Green Fallow Fields lyrics and meaning

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

Green Fallow Fields: song interpretation

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.

Green Fallow Fields: symbols and phrases

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.

Green Fallow Fields: song 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

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

Green Fallow Fields: sources