Lapwing, Lapwing lyrics and meaning

Pempel, pempel kuoduotoj,
Kame tavo kamaralė langotoj?
Pievelėj, kemselėj,
Teni mano kamaralė langotoj.

Kurmel, kurmel, kur buvai,
Kurmausėli, tu žemelę kam rausiai?
Gėriau, gėriau žemelę
Ir apsvaigo maža mano galvelė.

Žiržals bimbalą nugalėj
Ir plunksnelės bimbalėlio išdulkėj.
Auskit, sesės, abrūsus,
Žielavokit bimbelėlį nors metus.

Lapwing, Lapwing: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a humorous joking song about birds and insects. At the beginning it addresses the crested lapwing and asks where its windowed little chamber is; the answer is in the meadow, on a tussock. This image can be read as playful singing about an animal's dwelling by jokingly comparing it with a human room.

Next the mole is addressed and asked why it dug the earth, and it answers that it drank the earth until its little head grew dizzy. This can be understood as a comic story that resembles human drunkenness.

At the end, an insect called žirgalas defeats a gadfly, and the sisters are urged to weave towels and mourn the little gadfly for at least a year. This image can be interpreted as a parody of funeral custom, mourning an insect in jest. This is one possible meaning, but the playful joking character is clear.

Lapwing, Lapwing: symbols and phrases

Crested lapwing
A meadow bird asked about its home. It marks an animal playfully sung as if it were human.
Windowed chamber
The lapwing's meadow dwelling, jokingly called a room. It humorously compares animal and human housing.
Mole digging earth
The mole who digs and is said to be dizzy from drinking earth creates a comic image of drunkenness.
Mourning the gadfly
The call to weave towels and mourn an insect parodies funeral custom.

Lapwing, Lapwing: song history

"Lapwing, Lapwing" belongs to playful children's and joke songs about birds and insects. The song is arranged as a chain of addresses and questions with answers: the crested lapwing is asked where its "windowed chamber" is, then the mole is asked why it dug the earth, and the song is crowned by a comic image of mourning for a gadfly. The personification of animals, the joking comparison of their dwellings with human rooms, and the repeated question-and-answer structure are typical of children's repertoire.

The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented through genre features. The ending, telling sisters to weave towels and mourn the little gadfly for a year, humorously borrows the language of funeral and mourning custom; such parodying of human rites through an insect or bird is common in comic children's songs, with variants found in different regions.

sources

  • Lithuanian Folk Songbook, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • P. Jokimaitiene. Lithuanian Children's Folk Songs, Vilnius 1970
  • Catalogue of Lithuanian Folk Songs, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

Lapwing, Lapwing: sources