The Laimės' Foretelling: A Newborn's Fate and Perkūnas

Genre: Fate sakme
Source status: folkloric
Motifs: three allotting voices, newborn’s fate, threat of Perkūnas, stone wall, cabbage leaf

The sakme

A wealthy father had a son. That night voices were heard allotting the child’s future. One said the child would grow large and be rich. The second said he would die young.

The Laimės’ Foretelling visual interpretation with three allotting voices, newborn’s fate, threat of Perkūnas motifs — The Laimės’ Foretelling: three allotting voices, newborn’s fate, threat of Perkūnas motifs translated into a quiet story image.

The third voice allotted otherwise: the child would live to a certain age, and on the appointed day Perkūnas would kill him.

The father feared that day. When it approached, he ordered a thick stone wall to be built and wanted to hide his son inside it. But the son ran into the cabbage garden and hid under a leaf.

A black cloud came. Perkūnas struck the wall and shattered it, but the child under the cabbage leaf remained alive.

Interpretation: what does the Laimės’ foretelling mean?

The sakme asks whether fate is unchangeable. The voices seem to draw the course of life beforehand, yet the father’s fear and the child’s accidental choice create another ending.

The stone wall symbolizes a human attempt to protect by force. Yet Perkūnas destroys precisely that fortress, while the fragile cabbage leaf becomes the true shelter.

This is a paradoxical fate sakme: humans cannot control heaven, but sometimes rescue comes through something small, unplanned, and everyday.

The source variant

Lietuvių tautosaka, IV (1967), no. 559, p. 557: „Laimių lėmimas“. An editorial retelling of the specific cited variant, checked against its complete source narrative. This is not a literal transcript.

The cabbage leaf and the stone wall

One of the most beautiful images in this sakme is the cabbage leaf that protects better than a wall. It shows that life is not guarded by power and wealth alone.

The sakme also reminds us that stories about fate often work not as dogma, but as a way of thinking about human limits.

The Laimės’ Foretelling: frequently asked questions

What do the three voices allot to the newborn?

The first says the child will grow large and rich, the second that he will die young, and the third that he will reach a certain age and die by Perkūnas on the appointed day.

How does the father try to protect his son from Perkūnas?

As the foretold day approaches, he orders a thick stone wall to be built and intends to hide his son inside it.

Where does the son actually hide?

Instead of entering the wall built by his father, he runs into the cabbage garden and hides beneath an ordinary cabbage leaf.

Why does the cabbage leaf prove safer than the stone wall?

Perkūnas strikes and shatters the wall, while the child beneath the fragile leaf survives. The story overturns the expectation that the strongest shelter must be the safest.

Does the death allotted by the third voice come to pass?

In this telling, the child does not die by Perkūnas. The father’s fear leads to the wall, but the child’s unplanned choice of the leaf changes the expected ending.

Who are the voices that allot the newborn’s fate in Lithuanian mythology?

The page associates them with Laimos or Laimė, fate goddesses who assign a person’s portion at the moment of birth.

The Laimės’ Foretelling