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Far, Far Away lyrics and meaning

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Ei toli toli --- labai toli Penki broleliai šieną pjovė Penki broleliai šieną pjovė O aš seselė vienturtėlė Nešiau broleliams pusrytėlius Vienoj rankelėj pusrytėliai Antroj rankelėj abrūsėlis O ir sutikau lenkų ponus Nelabai puikius bajorėlius Atėmė mano pusrytėlius Iš baltų rankų abrūsėlį Susėdo ponai pietų valgyt Padavė manį žirgus laikyt Ne tiek pailsau laikydama Kiek aš pailsau beverdama Aš tuos žirgelius paleidusi Pas brolužėlius nubėgusi Ei broliai broliai, broliai mano Meskit dalgužius į šalalę Meskit dalgužius į šalalę Imkit kardužius į rankęlę Vykit ponaičius, lenkų ponus Nelabai puikius bajorėlius

Meaning

This song can be understood as a song about the wrong done to a sister and a call to resist. At the beginning, far away, five brothers are cutting hay, while their only sister carries them breakfast: food in one hand and an abrūsėlis, a towel, in the other. The image presents harmonious family labor.

On the road, the sister meets Polish lords, not very splendid nobles, who take away the breakfast and towel and force her to hold their horses while they eat. She says she was tired not so much from holding the horses as from anger and distress. These actions can be interpreted as the arbitrariness of lords and the humiliation of an ordinary young woman.

After releasing the horses, the sister runs to her brothers and urges them to throw their scythes aside, take swords, and pursue the Polish lords. This call can be understood as a motif of resistance, even armed resistance, against oppressive lords. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of injury and resistance is clear in the song.

Symbols

Five brothers
The brothers cutting hay, to whom the sister carries breakfast. They mark family and shared labor.
Breakfast and abrūsėlis
The breakfast and towel carried by the sister and taken by the lords. Their seizure begins the wrong.
Polish lords
Arbitrary nobles who humiliate the sister. They mark the oppressors against whom resistance rises.
Scythes and swords
Throwing down scythes and taking swords marks the shift from peaceful labor to armed resistance.

History

"Ei toli toli, labai toli" belongs to military-historical songs in which an ordinary village person encounters the arbitrary power of lords or foreign armed men. The song is built on an image of work: five brothers cut hay, and their only sister brings them breakfast, so the opening scene seems harmonious until wrongdoers intrude on the road. The naming of "Polish lords" and "nobles" points to social and ethnic tension characteristic of this genre.

The turn from injury to resistance, the sister's call to throw down scythes and take up swords, gathers the whole song into an appeal to resist oppressors. The exact place and time of this version's recording are not given on the page, so it is presented according to genre features; similar songs about a wronged sister and avenging brothers are found in various Lithuanian regions.

Sources