By the Field Edge and Forest lyrics and meaning
Palaukėj pamiškėj, kareivėlis gulėj
O ir galy jo kojelių, šyvas žirgelis stovėj
Ir atlekė gegula, ir nutupė šalelėn,
Ir tu gegula mano, raibos plunksnelės tavo.
Tu, gegula mano, raibos plunksnelės tavo,
ir tu nulėk, gegula, in man tėvų motina
Tu nulėk, gegula, in man tėvo motina,
ir nesakyk, gegula, kad užmušė čia mane
Nesakyk, gegula, kad užmušė čia mane
ir pasakyk gegula, apvesdino čia mane
Pasakyk gegula, apvesdino čia mane
Ir apvesdino mane laiba ietužė rankoj. /ievužė laukų.
Meaning
This song can be understood as a war ballad about a fallen soldier. At the beginning, the soldier lies at the edge of the field by the forest, and at the end of his feet stands a grey horse. This image can be interpreted as death on the battlefield, marked by the horse remaining beside its master.
A cuckoo then flies in and settles nearby, and the soldier says that its feathers are speckled, asking it to fly to his mother. The cuckoo can be understood as a messenger sent to his family.
At the end, the soldier asks the cuckoo not to say that he was killed, but to say that he was married, with a slender spear in his hand. This image can be interpreted as covering death with the language of a wedding in order to soften the news for his mother. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of death as wedding is clear in the song.
Symbols
- Lying soldier, standing horse
- The soldier fallen by the forest edge with the horse remaining at his feet. They signify death on the battlefield.
- Cuckoo
- The bird asked to fly to the mother. It signifies a messenger to the home.
- "Do not say he was killed; say he was married"
- The request to call death a wedding. It softens the grief-bearing message.
- Slender spear
- The spear called the soldier's bride. It signifies death marrying the soldier instead of a human bride.
History
"By the Field Edge and Forest" belongs to military-historical songs, ballad-like songs about a soldier fallen on the battlefield. The opening image, with the soldier lying near the field edge and the grey horse standing at his feet, and the address to the arriving cuckoo as a messenger, is one of the most recognizable motifs of this genre.
The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented by genre traits. The central stanza, in which the dying soldier asks the cuckoo to tell his mother not that he was killed but that he was married, with the slender spear in his hand as a bride, rests on the old image identifying death with wedding. Such songs of a warrior's death have many variants, and the ending differs among recordings; here an alternate wording, "field bird-cherry," is also noted in the base text.
Sources
- Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
- D. Krištopaitė. Lithuanian Military-Historical Songs, Vilnius 1956
- Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia: Lithuanian folk songs
- Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia: military-historical songs
- LLTI: Lithuanian Folk Songbook
Common questions
By the Field Edge and Forest: what kind of song is this?
It is a military-historical ballad about a soldier fallen on the battlefield who asks a cuckoo to carry news to his mother.
What do the lying soldier and standing horse signify?
The soldier lying by the field edge with the grey horse at his feet marks death in battle. A horse left without its rider is a common image of a dead warrior.
Why does the soldier ask the cuckoo?
The cuckoo is a messenger to the home. The speckled bird is sent to the soldier's mother with news.
What does it mean to say "married" instead of "killed"?
It covers death with wedding imagery to soften the news for the mother. The slender spear in the soldier's hand is treated like a bride, so death is imagined as a battlefield wedding.