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Across the Guelder-Rose Branch lyrics and meaning

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Per putino šakelį vanduoj nebėgo Geran čėsan motulė mani radzino. Geran čėsan motulė mani radzino. Paradzinus motulė jir užaugino, Užauginus motulė dalios nedavė. Užauginus motulė dalios nedavė. Ir nudavė motulė gudų šalalėn Aš ton gudų šalalėn neilgai būsiu. Aš ton gudų šalalėn neilgai būsiu. Aš ton gudų šalalėn neilgai būsiu, Dvejus trajus, metelius martelė būsiu. Dvejus trajus, metelius martelė būsiu. Dvejus trejus, metelius martelė būsiu. Ant ketvirtų metelių gegulė lėksiu. Ant ketvirtų metelių gegulė lėksiu. Ir parlėkiau gegulė tėvo dvarelin Jir nutūpiau, gegulė vyšnių sodelin. Jir nutūpiau, gegulė vyšnių sodelin. Aš kukavau rytelį ir vakarėlį, Niekas mani raibosios nė negirdėjo. Niekas mani raibosios nė negirdėjo. Tcik išgirdo brolalis žirgą šerdamas Išaik, išaik, motule, ant dzidzo dvaro. Išaik, išaik, motule, ant dzidzo dvaro. Išaik, išaik, motule, ant dzidzo dvaro. Paklausykie, motula, gražaus balselio. Paklausykie, motula, gražaus balselio. Ca ne raiba gegulė gražiai kukuoja, Ciktai tavo dukrelė vargus rokuoja. Ciktai tavo dukrelė vargus rokuoja.

Meaning

This song can be understood as the song of a daughter married far away. At the beginning, it says that her mother bore her at a good time and raised her, but did not give her a dalia, a happy lot. The absence of dalia can be interpreted as an image of unhappy fate, especially unhappy marital fate.

The mother then gives her to the land of the Gudai, and the young woman says she will not stay there long: for two or three years she will be a daughter-in-law, and in the fourth year she will fly as a cuckoo. This transformation into a bird can be understood as a desire to return to her native home.

At the end, after flying back as a cuckoo to her father's estate, she cuckoos in the cherry orchard, but no one hears her except her brother, who is feeding the horse. He understands that this is not a cuckoo, but the troubles of his sister, the daughter, being told. This image can be interpreted as the lament of a married daughter returning in the form of a cuckoo. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of the daughter married far away and transformed into a cuckoo is clear.

Symbols

No dalia given
The mother raised her daughter but did not give her a happy lot. It marks unhappy marital fate.
Land of the Gudai
A distant foreign land where the daughter is married off. It marks life far from the native home.
Cuckoo
The bird into which the daughter turns in order to fly home. It marks longing and a dying or grieving soul.
"The daughter tells her troubles"
The cuckooing that the brother recognizes as his sister's lament. It marks the complaint of the married daughter.

History

"Per putino šakelį" belongs to family songs about a daughter married far away and her longing for her native home. The song's core is an old motif of transformation into a bird: the daughter-in-law with an unhappy lot will "fly as a cuckoo" in the fourth year and return to her father's estate to cuckoo. Such a woman's transformation into a cuckoo, whose lament is recognized only by someone close, is a widespread image in Lithuanian family and wedding songs.

The text is recorded in a strong southern Aukštaitian, or Dzūkian, dialect, with forms such as "radzino," "dzidzo," "ciktai," and "rokuoja," but the exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented according to genre features. The recognition at the end, where the brother, feeding the horse, understands that this is not a cuckoo but his sister's complaint of hardship, forms the song's emotional culmination.

Sources