Little Spring lyrics and meaning
Po kleveliu šaltinatis,
Čystas vandenatis,
Kur ateit Saulės dukrytės
Anksti burną praustis.
Pri klevelio šaltinačio
Ėjau burną praustis;
Man beprausiant baltą burną
Nuploviau žiedatį.
O atėjo Dievo sūneliai
Su šilkų tinkleliais
Ir žvejojo mano žiedatį
Iš vandens gilumės.
Ir atjojo jauns bernytis
Ant bėro žirgačio,
O tas bėrasis žirgatis
Aukso padkavatėms.
Eikš šenai, mergyte,
Eikš šenai, jaunoji,
Kalbėsiva kalbatę,
Dūmosiva dūmatę.
Negaliu, bernyti,
Barias mano močiutė,
Barias mano senga vėlė,
Ilgai nepareisiu.
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Meaning
The spring in this song is a boundary between everyday life and a more sacred space. The daughters of the sun wash there, and the girl loses her ring. The ring in the water is not only an ornament, but a bond, honor, or promise that has entered a deeper, hard-to-reach place.
The young man's invitation to talk and think together looks like the beginning of love, but the girl cannot go because she is constrained by her mother and the old order. The song therefore joins a cosmic image of the spring with a very earthly family prohibition.
Symbols
- Little spring
- A place of clear water where washing, loss, and the invitation to love meet.
- Daughters of the sun
- A mythic layer of light. They raise the ordinary spring into a more sacred space.
- Little ring
- The ring or sign of a ring. Its being washed away shows a bond lost or hidden in the water.
- Silk nets
- The attempt to draw the ring from the depths. They show a delicate but extraordinary search.
History
"Little Spring" appears in Rėza's collection as a song of Lithuania Minor with a strong mythopoetic layer: daughters of the sun, sons of God, silk nets, and a ring in the water. It is not merely an everyday love scene.
Rėza's comments show many manuscript variants and changes in individual lines. In some places the spring is linked with a linden, in others with a maple, but the motifs of clean water, the lost ring, and the young man's invitation remain.
Sources
Common questions
What does "šaltinatis" mean?
It is a diminutive or dialectal form of "spring." In the song it is clean water beneath a tree.
Why do the daughters of the sun wash in the spring?
This is a mythic image that gives the spring light and sacredness. It shows that the place is not merely ordinary.
Why is the ring washed away?
The lost ring in the water can mean love, honor, or a promise entering an unreachable depth.
Who are the sons of God?
They are mythopoetic figures in the song who come with silk nets to fish for the ring. They belong to an old layer of song imagery.
Why can the girl not go with the young man?
She says her mother and the old head will scold her. This shows family control and social boundaries.
Are there several variants of this song?
Yes. Rėza's edition and comments show differences in the tree, some lines, and continuations, while the spring and ring core remains.