A Warning Song — from the 1882 Collection

This song is Song XLII from the first volume of Образцы мордовской народной словесности (Samples of Mordovian Folk Literature), published in 1882 by the Orthodox Missionary Society of Kazan. The collection presents songs in the Erzya original with parallel Russian prose translations, gathered from Erzya Mordvin villages in what is now the Republic of Mordovia.

The song belongs to a widespread Uralic tradition in which a water-bird carries the soul or fortune of the hunter's family. The duck is not merely a bird — she is a spirit-guardian whose life is bound to the household she protects. To kill her is to sever the invisible thread that holds the family together. The three warnings form a ritual escalation: mother, wife, children. Each refusal raises the stakes. The young man named Andyamo refuses every warning. He kills the duck. He plucks her down and lets her blood like silk. He hangs her on his back and walks home.

What he finds is the oldest form of justice in Uralic folklore: not punishment from above, but consequence from within. His mother lies dead on the oven — the sacred centre of the Mordvin home. His wife lies dead before the oven. His children lie dead on the bench. The old woman at the gate, who tried to bar his entry, is the duck's last protector — perhaps the duck herself in human guise. She cannot save what is already lost.

The song's final image — tears rolling like peas, eyes burning like wax — is the standard Erzya formula for absolute grief. But the song does not console. "Why did I kill the little duck! — I have destroyed my whole family!" is spoken into a silence that the song refuses to fill. There is no restoration, no forgiveness, no resurrection. The duck warned him three times. He chose.

A note on the collection: the editors mark this song and the two preceding it (LXX, LXXI) as being in the Moksha dialect, though the Erzya features are dominant in the OCR text. The song numbering in the OCR renders Roman numerals as Cyrillic characters (LXXII appears as "ЬХХІІ").

This is the first English translation. The English is independently derived from the Erzya original, with the 1882 Russian parallel used for semantic verification of OCR-damaged passages.

A great, a great, a great field!
In the great field, a little lake;
In the little lake, a little hillock;
On the hillock, a little nest:
On the nest, a little duck.
In silver are dipped her little wings,
The very tips of her wings;
In gold is dipped her beak,
The very tip of her beak.
She dives, she surfaces.
Who has seen the little duck?
Who has spied the little duck?
A walking, wandering young man,
A passing, straying passerby.
"I will kill the little duck,
I will shoot the little duck:
I will let her blood like silk,
I will pluck her down."

— "Do not kill me, Andyamo,
Do not shoot me, young man!
At home you have your dear mother,
And she will die before you come home."

"Though my mother die,
Even so I will kill you,
Even so I will shoot you!
I will let your blood like silk,
I will pluck your down."

— "Do not kill me, young man,
Do not shoot me, Andyamo!
At home you have a dear wife,
And she will die before you come home."

"Though my wife die,
Even so I will kill you,
Even so I will shoot you!
I will let your blood like silk,
I will pluck your down."

— "Do not kill me, young man,
Do not shoot me, Andyamo!
At home you have two dear children,
And they will die before you come home."

"Though my children die,
Though my little ones perish,
Even so I will kill you,
Even so I will shoot you!"

And Andyamo killed the little duck,
And the young man shot the little duck:
He plucked her down,
He let her blood like silk.
He hung her upon his back,
The young man went home.

Andyamo came home.
His gates were shut.
At the gate stands an old woman.
"Grandmother, open up,
Dear grandmother, let me in!"

— "I will not open for you,
I will not let you in!
You killed my little duck,
You shot my little duck" . . .

The old woman opened for him;
The young man entered the house.
On the oven lies his dead mother,
Before the oven lies his dead wife,
On the bench lie his dead children.
He clapped his hands together,
He clenched his ten fingers.
Like peas rolling are his tears,
Like wax burning are both his eyes.
"Why did I kill the little duck,
Why did I shoot the little duck! —
I have destroyed my whole family!" . . .

Colophon

Song XLII from Образцы мордовской народной словесности, Выпуск 1: Песни на эрзянском и некоторые на мокшанском наречии (Samples of Mordovian Folk Literature, Volume 1: Songs in the Erzya and Some in the Moksha Dialect). Published by the Orthodox Missionary Society at Kazan, 1882. The collection was compiled from fieldwork among Erzya Mordvin communities in the Kazan governorate.

The Erzya title Уткане (Utkane) is a diminutive of утка (utka) — "duck" or "little duck." The diminutive suffix -не (-ne) carries tenderness, making the young man's violence against a creature named with such gentleness all the more stark.

The repeated formula парциксъ нолдаса верьнецянь / почардасань монъ пувкетнень (I will let her blood like silk / I will pluck her down) uses парцикс (silk) as a metaphor for the flowing of blood — a startlingly beautiful image for an act of killing. The same formula is spoken by the hunter in both threat and act, binding word to deed.

The song may preserve an ancient Uralic belief that water-birds — ducks, swans, geese — are guardians of the family's soul-force. The Estonian "White Duck" and the Erzya "White Duck" (Song VIII of this same collection) share the motif. The killing of the protective bird is the severing of the family's connection to the spirit world.

Translated from Erzya Mordvin by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. The 1882 Russian parallel translation was consulted for OCR verification. The English follows the Erzya text.

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Source Text: Уткане

Erzya Mordvin source text from Образцы мордовской народной словесности, Выпуск 1 (Kazan, 1882), Song XLII. OCR from the Internet Archive digitisation (identifier: vyp_1_obraztcy_mordovskoi_narodnoi_slovesnosti__pesni_na_erzianskom_i_nekotorye_). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Оцю, оцю, оцю паксе!
Оцю паксяса эрьхкаве;
Эрьхканеть эса сильдяне;
Сильдянеть пряса пизане;
5. Пизанеть эса уткане.
Сіясъ нававтъ пацемянза,
Самай паце пенянза;
Сырьнесъ нававтъ нерьняцъ,
Самай нерь пеняцъ.
10. И шопавты я рушбавты.
Ки неиняцъ утканень,
Ки ваныняцъ утканень?
Якай, пакай одъ цёра,
Ютай, потай прохожей.
15. „И шавте монъ уткане,
И лецьте монъ уткане:
Парциксъ нолдаса верьнецянь,
Почардасань монъ пувкетнень".
— „Дямака шава, Андяма,
20. Дямака леця, одъ цёра!
Кудса ули ишкань аваця,
Сеякъ молямастъ кулы."
„Ноть кулаза монь авказя,
И то монъ тонь шавте,
25. И то монъ тонь лецьте!
Парциксъ нолдаса монъ верьнецинь,
Почардасань монъ пувкетнень.
— „Дямка шава, одъ цёра,
Дямка шава, Андяма!
30. Кудса ули пиша полаця,
Сеякъ молямастъ кулы."
„Коть кулаза полазя,
И то монъ тонь шавте,
И то монъ тонь лецьте!
35. Нолдаса парциксъ монъ верьнецянь,
Пачардасань монъ пувкетнень".
— „Дямака шава, одъ цёра,
Дямака шава, Андяма!
Кудса улійть кавта пижа тякатня,
40. Нятькакъ молемастъ кулыйть."
„Коть куластъ монь тяканя,
Коть юмастъ монь какшаня,
И то монъ тонь шавте,
И то монъ тонь лецьте!"
45. И шавазя Андяма утканеть,
И лецязя одъ цёра утканеть:
Почарданзя пувканзанъ,
Нолдазя парциксъ вернянсъ.
Копарязанза повдазя,
50. Тусь одъ цёра куду.
Пачкадсь Андяма куду.
Ортаняцъ сонъ пекставъ.
Ашти орта лангса бабане.
„Бабакай, панчте,
55. Бабакай, нолдамакэякъ!"
— „Монъ тонтеть авъ панжанъ,
Монъ тонь авъ нолдате!
Тонъ шавнть монь утказянь,
Тонъ лецить монь утказянь"...
60. Паншсь тенза бабанесь;
Сувась одъ цёра кудсъ.
Пецька лангса авацъ кула,
Пецька каля полацъ кула,
Эзямъ лангса тяканза кулатъ.
65. Вачкадензя сонъ кедянзанъ,
Недензя кемань суранзанъ.
Снавксъ кеваріить, сельма веднянза
Штаголксъ палыйть кавта свѣтанза
„Мексъ монъ утканеть шаваня,
70. Мексъ монъ утканеть лецяня! —
71. Юмавтаня монъ семейказянь!"...

Source Colophon

The Erzya Mordvin text above is from the 1882 Kazan collection, digitised and hosted on the Internet Archive. The collection uses pre-reform Russian orthography for both the Erzya transcription (in Cyrillic) and the parallel Russian translation. The OCR contains minor garbling; obvious errors have been noted but the text is reproduced as found.

The editors note that Songs LXX, LXXI, and LXXII are in the Moksha dialect (though the OCR renders the Roman numerals as Cyrillic, making identification uncertain). Song numbering in the OCR is unreliable — XLII appears as "ЬХХІІ."

The 1882 collection is the earliest substantial publication of Erzya Mordvin folk songs and is in the public domain.

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