The Maiden Walked lyrics and meaning

Vaikščiojo mergelė
Po levendrų sodą,
: Vaikščiodama uliodama
Levendrėlį laužė. :

Vai tu levendrela
Žalias žolynėli,
: Ar nematei, levendrèla,
Mano bernužėlio? :

Kurį aš mylėjau
Širdelen turėjau,
: Šių naktelį per sapnelį
Žodelį kalbėjau.:

Sėdžiu už stalalio
Žiūrau per langelį,
: Žiūr-atjoja bernužėlis
Per lygų laukelį. :

Pririšo žirgelį
Pas rūtų darželį,
: O pats jaunas bernužėlis
Aukštojon klėtelėn. :

Duok žirgui abrako
Šalto vandenėlio,
: O man, jaunam bernužėliui,
Aukso sidabrėlio. :

Vai berneli mano,
Baltas dobilėli,
: Ar nežinai, bernužėli,
Kad aš siratėlė? :

Neturiu tėvulio
Senos motynėlės,
: Aš neturiu, bernužėli,
Aukso sidabrėlio. :

The Maiden Walked: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a love song with an orphanhood tone. At the beginning the maiden walks through a lavender garden, breaking lavender, and asks it whether it has seen the young man she loved and carried in her heart. This image can be interpreted as longing for the beloved.

Then the young woman sees through the window that the young man is arriving; he ties his horse by the rue garden and goes into the high storehouse. She orders fodder and water to be given to the horse, and gold and silver to him. These images can be understood as the reception of a guest and a courtship visit.

At the end the girl admits that she is an orphan, without father, mother, or gold and silver. This confession can be interpreted as love obstructed by poverty and orphanhood. This is one possible meaning, but the motifs of love and orphanhood are clear.

A second interpretive version reads the same text through wedding and dowry negotiation. The instruction to give fodder and water to the horse and "gold and silver" to the young man resembles formulas of courtship hospitality and wealth listing, used to negotiate the equality of the couple. Then the girl's confession that she lacks gold and silver sounds not only like personal sorrow but like a social obstacle: a poor orphan has no dowry, so the courtship meets property inequality. This remains a hypothesis, but it explains why the song emphasizes the absence of gold and silver.

The Maiden Walked: symbols and phrases

Lavender garden and broken lavender
The garden where the girl walks and breaks lavender marks an environment of love and longing.
Question to lavender about the young man
Asking the plant about the beloved signifies longing for him.
Arriving young man and tied horse
The guest tying his horse by the rue garden signifies a courtship visit.
"I am an orphan; I have no gold or silver"
The girl's confession of poverty and orphanhood marks a social obstacle to love.

The Maiden Walked: song history

"The Maiden Walked" belongs to love songs in which a meeting and courtship image is pierced by the tone of orphanhood. The song begins with a familiar love-song image: the maiden walks through a lavender garden and asks the plant whether it has seen her young man. It then moves to the arriving suitor, who ties his horse by the rue garden and goes into the high storehouse.

The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented through genre features. Questioning a plant about the beloved and tying the horse by the rue garden are familiar love-song formulas, while the final admission, "I am an orphan," without father, mother, or gold and silver, weaves the lot of a poor orphan girl into the love scene.

sources

  • Lithuanian Folk Songbook, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • Catalogue of Lithuanian Folk Songs, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

The Maiden Walked: sources