from Ehstnische Volkslieder, collected by Heinrich Neus (1850)

This is the third variant of the Salme myth in Heinrich Neus's Ehstnische Volkslieder (1850) — and the one that completes the cycle. Where the first two variants (published separately as "The Salme Songs") present the celestial courtship as narrative, this variant casts it as a ritual cross-dance (Risti tants), with a stamping refrain between each suitor's arrival. And where the first two variants end with the orphan's lament or the Star's demand, this variant ends with a revelation that transforms the entire myth: the Moon that Salme refused was her father, the Sun was her mother, and the birch saplings at the door are her brothers and their children. The cosmic suitors are not strangers. They are family in disguise. Salme's choice of the Star is an exile from everything she knows.

The cross-dance variant also introduces a fourth suitor absent from the other versions: the Water (wessi), who comes in wave-force. The Moon has six duties, the Sun does much harm to crops, the Water is wild and fierce — but the Star is "a different sort of man" (teisi meli). The brothers want every suitor except the Star, and Salme wants only the Star. The structural inversion is perfect: family approves what is familiar (Moon, Sun, Water — the forces of their daily world) and fears what is strange (the Star — distant, alien, from above). Salme chooses the strange. The departure is the price.

The dressing scene is the most elaborate in the entire Salme cycle. Salme calls three serving-maids — Anne, Kate, and Lene — and names each garment: the fog-white shirt (uddune särk), the fine shift (tohhine särk), the sleevework in bright design (rukka rome kirja), the maple-patterned belt (wahherpu kirja), the coloured arm-sleeves (kirjawad käikled), the border-work kerchief (rättik räime kirja), and the cloth of golden weave (kube kulda toime). Seven garments. Seven layers between the maiden and the world she is leaving. This is not a folk costume catalogue — it is a ritual investiture. The bride puts on her armour before walking into the unknown.

Heinrich Neus (1795–1876) collected this variant and published it as Song I.C in the first volume of Ehstnische Volkslieder (Reval, 1850). This song has never before appeared in English translation.

Up, and dance the cross-dance!
Up, and stamp the hard sand!

The Moon came first
With fifty horses,
With sixty coachmen.
The brothers were willing for the Moon —
Salme was not willing for the Moon.
Salme called from the bathhouse,
Salme spoke from the pillow,
Cast her refusal from the bed of down:
"I will not go to the Moon!
The Moon has six duties:
Sometimes he rises unbidden,
Sometimes still before the twilight,
Then he rises through the dawn."

Up, and dance the cross-dance!
Up, and stamp the hard sand!

The Sun's son came in splendour
With fifty horses,
With sixty coachmen.
The brothers were willing for the Sun —
Salme was not willing for the Sun.
Salme called from the bathhouse,
Salme spoke from the pillow,
Cast her refusal from the bed of down:
"I will not go to the Sun!
The Sun does much harm:
He casts the flax on sandy ground,
Burns the oat seed away,
Kills the barley in the field,
Leaves the rye rotting in the furrow."

Up, and dance the cross-dance!
Up, and stamp the hard sand!

The Water came in wave-force
With fifty horses,
With sixty coachmen.
The brothers were willing for the Water —
Salme was not willing for the Water.
Salme called from the bathhouse,
Salme spoke from the pillow,
Cast her refusal from the bed of down:
"I will not go to the Water!
The waters are wild in their rolling,
The springs fierce in their surging,
The rivers wanton in their running."

Up, and dance the cross-dance!
Up, and stamp the hard sand!

The Star came — a different sort of man —
With fifty horses,
With sixty coachmen.
The brothers were not willing for the Star.
Salme called from the bathhouse,
Salme spoke from the pillow,
Cast her command from the bed of down;
She bade the Star sit at the table —
Before the lovely table,
By the fine white wall —
Before the silver tankard.
Pour in the sweet mead:
Below the malt, above the foam,
And in the middle the red ale.

"Eat, Star, and drink, Star!
Live, Star, in joy!"

The Star:
"I will not eat, I will not drink!
Bring my own one here —
Send Salme to the hall!"

Salme:
"Anne, my dear serving-maid,
Kate, my precious herald,
Oh Lene, you sweet one —
Bring my fog-white shirt
Over this beautiful body,
Bring my finest shift,
Bring my sleevework in bright design
Over the fog-white shirt;
Bring my maple-patterned belt,
Bring my coloured arm-sleeves,
Bring my kerchief in border-work
Over the coloured arm-sleeves,
Bring my cloth of golden weave!
Run, boy, water the horse!
Hire-boy, saddle it up!
Herald, turn the sled around,
Draw the shafts to the window,
The sled's sides to the threshold."

She stepped into her beloved sled,
Tapped along its side.

The gold ornament clinked:

"Oh Salme, my own!
What have you forgotten at home?
Three things you have forgotten at home!
The Moon stayed on the threshold —
That is your old father.
The Sun stayed hanging on the fence —
That is your old mother.
Birch saplings at the door of the hall —
Those are your blooming brothers.
Birch branches inside the hall —
Those are your brothers' children."

Colophon

Source: Heinrich Neus (ed.), Ehstnische Volkslieder. Urschrift und Übersetzung (Reval: Kluge und Ströhm, 1850), Vol. I, pp. 4–7. Song I.C — the cross-dance variant of the Salme myth (Risti tants).

Translation: Good Works Translation by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Translated independently from the nineteenth-century Estonian source text. Neus's German translation was consulted post-draft for verification of ambiguous OCR readings. No prior English translation of this song is known to exist.

Note: This is the third variant of the Salme myth in Neus's collection. Variants A and B are published separately in the archive as "The Salme Songs." This cross-dance variant (C) is presented as a standalone file because of its structural difference — it is a dance-song with refrain, not a narrative poem — and because of its unique ending, in which the celestial suitors are revealed as Salme's own family members. The revelation that the Moon is the father and the Sun is the mother appears in no other known variant of the song and transforms the Salme myth from a simple courtship narrative into a parable of exile: every departure is a refusal of the familiar, and the strange thing you chose may cost you everything you knew.

The name Salme (cognate with Finnish salmi, "strait, channel") connects the maiden to water and passage — and this variant, uniquely, includes the Water as a suitor she refuses. The connection between name and rejected element may be the deepest layer of the myth.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Salme risti tants

Estonian source text from H. Neus, Ehstnische Volkslieder (Reval: Kluge und Ströhm, 1850), Vol. I, pp. 4–7 (Song I.C). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above. The text is reconstructed from the archive.org OCR (identifier: ehstnischevolks00neusgoog) with correction of obvious scanning artifacts. The original nineteenth-century Estonian orthography is preserved.

Risti tantsi tantsigem,
Sõrre liwa sõtkugem!
Tulli kuu endiselle
Wiekümmene hobbosel,
Kuekümmene kutsarilla.
Wennad tahhid kuudelle,
Salm ei tahtend kuudelle.
Salme hüdis saunadesta,
Salme padjasta paiatas,
Ebbemesta heitis keelta:
Ei ma läine kuudelle!
Kuul on kusi ammetida:
Wahhelt ta warragi touleb,
Wahhelt enne walgeida,
Kohhe touseb koidikulla.

Risti tantsi tantsigem,
Sõrre liwa sõtkugem!

Tulli päwa perginalle
Wiekümmene hobbosel,
Kuekümmene kutsarilla.
Wennad tahhid päiwidelle,
Salm ei tahtend päiwidelle.
Salme hüdis saunadesta,
Salme padjasta paiatas,
Ebbemesta heitis keelta:
Ei ma läine päiwidelle!
Päwa teeb pahhada paljo:
Jättab linnad liwakuie,
Kaera seemeta kautab,
Odrad pöllule pölletab,
Rukki jääb wao wahhele.

Risti tantsi tantsigem,
Sõrre liwa sõtkugem!

Tulli wessi werewalla
Wiekümmene hobbosel,
Kuekümmene kutsarilla.
Wennad tahhid wettedele,
Salm ei tahtend wettedele.
Salme hüdis saunadesta,
Salme padjasta paiatas,
Ebbemesta heitis keelta:
Ei ma läine wettedele!
Weed on kurjad weremaie,
Hallikad arronemaie,
Jõed jõlledaid jooksemaie.

Risti tantsi tantsigem,
Sõrre liwa sõtkugem!

Tulli tähte, teisi meli,
Wiekümmene hobbosel,
Kuekümmene kutsarilla.
Wennad ei tahtend tähhedelle.
Salme hüdis saunadesta,
Salme padjasta paiatas,
Ebbemesta heitis keelta;
Käskis tähte lauda istuda,
Ette se ihhutud lauda,
Tahha se tahhutud seina,
Ette se hõbbeda kanno,
Sisse se mõddo maggusa,
Al on meski, peäl on wahta,
Keskel on õllut punnane.

Sö, tähte, ja jo, tähte,
Ella, tähte, rõmulasta!

Ei tahha süa, ei tahha jua!
Toge mo omma tubbaje,
Saatke Salme pörmandale!

An, mo armas ümmardaja,
Kai, mo kallis käskojalga,
Oh Leno libbedikenne,
To minno uddune särki
Peäle se ihho illusa,
Toge mo tohhine särgi,
To mo rukka rome kirja
Peäle se uddule särgi;
To wö wahherpu kirja,
To mo kirjawad käikled,
To mo rättik räime kirja
Peäle se kirjawa käikli,
To mo kube kulda toime!
Jookle, pois, joo da hobbune,
Palgapois, panne saddula!
Käskojalga, käna sani,
Aia aisad akkenaie,
Sani külled künniklele.

Aston armas sanijeni,
Kõpsatellen körwajeni.

Kulda elkoda ellistas:

Oh Salme, minno ommane!
Mis sinna koio unnestid?
Kolmed sa koio unnestid!
Kuu jäi koio läwwele
Se, sinno wanna issani;
Päew jäi peäle aida welo
Se, sinno wanna emmani;
Kasled kamberi läwwele:
Need so wirwed wennikesled;
Kasle oksad kamberisse:
Need so wirwed wennalapsed.

Source Colophon

Estonian source text from Heinrich Neus (ed.), Ehstnische Volkslieder. Urschrift und Übersetzung (Reval: Kluge und Ströhm, 1850), Vol. I, pp. 4–7. Public domain. Digitised by Google Books (archive.org identifier: ehstnischevolks00neusgoog). OCR artifacts corrected against the visible Estonian text with Neus's parallel German translation consulted for verification of obscured readings. The nineteenth-century Estonian orthography is preserved as printed; modern Estonian would normalise wiekümmene to viiekümne, kutsarilla to kutsaritega, tahhid to tahtsid, etc.

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