from Ueber die Sprache der Nord-Ostjaken, compiled by August Ahlqvist (1880)

These are not ceremonial songs or myths. They are personal songs — first-person laments and boasts sung to the rhythm of Khanty life on the Ob. A man has been blessed by God with fox-skins and reindeer. A woman's children have all died, and she asks what she should do, she who is in God's hand. A herder has lost five thousand reindeer to plague and come weeping to Obdorsk to hire himself to a Russian. And a woman, abandoned by her husband after five years, discovers she does not need him: she sews pelts, she raises her son, she is known to Khanty, to Samoyeds, to the Russians of Obdorsk, and she buys a hundred reindeer with the season's earnings.

The songs were dictated in the Obdorsk dialect by Anders Sobrin, a Khanty-Samoyed parish clerk at Obdorsk, during Ahlqvist's 1877 expedition. Each line in the Khanty original ends with the refrain particle "mo" (an affirmative) or "to" (a sorrowful variant). These particles are the heartbeat of the song — they do not translate, but they mark where the singer breathes and the listener nods.

I. The Fortunate One

How shall I speak now?

This summer I caught many foxes,
white arctic foxes, blue arctic foxes I caught.
I was blessed by God.
Wild reindeer I caught.

In former times I owned
few reindeer:
three hundred I owned.

The foxes, the arctic foxes I sold to the Russians.
I received a great heap of money.
How shall I now buy reindeer with the money?
Many reindeer I shall buy for five silver roubles —

as many as I am able to buy.
Brandy I shall drink.

II. The Woman Struck by Misfortune

This summer I was struck by sickness.
My children died, all of them together.
Many tears I let fall.

What shall I do —
I, who am in God's hand?

What shall I do now?
Sledges I know how to make.
Boats I know how to make.

What shall I do now?

III. The Unfortunate One

At the time of my birth I owned many reindeer —
five thousand I had.

This summer they all died.
By God they were taken.
I stayed behind, growing poor.

With my children I came.
To the city of Obdorsk I came.
Weeping I came.

How did I manage?
I hired myself out to a Russian.

IV. The Scorned Wife

With my husband I lived five summers.
This summer I was left by my husband.
What wrong did I do him?

Many children remained.
With what shall I feed them?

My former husband took a new wife.
From the new wife — no children.
By God they are not given.

Therefore they are not given: he wronged me greatly.

He carried off my reindeer.
My property he carried off. —

Women's coats I know how to sew.
Shoes I know how to sew.

Now my children are grown.
My eldest son knows how to hunt.
He walks in the forest.
Arctic foxes, squirrels he catches.

A husband is not needed by me.

Among the Khanty I am known.
Among the Samoyeds I am known.
Among the Obdorsk Russians I am known.

This summer I sold many arctic foxes.
I earned much money.
I bought many reindeer.

By God I was given understanding.

I married my eldest son.
I gave a great bride-price.
One hundred reindeer I gave.
They live well together, he and his wife.

Colophon

Translated from German by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026.

Source: August Ahlqvist, Ueber die Sprache der Nord-Ostjaken: Sprachtexte, Wörtersammlung und Grammatik, Helsingfors, 1880. Section III: Lieder, songs 1–4 (pp. 21–26 of the original).

Original language: North Khanty (Ostyak), Obdorsk dialect. Dictated by Anders Sobrin, 1877.

Translation method: Independent English translation from Ahlqvist's German. No prior English translation of these songs exists. The Khanty refrain particle mo (affirmative) and to (sorrowful), which close every line in the original, have been omitted from the English — they are untranslatable rhythmic markers, the singer's breath. The line-breaks follow the structure of the Khanty original as reflected in Ahlqvist's German.

Note on Song IV: "Die verschmähte Frau" — The Scorned Wife — is one of the earliest recorded first-person women's songs in any Ob-Ugric language. It is a song of survival, competence, and vindication.

A Good Works Translation. NTAC + Claude.

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Source Text

German translation by August Ahlqvist (1880)

I. Der Glückliche

Wie soll ich jetzt sprechen?

In diesem Sommer fing ich viel Füchse,
Weisse Eisfüchse, blaue Eisfüchse fing ich,
Ich wurde von Gott gesegnet,
Wilde Rennthiere fing ich.

In früheren Zeiten besass ich,
Wenig Rennthiere besass ich:
Dreihundert besass ich.

Die Füchse, die Eisfüchse verkaufte ich den Russen,
Ich bekam einen grossen Geldhaufen.
Wie soll ich jetzt mit dem Gelde Rennthiere kaufen?
Viel Rennthiere werde ich für fünf Silberrubel kaufen,

So viel ich vermag zu kaufen;
Branntwein werde ich trinken.

II. Die vom Unglück Betroffene

Diesen Sommer wurde ich von Krankheit betroffen,
Meine Kinder starben allezusammen,
Viel Thränen liess ich fallen;

Wie soll ich thun,
Ich, die in Gottes Hand seiende?

Wie soll ich jetzt thun?
Schlitten verstehe ich zu machen,
Kähne verstehe ich zu machen;

Wie soll ich jetzt thun?

III. Der Unglückliche

In der Zeit meiner Geburt besass ich viel Rennthiere,
Fünftausend hatte ich;

In diesem Sommer starben sie allezusammen,
Von Gott wurden sie genommen;
Ich blieb zurück, verarmend;

Mit meinen Kindern kam ich,
Nach der Stadt Obdorsk kam ich,
Weinend kam ich;

Wie fing ich es nun an?
Ich vermiethete mich an einen Russen.

IV. Die verschmähte Frau

Mit meinem Manne lebte ich fünf Sommer,
In diesem Sommer wurde ich von meinem Manne verlassen;
Was Böses habe ich ihm gethan?

Viel Kinder blieben,
Womit ernähre ich die Kinder?

Mein voriger Mann nahm eine neue Frau,
Aus der neuen Frau sind nicht Kinder,
Von Gott werden sie nicht gegeben.

Darum werden sie nicht gegeben: er kränkte mich viel.

Er führte mit sich meine Rennthiere,
Mein Eigenthum führte er weg. —

Frauenpelze verstehe ich zu nähen,
Schuhe verstehe ich zu nähen.

Jetzt sind meine Kinder erwachsen;
Mein ältester Sohn versteht Thiere zu fangen,
Er wandert im Walde,
Eisfüchse, Eichhörnchen fängt er:

Ein Mann ist mir nicht nöthig.

Den Ostjaken bin ich bekannt,
Den Samojeden bin ich bekannt,
Den obdorskischen Russen bin ich bekannt.

In diesem Sommer verkaufte ich viel Eisfüchse,
Ich erwarb viel Geld,
Ich kaufte viel Rennthiere:

Von Gott wurde ich mit Verstand begabt.

Ich verheiratete meinen ältesten Sohn,
Ich gab einen grossen Brautpreis,
Einhundert Rennthiere gab ich.
Sie leben gut, er mit seiner Frau.

Source Colophon

German translation by August Ahlqvist (1880). North Khanty original texts in the Obdorsk dialect, dictated by Anders Sobrin of Obdorsk, 1877. Published in Ueber die Sprache der Nord-Ostjaken, Section III: Lieder. Helsingfors: In Commission bei G. W. Edlund, 1880.

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