Lavender, Green Herb lyrics and meaning

Oi tu levandrėle, žalias žolynėli,
Ar nematei levandrėle mano bernužėlio?

Kurį aš mylėjau, širdelėj turėjau,
Šių naktelį per naktelį sapnely regėjau.

Sėdžiu už stalelio, žiūriu pro langelį,
Ir atjojo bernužėlis per lygų laukelį.

Ir atjjoj bernelis perlygų laukelį
Ir pririšo bėrą žirgą prie rūtų darželio.

Pririšo žirgelį, prie rūrų darželio,
O pats jaunas bernužėlis aukštojon klėtelėn.

Duok žirgui abrako, čysto vandenėlio,
O man jaunam bernužėliui aukso, sidabrėlio.

Neturiu tėvelio, anei motinėlės,
Aš neturiu, bernužėli, aukso, sidabrėlio.

Lavender, Green Herb: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a love song in which a girl addresses lavender, asking about her young man. At the beginning she asks the green herb whether it has seen the young man whom she loved, held in her heart, and saw in a dream through the night. This address can be read as longing and as entrusting a secret to a plant.

Then, sitting at a little table and looking through the window, she sees the young man riding across a level field. He ties his bay horse by the rue garden and himself goes into the high storehouse. These images can be understood as the arrival of a suitor.

At the end the young man asks for fodder and clear water for the horse, and gold and silver for himself, but the girl answers that she has neither father nor mother, nor gold. This answer can be read as orphan poverty and an unequal lot. This is one possible meaning, but the motifs of love and deprivation are clear in the song.

Lavender, Green Herb: symbols and phrases

Lavender
The green herb asked about the young man. It functions as a plant confidant for the girl's secret.
Dream of the young man
The beloved seen through the night in a dream. It marks longing and love.
Bay horse by the rue garden
The suitor's horse tied by the garden. It marks a courtship arrival.
Request for gold and silver
The wealth the young man asks for and the girl lacks. It marks orphan poverty and an unequal lot.

Lavender, Green Herb: song history

"Lavender, Green Herb" belongs to love songs. In it the girl's address to a plant, lavender, a green herb, stands in for a confidant: she asks it about the beloved young man whom she "held in her heart" and saw in a dream through the night. Address to a natural being, the images of the rue garden and bay horse, and the arrival of the suitor are typical motifs of love and courtship lyric.

The exact place and time of recording are not stated on this page, so the song is presented through genre features. The final stanza, in which the young man asks for gold and silver, while the girl answers that she has neither father nor mother nor wealth, weaves the orphan's lot and unequal status into a love song. Such combinations of stanzas are common, and variants of the song exist in different regions.

sources

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

Lavender, Green Herb: sources