The Fox Went Sliding lyrics and meaning

Čiužinėjo laputala,
Čiužinėjo laputala
Po žalių girałį. /2×2

Pasisaugok, paputala,
Pasisaugok, laputala ---
Nušaus tavi strielčiukas. /2×2

Nušaus tavi strielčiukėlis,
Nušaus tavi strielčiukėlis,
Nujims tavo baronus. /2×2

Nujims tavo baronėlius,
Nujims tavo baronėlius,
Nuvaš un turgėlio. /2×2

Klausinėjo bajorėliai,
Klausinėjo bajorėliai,
Kiek kaštuoja baronai. /2×2

Mano šitie baronėliai,
Mano šitie baronėliai,
Penki šimtai rublalių. /2×2

Šypso vypso laputala,
Šypso vypso laputala
Iš tų kvailų bajorų. /2×2

The Fox Went Sliding: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a humorous animal song about a clever fox and foolish nobles. At the beginning the fox slides through the green forest, and someone warns her to watch out in case the strielčius, the hunter, shoots her and takes her baronai to market. This warning immediately creates a playful, fairy-tale world.

At the market, the little nobles ask how much the baronai cost, and the fox answers that her baronai cost five hundred rubles. This exaggerated price can be read as a clever deception by which the fox tries to profit from gullible buyers.

At the end the fox grins and smirks at the foolish nobles. This image can be understood as the trickster's victory over pompous but ignorant gentry. It may also be read as light social mockery in which folk cleverness wins. This is one possible meaning, but the comic and satirical character of the song is unmistakable.

The Fox Went Sliding: symbols and phrases

Laputala, the fox
The fox sliding through the forest, an image of cleverness and quick dealing. She is the song's main actor and outwits the foolish.
Strielčius
A hunter who might shoot the fox. He is the threat she is warned to avoid.
Baronai
Rams or sheep that the fox sells at market. They are the goods through which the clever fox profits.
Foolish nobles
Pompous but ignorant lords buying the fox's baronai. They are the object of the fox's mockery.

The Fox Went Sliding: song history

"The Fox Went Sliding" belongs to humorous animal songs in which humanized animals act and the story rests on mockery and a surprising turn. Here the clever fox, warned to beware of the strielčius, or hunter, ultimately sells her "baronai" at market for the fabulous price of five hundred rubles and laughs at the gullible nobles: a typical motif of the trickster's victory over puffed-up lords. Frequent line repetition and diminutive forms link the song with play and entertainment repertoire.

The page gives no exact place or time of recording, so the song is presented through genre features. Dialect forms such as "laputala," "strielčius," "baronai," "bajorėliai," and "rublalių" point to an eastern Aukštaitian or Dzūkian linguistic background; variants of such mocking animal songs exist in different Lithuanian regions.

sources

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

The Fox Went Sliding: sources