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Green Fallow Fields lyrics and meaning

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Vai pūdymai, pūdymai Pūdymėli žaliasis Tame pūdymėly Tame žaliukėly Aug žalioji liepelė /3×2 Ai liepele, liepele Liepele šimtšakėle Po ta liepužėle Po ta šimtšakėle Gul mudviejų močiutė /3×2 Ai mudvi dvi sesele Abidva našlaitėli, Eisva mudvi Mudvi abidvi Močiutės aplankyti /3×2 Prieš kalnelį lipdamos Ant kapelio puldamos Motinėle mano Širdužėle mano Priimk mus prie šalalės /3×2 Ai judvi dvi dukreli Abidvi našlaitėli, Ką judvi gersit O ką valgysit Kad pas mane būsit? /3×2 Ai močiute močiute, Močiute širdužėle, Nor nuo liepužėlės Žalius brazdužėlius Bil su tavimi drauge /3×2 Vai pūdymai, pūdymai, Pūdymėli žaliasis Tame pūdymėly Tame žaliukėlį Stov žalias ąžuolėlis /3×2 Stov žalias ąžuolėlis Ąžuolas šimtšakėlis Po tuo ąžuolėliu Po tuo šimtšakėliu Gul mudžiejų tėvelis /3×2 Ai mudu du broleliu Broleliu našlaitėliu Eisva brolužėli Baltas dobilėli Tėvelio aplankyti /3×2 Kelki mūsų tėveli Tėveli širdužėli Kelki tėvužėli Mūsų širdužėli Priimk ir mudu drauge /3×2 Vai sūneliu sūneliu, Sūneliu brangvardėliu Ką jūs čia gersit, O ką valgysit ? Kai su manimi būsit /3×2 Vai tėveli tėveli. Tėveli širdužėli Nors nuo ąžuolėlio Raselį braukysim Bil su tavimi drauge /3×2

Meaning

This song can be understood as an orphan lament at the parents' graves. At the beginning a many-branched linden grows in a green fallow field, and under it lies the mother. Two orphan sisters go to visit her; falling at the grave, they ask: mother, dear heart, take us to your side. This image can be read as the wish to be together with the dead mother.

The mother asks what they will drink and eat if they stay with her, and the sisters answer that even green bark from the linden would be enough, as long as they were together with her. These images can be understood as a willingness to live in hardship if only they could be with their mother.

At the end the same structure is transferred to brothers at the father, who lies under a many-branched oak. They would agree to live by wiping dew from the oak, as long as they were together with their father. These images can be read as the deep pain of orphanhood and longing for dead parents. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of orphans lamenting at their parents' graves is clear in the song.

Symbols

Fallow field, many-branched linden and oak
The green fallow field and the large trees above the graves. They mark the parents' place of eternal rest.
Mother and father lying beneath trees
The dead parents under linden and oak. They mark the loss being mourned.
Orphan sisters and brothers
Children without parents, visiting the graves. They mark orphanhood.
"Take us to your side"
The request to be together with the dead parents. It marks deep longing and grief.

History

"Green Fallow Fields" belongs to family songs, more precisely to orphan songs that sing of children's longing after the loss of parents. The song is built in two parallel parts: in the first, two orphan sisters go to visit the mother lying under a many-branched linden; in the second, the same images are repeated with two brothers and the father lying under a many-branched oak. This symmetrical linking of tree, linden for mother and oak for father, with the children and the address to the dead, is characteristic of orphan lyric and close to lament.

The exact place and time of recording are not stated on this page, so the song is presented through genre features. The children's repeated answer, that green bark from the linden or dew wiped from the oak would be enough, "if only together with you," highlights their willingness to endure poverty just to be with their dead parents. It is a deep motif of orphan grief and misfortune.

Sources