Pijolka, Rue, Čiūta lyrics and meaning

This sutartinė, with the refrain "čiūta," can be understood as a short song about two young men burning tar. On a high hill, two young men make tar from birch bark, and for a pot of tar two young men are given away. The image can be read first as a small scene from everyday craft work: tar making.

In earlier village life tar was obtained by the dry distillation of birch bark and used for greasing cart wheels and tanning or treating leather, so the young men's work belongs to a practical rural craft. The high hill and the mention of birch bark give the song a concrete working setting.

A second reading turns to the last line - "for a pot of tar I give two young men" - which introduces a playful comparison of value and can be read as flirtatious or courtship humor. Sutartinės were sung by women, so giving two young men for a pot of tar sounds like a comic lowering of male value: the useful product of everyday craft is worth more than two lads. Such joking belongs to youth sutartinės, where relations between girls and young men are sung with light irony. Birch bark and the hill create the real labor scene on which the teasing note is heard.