulid, mala laulid,
Külla alla laulid neiud.
Ma laulin kirriko teela,
Kirrikusla, karjamala.
Källikled minnogi tappid
Surella munna-kiwwila,
Tärrawalla kirweella.
Kus nad wiisid neio nore?
Wiisid kulla marja soose.
Mis seälta minnusta kaswis?
Minnust kaswis kallis kaske,
Ullenes metsa illusa.
Mis seält kasest tehtanekle?
Kasest kannel raiutakle,
Wiolida westetasle.
Kust said lauad kandelale?
Löhhe sure louasta,
Hauwi pitka hambaasta.
Kust said keled kandelile?
Juuksest sai neio nore,
Karwalt sai koddokannale.
Ei olnud pilli peksijäida,
Kandeli ellistajäid.
Minno ella wennakenne,
Wii kannel kamberije,
Sea längi sörwa peäle,
Pekla isse peigelalla,
Oska sörme otsadelle,
Rapsi rauda kämbellila!
Nenda hüdis wenna pilli,
Halledaste aine kannel,
Kui need nuttid, Wirro piad,
Halledaste Harjo neiud,
Minnesla issa koddunta,
Minnesla emma koddunta,
Mehhe koio minnesana,
Kasa koio käieslana.
28. Nurganaene
Hüwwa Maarja, ella Maarja!
Emma:
Hüa ikka Jesukesta,
Maenitse ikka Mariata!
Nurganaene nörgukenne,
Tahhat kord käid toawahhed,
Sadda kord käid launawahhed,
Ilma wöta, wö käesse,
Ilma tannota, tanno peusse.
Nelli nurka toasla,
Keik sa nurgad nuttusalid,
Nelli seinata toasla,
Keik sa seinad seigataid,
Istemed ärra iggalid.
Hüetakse Jesukesta,
Maenitseta Mariata:
Tulle tuppa, Jesukenne!
Perre nuttis alla pinki,
Lapsed nutlid alla laua,
Kala nuttis kamberisla:
Hüwwa Maarja, ella Maarja!
Nurganaene norokenne,
Läbbi läks siis kolme metsa;
Üks olli metsa ounapuine,
Teine olli wahterane,
Kolmas kibbowitse metsa.
Tussad jäwad tominggaie,
Wallud jäwad wahteraie,
Kibbedad kibbopu külge.
Tussad tullid ennele tungi,
Wallud kase walgusteti,
Tullid tussele tubbaje,
Oigete ahjo ette.
Emma:
Hüa ikka Jesukesta,
Maenitse Mariata!
Nurganaene:
Tulle tuppa, Jesukenne,
Tulle ürrike tubbaje,
Ürrikeseks ahjo ette!
Hea Maria, helde Maria!
Nurganaene norokenne,
Üks jalg jo haua seessa,
Teine haua järe peäla,
Ootlid hauda langewa,
Kirrikusse kantawa.
Tulli tunnike tubbaje,
Ürrikeseks ahjo ette.
Siin tuigub naene tussa-linne,
Wagub naene waewa-linne.
Jesus kulis kamberista,
Pühha Maarja akkenasta.
Siis ütles Jesus Mariale:
Hea Maria, ella Maria,
Kül siin Jesus hüetakse,
Pühha aino arwatakle.
Siis tulli Jesus tubbaje,
Ja astus Maria akkenassa.
Jesussal ölled öllale,
Marial padjad kaendelasle;
Wadis naese wodeesle,
Pened penije linnasle,
Peente pitkie linnadesle.
Kaks ai peada pealuklele,
Nelli reita wodeesla.
Ütles Jesus Mariale:
Jose, Maria, joua Maarja!
Lö kinni kirriko uksed,
Katta kinni kalmo kali:
Naene widud wodeesla
Kaks sai peada peadaasse,
Nelli reita wodeessa.
Nurganaene:
Aitümma Jummalale!
Jesus olli tunnike toase,
Ürrikeseks ahjo ette.
Emma:
Hüa ikka Jesukesta,
Maenitse ikka Mariatta!
Nurganaene norokenne,
Ülles tösta kakli kätta,
Kakli kätta, kümme küünt!
Perre siis naeris alla pinki,
Lapsed naerlid alla laua,
Kala naeris kamberisla.
Siis öllut todanakle,
Wihha wina kannetakle.
31. Päwawerimisse Laul
Were, were, päwakenne,
Kullu, kulla tunnikenne,
Were saksa sauna peäle,
Kunninga koia läwwele,
Herra alla akkenaie!
Saks ei salli päwakesta,
Saks ei salli sauna peäla,
Kunningas koia läwwele,
Herra ei alla akkenaie.
Were sinna, päwakenne!
Seäl istub island toasla,
Seäl istub emmand toasla,
Soeb seäl sullaste päida,
Kaslib karjalaste päida,
Harrib päida armetuma,
Sugga kuldene käesla,
Höbbedane pärjelauda.
Sugga sulpsatas merreje,
Pärjelauda laeneie.
Siis läen Petri-palweelle:
Oh Peter, pühha sullane,
Pawel, loja palgapoisi,
Minne, to sugga merresta,
Pärjelauda laeneesta.
Ei läind Peter, ei läind Pawel.
Läksin isse hiljokenne,
Möda teda tillokenne,
Möda maad maddalokenne;
Läksin süllani süggawa,
Kaelani kalla kudduje,
Labbaluni laeneeie.
Mis mo pölwe putunekse,
Mis mo kaela karganekse?
Moöka pölwe putunekse,
Moöka kaela karganekse.
Wöttin se moöga käddeie,
Wilin moöga moilaaie,
Pannin saksa laua peäle.
Seäl need saklad moistatasid,
Isandad imestanalid:
„Kust se moök on seie todud?
Se moöka söasta todud,
Söameeste sörmeluista,
Poiskeste pölweluista.“
Minna kulin, kostsin wasta:
Se moöka merresta todud;
Merre liwal on ihhutud,
Merre wela haljastetud.
32. Wikkerwihma Lapsed
Wiis olli wikkerwihma lapsi,
Kassu-lapsi karrikala:
Üks ellas merre muiste perres,
Teine järwe jänderikul,
Kolmas olli kaewu kaswandikko.
Neljas jöggenal neitlina,
Wiis olli lätte lesie poiga.
Läksid agga pilwe pilkulela,
Wihma silda seadamaie,
Uddu kube kuddumaie.
Teggid kare kulla-karwa,
Kare sörwad ehha-karwa,
Logelista loja teda,
Sisi-karwa Marja silda.
Source Colophon
The Estonian source text is reproduced from the digitised full-text of H. Neus, Ehstnische Volkslieder: Urschrift und Uebersetzung (Reval: Kluge und Ströhm, 1850), freely available at the Internet Archive (identifier: ehstnischevolks00neusgoog). The original print is in the public domain (published 1850, copyright expired). Minor OCR corrections have been applied: long-s (ſ) restored to s, spacing normalised, obvious scan artifacts corrected against the parallel German text.
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