from Ehstnische Volkslieder, collected by Heinrich Neus (1850)

Nos. 51A and 51B

These two short songs — variants A and B from Section 51, "Der Singenden Verzagen" (The Singer's Despair) in Neus's collection — circle around the same core difficulty: where does the singer find her voice, and what happens when she does?

Variant A gives a domestic answer: she fears to sing. The house will hear her words. They will be written down, shown to her parents, and all blame will fall on her — the burdened daughter. This is a song of constraint: the wish to sing and the knowledge that singing is dangerous for women under sharp-tongued elders. She buries her song in her bosom and endures.

Variant B asks the mythological question: where does the song itself come from? The answer names three sources — Kalev, the Estonian ancestral hero-giant; Ollevi, his companion; and Wanemuine, the Estonian god of poetry and music. Wanemuine (also Vanemuine, cognate with Finnish Väinämöinen) holds the golden harp, its base of silver, its strings the hair of Jutta — the goddess of saga. If the singer could draw from this tradition, the darkness of the old days would grow light. Variant B is explicitly marked a fragment ("ein Bruchstück") in Neus's edition — it ends mid-thought, the vision of illumination unfinished.

Together the two variants form a meditation on the singer's condition in a culture where the old tradition is fading: you fear to sing, and when you dare to sing, you do not know how to find the old god's harp.

A.

I would sing — but dare not sing.
I fear the house will hear it,
that they'll carry home my words,
paste them into the Bible,
scrawl them in a booklet,
carry them before my mother,
carry them before my father.
Then all blame comes tumbling down,
all low words are heaped on me —
on whom else but on me?
On me, the burdened daughter!
All things must I, precious, bear,
all things must I, poor, endure —
my mother's scorn, my father's scorn,
and the elders' harshness!
This I press into my breast,
bury it between the belt.
What the young ones wish me,
what the underlings whisper,
what the gossips heap upon me —
this cuts through the heart,
through my dear body's length,
through the hard shoe-strap,
through the coal-black wrapping,
through the snow-white sleeves.

B. (a fragment)

Where shall I unlock my golden song,
weave the words into silver tangles?
Shall I tell of Kalev,
storm a piece of Ollevi,
borrow something from Wanemuine —
who had the golden harp,
the harp's floor of silver sheet,
Jutta's hair for harp-strings?
Had I but a fine eyelet-veil,
the beautiful maiden's brow-cloth —
then the times would open,
the darkness of the old days grow light!

Colophon

Source: Heinrich Neus (ed.), Ehstnische Volkslieder. Urschrift und Übersetzung (Reval: Kluge und Ströhm, 1850), Vol. II, Section 51 ("Der Singenden Verzagen"), Variants A and B. The section note in Neus identifies 51B as a fragment ("ein Bruchstück"). Neus also identifies Jutta as "die Göttin der Sage, Mähre (ehstn. jut)" — the goddess of saga and narrative, whose hair becomes the strings of Wanemuine's golden harp.

Translation: Good Works Translation by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Translated independently from the 19th-century Estonian source text. Neus's German translation was consulted for reference where OCR artifacts obscured the Estonian original. No prior English translation of these songs is known to exist.

Note on Wanemuine: Wanemuine (Vanemuine) is the Estonian god of poetry, music, and song — the closest parallel to the Finnish Väinämöinen. He is associated with the kandel (kannel), the Estonian five-stringed zither-harp, here described as golden with a silver base and strung with the hair of Jutta. The name Wanemuine is cognate with Finnish Väinämöinen, both deriving from a root related to "brook, waterway." In Estonian tradition Vanemuine descended to earth to teach music and then ascended again; the tradition of sacred singing is traced to his teaching.

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

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Source Text

Estonian source text from H. Neus, Ehstnische Volkslieder (Reval: Kluge und Ströhm, 1850), Vol. II, Section 51. 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 19th-century Estonian orthography is preserved.

A.

Laulaksin, ei tohi laula,
Kardan koio kulemaie,
Sõnad wiakle koioje,
Pistetakse pibellie,
Raplitakse ramatuie,
Via koio eide kätte,
Via koio tadi kätte.
Siis keik kurjad kukkutakse,
Alwad sõnad annetakse,
Kellel muile kui minnule?
Tütterille waewatlelle!
Keik pean kallis kannatama,
Keik pean waene waigistama,
Eide kurjad, tadi kurjad,
Ja waljo wannema kurjad!
Need ma pistan poneeje,
Waiotan wõ wahhele.
Mis need noremad loewad,
Allumised augutawad,
Tattipattakad pannewad:
Need käiwad abi südda...
Läbi mo ihho laite,
Läbi kero kingapaela,
Süsimusta ümberrikko,
Lumiwalgette käiste.

B. (ein Bruchstück / a fragment)

Kust ma lautan kulla luggu,
Solmin sõna öbbe soõlmeleo?
Kas ehk kulutan Kalewid,
Äiskan osafs'e Ollewid,
Murran mõnda Wanamuinelt,
Kel olli kandel kullasta,
Kandle põhhi öbbe karralt,
Jutta juuklist kandle keled?
Olleks mul örna silma-wörku,
Kena neitli kulmu-rätte:
Siis saaks seadaw walikkuks,
Muistene musta walgeks mõõdud!

Source Colophon

The Estonian source text is reproduced from the OCR of Heinrich Neus (ed.), Ehstnische Volkslieder. Urschrift und Übersetzung (Reval: Kluge und Ströhm, 1850), archive.org identifier ehstnischevolks00neusgoog. Public domain (1850 publication; Google scan confirms copyright expired; also available as NeusEhstnischeVL18502 with CC Public Domain Mark 1.0). Obvious OCR artifacts from the Fraktur-era print have been silently corrected where the intended Estonian was unambiguous; the original 19th-century orthography is otherwise preserved.

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