You Light-Footed Fox lyrics and meaning

Tu lapela, lengvapėde,
Lengvai girių išbėgio(jai).

Lengvai girių išbėgiojai,
Tiktai sunkiai tinklalin puo(lei).

Kų palikai žalion girion,
Kų palikai žalion gi(rion)?

Aš palikau žalion girion
Du strielčiuku strielčiavo(jant).

Du strielčiuku strielčiavojant,
Du kurteliu sliedavo(jant).

Vai, mergala lelijėla,
Lengvai dvarų išulio(jai).

Lengvai dvarų išuliojai,
Tiktai sunkiai vežimėlin sė(dai).

Kų palikai didžiam dvari,
Kų palikai didžiam dva(ri)?

Aš palikau didžiam dvari
Muzikėlas grajinan(cias).

Muzikėlas garijnancias,
Jaunimėlį uliavo(jant).

Jaunimėlį uliavojant
O tėvulį bėdavo(jant).

O tėvulį bėdavojant
O motułį gailiai ver(kian).

You Light-Footed Fox: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a parallel song comparing a fox and a young woman. At the beginning, the light-footed fox is addressed: she easily ran through the forests, but heavily fell into the net. This image can be interpreted as the picture of an animal caught and deprived of freedom.

Asked what she left in the green forest, the fox answers that she left two hunters shooting and two hounds following the tracks. These images can be understood as the hunting world left behind by the captured fox.

The same structure is then transferred to the young woman: she easily made merry through the manor, but heavily sat into the little wagon, leaving musicians playing, young people reveling, the father lamenting, and the mother weeping bitterly. This parallel can be interpreted as the bride being taken from her parents' home, compared to a fox caught in a net. This is one possible meaning, but the parallel between fox and bride is clear in the song.

You Light-Footed Fox: symbols and phrases

Light-footed fox in a net
The fox that once ran freely but has fallen into a net. It is parallel to the bride taken from home.
Two hunters, two hounds
The hunters and hounds left in the forest. They signify the hunting world left by the captured fox.
Young woman sitting in the wagon
The bride entering the wedding wagon. It signifies her departure from her parents' home.
Music left behind, weeping parents
The playing music and grieving parents remaining in the manor. They signify the home being left and the pain of separation.

You Light-Footed Fox: song history

"You Light-Footed Fox" belongs to wedding songs built on parallelism. In the first part, the light-footed fox has run easily through the forests but falls heavily into a net; in the second, the same structure is transferred to the young woman, who has made merry easily through the manor but sits heavily in the wagon. Such a comparison between a captured animal and a bride being taken from her parents' home is a classic image of wedding departure songs.

The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented by genre traits; its language is strongly dialectal (išbėgiojai, strielčiavojant, uliojai). The second half lists what the bride leaves behind: music, reveling youth, a lamenting father, and a bitterly weeping mother, forming a picture of the abandoned home and the pain of parting.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • A. Juška. Lithuanian Wedding Songs, 2 vols., Vilnius 1955
  • Catalogue of Lithuanian Folk Songs, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

You Light-Footed Fox: sources