Oh Rustle, Forest Trees lyrics and meaning

Vai ūžkit ūžkit, girių medeliai,
Maži mano brolaliai

Tai užaugs užaugs mano brolaliai
Pakirs girios medelius

Girełėj kirto, pakelėj krovė,
Prie vieškełėlio statė

Oi ir pastatė aukštų kłėtełį
Iš keturių kampelių

O kas kampelis --- rūtų darželis
Ir lelijų krūmelis

Kas vasarėłį po gegiutėłį
Kas dzienełį kukavo

Tolei kukavo kol iškukavo
Iš motułės dukrełį

Kelalis dunda, dukrełį veža,
O ji vis gailiai verkia

--- oi neverk neverk, mūsų sesiula,
Mes tavį aplankysim

--- oi broliai, broliai, brolaliai mano,
Nesurasit kelalio

Užaugs kelaliai žaliu vejałi,
Baltaisiais dobiłėliais

Pasruvs kalneliai srauniais upeliais
Ir pilkais akmenėliais

Oh Rustle, Forest Trees: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a song about a sister being married off and the brothers' promise. At the beginning, the forest trees and the little brothers are urged to rustle; when the brothers grow up, they will cut forest trees and build a high storehouse by the highway, with a rue garden at each corner. This image can be interpreted as a picture of home and wedding preparation.

Then each summer a cuckoo calls near the storehouse until it "cuckoos out" the daughter from her mother. The cuckoo's calling can be understood as a premonition of marriage, while the daughter carried away and weeping bitterly is the bride being taken from home.

At the end, the brothers promise to visit their sister, but she answers that they will not find the road, because the roads will grow over with green grass and clover, and the hills will run with streams. These images can be interpreted as irreversible separation after marriage. That is one possible meaning, but the motif of the married-off sister and separation is clear.

Oh Rustle, Forest Trees: symbols and phrases

Brothers building a storehouse
Brothers cutting forest trees and building a storehouse. They mark home and wedding preparation.
Calling cuckoo
The cuckoo near the storehouse that calls the daughter away from her mother. It marks the premonition of marriage.
Carried, weeping daughter
The daughter carried along the road, weeping bitterly. She marks the bride taken from home.
Overgrown roads and running hills
Roads covered by grass and hills running with streams. They mark irreversible separation.

Oh Rustle, Forest Trees: song history

"Oh Rustle, Forest Trees" belongs to wedding and family songs about a sister being married off and separated from her birth home. The song begins with a wider picture: little brothers who, once grown, will cut forest trees and build a storehouse by the highway, with rue gardens at every corner. From that image it moves to the main motif: the cuckoo's call, which "cuckoos out" the daughter from her mother.

The exact recording place and date are not given on this page, so the song is presented through its genre features. The image of a weeping daughter carried along the road and the brothers' promise to visit their sister are common wedding separation motifs. The sister's answer that the brothers will not find the road - the roads will grow over with green grass, the hills will run with swift streams - poetically expresses the irreversibility of separation after marriage.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • A. Juška. Lietuviškos svotbinės dainos, 2 vols., Vilnius 1955
  • Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

Oh Rustle, Forest Trees: sources