Lithuanian Brothers Rode to War lyrics and meaning

Lietuvos broliai į karą jojo,
Į karą jojo, žirgus balnojo.

Jok jok broleli, jok balundeli,
Ar be pavysi savo pulkelį?

Vyti pavysiu, ginti paginsiu,
Dievas tik žino, ar besugrįšiu.

Jei nesugrįšiu, laišką rašysiu,
Savo žirgelį aš parsiundysiu.

Išein seselės ant aukšto kalno,
Ant aukšto kalno brolelio laukti.

Parbėg žirgelis, parneš balnelį ---
Kame paliko mūsų brolelis?

Kare paliko, nuo kulkos krito,
Devynios kulkos per viršų lėkė.

Devynios kulkos per viršų lėkė.
O dešimtoji --- galvelę kirto.

Nukirt galvelę kaip kopūstelį,
Vertė brolelį kaip ažuolėlį.

Kur kūns gulėjo --- rožės žydėjo,
O kur kojelės --- ten lelijėlės.

Kur kraujs varvėjo --- upės tekėjo.
Kur galva krito --- ten rūtos dygo.

Lithuanian Brothers Rode to War: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a war ballad about a fallen brother. At the beginning Lithuanian brothers ride to war and saddle their horses. The brother is asked whether he will catch up with his troop, and he answers that he will catch up and defend, but only God knows whether he will return. This image can be read as the beginning of departure and the premonition of death.

The brother promises that if he does not return, he will write a letter and send back his horse. The sisters go out onto a high hill to wait, but the horse runs back without its rider and brings an empty saddle. This image can be understood as the news of death: the brother fell in war, struck by a bullet, after nine bullets flew over him and the tenth cut his head.

At the end the brother's body becomes nature: where the body lay, roses bloomed; where the feet lay, lilies; where blood dripped, rivers flowed; where the head fell, rue grew. This transformation can be read as a poetic softening of death. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of death in war is clear.

A second interpretive version is possible. The final transformation may be read not only as softening death, but also as an older, mythic image of growth from death: plants growing from the fallen body, roses, lilies, and especially rue, and rivers flowing from blood recall etiological tales that explain the origin of sacred plants or waters. Such a link between death and new life connects the war ballad with an archaic view that the fallen person's life does not disappear but passes into nature. This remains a hypothesis, but it explains why the song so carefully names what grows in each place.

Lithuanian Brothers Rode to War: symbols and phrases

Brothers riding to war
Brothers saddling horses and departing for battle. They mark departure and danger.
Riderless horse
The horse that returns carrying an empty saddle. It is the sign of the brother's death.
Nine bullets and the tenth
Nine bullets pass overhead, while the tenth strikes the head. They mark fatal death.
Body becoming nature
Roses, lilies, rue, and rivers appear where the body fell. The image marks death transformed poetically into nature.

Lithuanian Brothers Rode to War: song history

"Lithuanian Brothers Rode to War" belongs to military-historical songs close to ballad: it tells of a brother who rides to war and dies, while the news reaches the household through the riderless horse returning with an empty saddle. The saddling of the horse, the farewell, the motif of nine bullets passing and the fatal tenth, and the sisters waiting on a high hill are typical images of the genre.

The exact place and time of recording are not stated on this page, so the song is presented through genre features. The final transformation, where roses, lilies, and rue grow from the fallen body and rivers flow from blood, is a powerful poetic way of giving meaning to death, linking the song with the old tradition that connects nature and death.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • D. Krištopaitė. Lietuvių karinės-istorinės dainos, Vilnius 1956
  • Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

Lithuanian Brothers Rode to War: sources