A Little Thistle Grew in the Yard lyrics and meaning

Augo kieme dagilėlis
Kieme kiemelį tėvelio dvarely

Plačios sako dagilėlio
O dar platesnės pačioj viršūnėlėj

Mirė mano motinėlė
Mirė mano sengalvėlė
Nėr kam suglausti dagilio šakelių

-Kelkis mano motinėle,
Kelkis mano sengalvėle
Ateik suglausti dagilio šakelių

-Nei aš kelsiuos, dukružėle,
Nei aš kelsiuos, širdužėle,
Pati suglausi dagilio šakelį

-Kelkis rytą kuo anksčiausiai,
Eik į darbą kuo pirmiausiai
Tai ir suglausi dagilio šakelį

A Little Thistle Grew in the Yard: song interpretation

This song can be understood as an orphan song about the loss of a mother and the need to learn to work alone. At the beginning, in the father's manor yard, a little thistle grows with broad branches, broader still at the top. The wide-spreading plant may stand for household tasks or cares that are hard to gather and manage alone.

After the narrator's mother, the gray-haired old one, has died, there is no one left to gather the thistle branches together. This image can be read as the burden of household work left on the orphaned daughter's shoulders. The daughter calls to the dead mother, asking her to rise and come help.

The mother answers from beyond that she will not rise and cannot help; the daughter will gather the branches herself. Instead, she teaches: rise as early as possible, go first to work, and then you will gather them. The answer may be understood as the dead mother's lesson in diligence and self-reliance. That is one possible meaning, but the motif of orphanhood and the lesson of work are clear in the song.

A Little Thistle Grew in the Yard: symbols and phrases

Little thistle
A thistle growing in the yard with broad branches. It may mark household work or cares that must be gathered and managed.
Sengalvėlė
The aged, gray-haired mother who has died in the song. Her loss leaves the daughter an orphan.
Gathering the branches
Bringing together the thistle's branches, understood as doing and managing household work. The orphan must learn to do it alone.
Rising early
The mother's lesson to rise early and be first at work. It marks diligence and self-reliance as the response to loss.

A Little Thistle Grew in the Yard: song history

"A Little Thistle Grew in the Yard" belongs to family and orphan songs about the loss of a mother and learning to work alone. The song rests on a motif typical of orphan songs: a conversation with a dead mother. The daughter calls to the deceased gray-haired mother, asking her to rise and help, while the mother answers from beyond with a lesson in diligence and self-reliance. The broad-branched thistle growing in the father's manor yard functions as an image of household tasks and cares that are difficult to "gather" alone.

The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented through its genre features; the motif of speaking with a dead relative is common in orphan songs and laments. The mother's reply - "I will not rise... you will gather them yourself" - concentrates the song's meaning in irreversible loss and the lesson of self-reliance.

sources

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

A Little Thistle Grew in the Yard: sources