Clover Grew in the Meadow lyrics and meaning

Nebile lankelėj dobilas augo,
Nebile lankelėj dobilas augo.
Penkiais šešiais lapeliais,
Su devyniais žiedeliais. /2×2

Ant dvaro brolelis žirgą balnojo,
Sesutė darželį rūteles sėjo,
Oi kur josi, broleli,
Kam balnoji žirgeli? /2×2

Išjot išjosiu, sugrįžt negrįšiu
Išjot išjosiu, sugrįžt negrįšiu
Pargįš mano žirgelis
In septintus metelius. /2×2

Parbėga žirgelis garsiai žvengdamas
Išeina sesulė gailiai verkdama,
Oi, žirge juodbėrėli,
Kam palikai brolelį? /2×2

Kad aš galėčiau, tai prakalbėčiau,
Kad išmanyčiau, tai apsakyčiau,
Liko tavo brolelis, tolimojoj šalelėj. /2×2

Pirmijon vainelėj žirgelis klupo,
Antrojoj vainelėj kardelis lūžo,
O šioj trečioj vainelėj
Pats galvelį padėjo. /2×2

Kur galva krito, rožė išdygo,
Kur kraujas tryško, žemčiūgai blizga,
Nuvirto liemenėlis
Kaip girioj aržuolėlis. /2×2

Clover Grew in the Meadow: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a war ballad about a brother killed in battle. At the beginning, clover with five or six leaves and nine blossoms grows in a meadow, while at the manor the brother saddles his horse and the sister sows rue. This image can be interpreted as a juxtaposition of peace and departure.

Asked where he will ride, the brother answers that he will ride out and will not return, while his horse will come back in the seventh year. When the horse runs home, neighing loudly, the sister weeps bitterly and asks why it left her brother behind. The horse answers that the brother remained in a distant land.

At the end, the song tells that in the first battle the horse stumbled, in the second the sword broke, and in the third the brother laid down his head. Where the head fell, a rose sprang up; where the blood spurted, pearls shone; and the body fell like an oak in the forest. This transformation can be interpreted as a poetic rendering of death in battle. That is one possible meaning, but the motif of wartime death is clear.

Clover Grew in the Meadow: symbols and phrases

Clover with nine blossoms
The abundant clover growing in the meadow. It marks peace and fullness before disaster.
Horse returning without rider
The horse that comes home neighing loudly. It is the sign of the brother's death.
Three battles
In the first the horse stumbles, in the second the sword breaks, and in the third the brother dies. They mark the step-by-step approach to death.
Head becoming a rose, blood becoming pearls
Where the head falls and the blood spills, a rose grows and pearls shine. These images mark a poetic transformation of death.

Clover Grew in the Meadow: song history

"Clover Grew in the Meadow" belongs to military-historical songs and to their ballad layer about a brother killed in war. The song begins with peaceful nature imagery - abundant clover in the meadow, the sister sowing rue, the brother saddling his horse - which is immediately contrasted with riding away and not returning. The horse's return without its rider, its neighing, and the speaking horse that tells the sister about the brother's death are typical ballad motifs in this genre.

The stepped sequence of three "vainos" or battles - in the first the horse stumbled, in the second the sword broke, in the third the brother laid down his head - creates a gradual approach to death. The final transformation, where a rose grows from the fallen head, pearls shine from the spilled blood, and the body falls like an oak, belongs to the poetic symbolism of death in battle. The specific place and date of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented through its genre features.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • D. Krištopaitė. Lietuvių karinės-istorinės dainos, Vilnius 1956
  • Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

Clover Grew in the Meadow: sources