The Peacock Called lyrics and meaning
Kukavo povas /2x
Un ažuolėlio /2x
Mana bralalis /2x
Vainelėn joj /2x
Žirgų balnoja /2x
Ir kumanaja /2x
Kadų brolali /2x
Iš vainas grįši /2x
Traciuos meteliuos /2x
Giedriai dienelai /2x
Dai aš nuveisiu /2x
Žalian girelan /2x
Dai aš paimsiu /2x
Auksa žirklalas /2x
Aš nukarpysiu /2x
Viršų medelių /2x
Maž aš užvysiu /2x
Savą bralalį /2x
Maž aš užirsiu /2x
Dai ją balsalį /2x
The Peacock Called: song interpretation
This dialect song can be understood as a sister's song, sung while waiting for a brother who has ridden to war. At the beginning a peacock calls on an oak tree, and the brother rides to war while saddling and bridling his horse. The peacock's call can be interpreted as a sign of departure.
Asked when he will return from war, the brother answers that he will return in the third year, on clear days. This answer can be understood as an intuition of long waiting.
The sister promises to go into the green forest, take golden scissors, and cut the tops from the trees so that perhaps she might see her brother or hear his voice. This magical action can be read as an expression of longing, a wish to look across distance toward the brother. That is one possible meaning, but the sister's longing for the brother who rode to war is clear.
The Peacock Called: symbols and phrases
- Peacock on the oak
- The peacock calling on the oak is a sign of departure and news.
- Brother riding to war
- The brother leaving on a saddled horse marks separation.
- The third year
- The time when the brother says he will return, marking long waiting.
- Golden scissors and cutting tree tops
- A miraculous act meant to let the sister see the brother. It marks longing to look across distance.
The Peacock Called: song history
"The Peacock Called" belongs to the circle of military-historical songs in which the fate of a brother who has gone to war is seen through the eyes of the sister left at home. The dialect writing, with the peacock calling "on the oak" and the brother riding to "vaina" or war, saddling and bridling the horse, together with the steady repetition of every line twice, suggests slow, lament-like singing typical of farewell and waiting songs.
The exact recording place and time are not given on this page, so the song is presented by genre traits. The sister's promise to go to the forest, cut tree tops with golden scissors, and thereby see or hear the brother is a miraculous, hyperbolic image of longing that links the song with the broader tradition of military separation songs.
sources
- Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
- D. Krištopaitė, Lietuvių karinės-istorinės dainos, Vilnius 1956
- Catalogue of Lithuanian Folk Songs, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986
The Peacock Called: sources
The Peacock Called: frequently asked questions
What kind of song is this?
It is a military-historical song voiced from the perspective of a sister waiting for a brother who has ridden to war.
What does the peacock calling on the oak mean?
The peacock's call can be understood as a sign of departure and unhappy news at the beginning of the song.
Why does the brother say he will return in the third year?
The promise to return in the third year, on clear days, conveys a sense of long and uncertain waiting.
What does cutting tree tops with golden scissors mean?
It is a magical, exaggerated image of longing: the sister wants to see or hear her brother across the distance.