Recordings from the Estonian Folklore Archives 3

A Bride Has to Be Conscientious

Maria Koert Mustjala (1961)

Oidke rahvas, tehke ruumi,
ma tahan öde öpetada,
noorukesta noomida!
Kes tahab pereminiaks minna,
see peab une unustama,
magamise maha jätma,
ukselappe uinuma,
lävelappe langema.

Kui kuuled kuked laulavad
ja ehmeslindu elkivad,
siis töuse üles törjumata,
karga üles karjumata,
puhu tuli tulkimata,
aja ase aukumata.
Lippa läbi lehmilaudad,
tantsi läbi talleslaudad,
pööra läbi pörssapahnad.

Kui sa lehmal vassiga leiad,
vöta vassik öla peale;
kui sa lambal talle leiad,
vöta talled kainelusse;
kui sa sial pörssad leiad,
pane need pörssad pölle sisse,
vii aga neid siis äial näha,
vii aga neid siis ämmal näha.

Kui see äi pole sooga rahul,
kui see ämm pole sooga rahul,
keri need sönad kerase
ja kerapöhi kergele,
veereta kera vetesse –
vesi viib neid vendadele.
Vennad tulavad vehkides,
kahegesti kahkides
ämma ändi raiuma,
nau sörmi noppima.
Ämm kui ännata arakas,
nadu kui nurme kirju kassi.

Hold on, folks, and stand back,
I want to give some advice to my sister,
and admonish the bride!
Whoever wants to become a daughter-in-law,
must forget slumber
and abandon sleep,
she must doze on the doorstep
and rest on the threshold.

When you hear the cock crow and
down-feathered birds sing out,
then get up without argument,
hop up without crying,
blow the flame up without being told,
get the fire going without fussing.
Flit through the cow barn,
dance through the sheep barn,
twirl through the pig sty.

If you find a calf with the cow,
take the calf on your shoulder;
if you find a lamb with the ewe,
take the lamb in your arms;
if you find some piglets with the sow,
take the piglets in your apron;
take them for your father-in-law to see,
take them for your mother-in-law to see.

If that father-in-law is not pleased with you,
and that mother-in-law is not pleased with you,
wind all their words into a ball,
wind them softly on a spool,
then roll the ball into the water,
the water will carry them to your brothers.
Your brothers will come waving [swords],
the two of them will come smashing,
to chop your mother-in-law's tails,
to pluck off your sister-in-law's fingers.
Your mother-in-law will then be like a tailless crow,
your sister-in-law like a striped cat in the field.

RKM, Mgn. II 465 a < Kingissepa raj., Mustjala kn., Ninase k. (Mustjala khk.) – H. ja E. Tampere Kirjandusmuuseumi ekspeditsioonil 1961. a. < Maria Koert, s. 1880. a.
[LP IV a 3; CD1-44]. VK V, 171–174 (nr. 281). Lippus 1988, 58–59 (nr. 39).