The Speckled Falcon Flew lyrics and meaning

Ei, lėkė, lėkė raibas sakalėlis
Iš toli, labai toooooli
Ei, nešė nešė močiutei garselį*
Ale nelabai gerą*

O jau jau tavo tavo dukružėlę
Kazokai paviliojo
Ei skamba aidi jos alasužėlis
Kaip aukselio varpelis

Ei sliūkso drikso jos kasužėlės
Kaip geltoni lineliai
Ei žiba žėri aukselio žiedelis
Ant baltųjų rankelių

Ei, vežė, vežė mūsų seserėlę
Į svetimą šalelę
Ei verkė verkė mūsų seserėlė
Svetimoje šalelėj
O ji verkdama ir dūsaudama
Tėvelius minavojo

Ei varge, varge, varguži mano
Kada tave išvargsiu?
O kai išvargsiu, tave, vergužėli
Aš eisu pas tėvelį

O nėra niekur tokių sodužėlių
Kaip mano tėvelio:
Žalieji lapai baltieji žiedeliai
Raudoni obuolėliai

Ei, varge, varge, varguži mano,
Kada tave išvargsiu?
O kai šivargsiu, tave, vargužėli,
Aš eisiu pas motušę

O nėra niekur tokių sodužėlių
Kaip tik mano motušės
Sidabro lapai, aukselio žiedeliai,
Deimanto obuolėliai

The Speckled Falcon Flew: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a song about a sister taken to a foreign land and her longing for home. At the beginning a speckled falcon flies from far away and brings the mother not very good news: Cossacks have enticed or carried off her daughter. The falcon is a messenger, opening the sorrowful story.

The sister is described through beauty: her voice rings like a golden bell, her braids flow like yellow flax, and a gold ring gleams on her white hands. Yet she is carried to a foreign land, where she weeps and sighs, remembering her parents. This contrast can be read as a painful passage from beauty and freedom into a foreign, sorrowful lot.

The sister laments her hardship and dreams that, once she has endured it, she will go back to her father and mother. She praises their orchards: her father's green leaves and red apples, her mother's silver leaves, golden blossoms, and diamond apples. This idealized image of the family home can be understood as an expression of homesickness in a foreign land. This is one possible meaning, but the motifs of separation and longing are clear in the song.

The Speckled Falcon Flew: symbols and phrases

Speckled falcon
A falcon arriving from far away with bad news. It is the messenger that begins the sorrowful song.
Cossacks
Imperial cavalrymen who entice or carry away the sister. They mark force and separation from home.
Foreign land
The distant place to which the sister is taken. It marks a lot of marriage or captivity far from home.
Father's and mother's orchards
Idealized home gardens with gold and diamond apples. They express the preciousness of home and longing for it.

The Speckled Falcon Flew: song history

"The Speckled Falcon Flew" belongs to military-historical and family songs about a sister taken to a foreign land and her longing for home. The song begins with the formula of a bird messenger: the speckled falcon flies in from far away and brings the mother "not very good news," that Cossacks, imperial cavalrymen, have enticed away her daughter. The girl's vivid beauty, her voice like a golden bell, braids like yellow flax, and gold ring on white hands, is then contrasted with the foreign land where the sister weeps and remembers her parents.

The page gives no exact place or time of recording, so the song is presented through genre features. The motif of a girl enticed or carried off by Cossacks connects the song with historical songs from the era of the tsarist army. The praise of idealized home gardens, the father's red apples and the mother's silver leaves and diamond apples, is a frequent expression of homesickness. Variants of such songs have been recorded in different regions.

sources

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

The Speckled Falcon Flew: sources