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The Sun Has Set (Orphan Song) lyrics and meaning

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Jau Saulutė užusėdo Siratėlė užblūdijo Visur tėtė ieškojo Ir siratėlės neranda Jeigu žvėrys būt suplėšę Visos žvėrys rasšalitų Jeigu girioj užblūdijus Visos girios rasšulitų Jeigu upėj nuskandinus Visos upes rasilietų Gale lauko kapeliai Jing kapelių avietėlė Tenai verkė siratėlė Savo motulį budina Kelkis mano motula Pašuji man galvelį Pašuji man galvelį Atmainai man marškinėlius Turi tu sau mocekėlį Pašukuos tau galvelį Pašukuos tau galvelį Atmainys man marškinėlius Tikra mano motinėlė Pikta mano močekėlė Vieną rozą pašukavo Visus plaukelius nupešė Marškinėlius duodama Amžinai mane prakeikė Kad tu šitų marškinėlių Šitų jau nepernešiotum Šitų jau nepernešiotum O daugiau neprašytum

Meaning

This song can be understood as an orphan girl's song about getting lost and suffering under a cruel stepmother. At the beginning, the sun has set and the little orphan has wandered off and lost her way. Her father searches everywhere but cannot find her. The lostness immediately creates a mood of anxiety and solitude.

The song considers possible outcomes: if beasts had torn her apart, they would scatter; if she were lost in the forest, the forests would sway; if she had drowned in the river, the rivers would overflow. These images can be read as nature's response, which does not occur, so the girl is found at the far end of the field by the graves, where she weeps and tries to wake her mother.

The girl asks her dead mother to comb her little head and change her shirt, but she is reminded of the stepmother. The stepmother is shown as cruel: when she once combed the girl, she tore out all her hair, and when giving her a shirt, she cursed her forever. This contrast can be understood as the painful fate of an orphan without a mother's love. That is one possible meaning, but orphanhood and stepmother cruelty are clear motifs in the song.

Symbols

Lost orphan girl
The orphan who loses her way after sunset. She marks solitude and vulnerability.
Nature's response
Beasts, forests, and rivers that would react to loss. Their stillness emphasizes that the girl is found by the graves.
Graves and raspberry bush
The graves at the field's edge, with raspberries, where the mother rests. There the orphan seeks comfort.
Stepmother's curse
The stepmother who tears out hair and curses while giving a shirt. She marks cruelty and the absence of love.

History

"The Sun Has Set" belongs to family songs whose core is the motif of orphanhood: a lost orphan girl, an address at the grave of her dead mother, and the contrast with a cruel stepmother. The song's structure rests on a formulaic listing of possible endings - if beasts had torn her apart, if she had become lost in the forest, if she had drowned in the river, nature would have responded - and only then is she found at the far end of the field by the graves. This listing of unrealized outcomes deepens the impression of loneliness and vulnerability.

The exact place and date of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented by genre. The address at the grave, "Rise, my mother, comb my head," is a common formula in Lithuanian orphan songs, while the stepmother's curse, uttered as she gives a shirt, sharpens the opposition between a mother's love and a stepmother's injury.

Sources