Mataleena - Värttinä

Mataleena neito nuori

Neito nuori ja nurja

Sill’on synkkää syämessä

Pahan mennehen maa

Kun ol kolme poikalasta

Kolme lasta laitettu

Kolme kääröä kerällä

Omaksi annettu

Mataleena neito nuori

Neito nuori ja nurja

Sill’on synkkää syämessä

Pahan mennehen muisto

Yhen tuikkasi tulehen

Kekäleeksi valkeaan

Tuli siinä tuuittaapi

Valkea valittaa

Mataleena neito nuori.

Toisen viskasi vetehen

Alle aallon alenti

Laineet lasta liekuttaapi

Meri musta vie

Kaivoi kolmannen kankaalle

Laittoi lehtoon lepäämään

Koivut kehtoo keinuttaapi

Valvoo ikiunta

Kun ol kolme poikalasta

Kolme lasta laaittunna

Mataleena neito nuori…

English translation

Mataleena, that young maid

That bitter and twisted young maid —

Her heart is darkness

A land where nothing came to good

She’d had three baby boys

Three she’d given birth to:

Three swaddled bairns

She’d had for her own

Mataleena, that young maid

Bitter and twisted young maid —

Her heart is darkness

A memory of old evil

One of them she set fire to

He became a bright-glowing coal

It was fire that lulled him to sleep

Flames that made moan for him

The second she threw in the water

Held him under the waves

It was the sea-swell that rocked him

Dark ocean that took him

She dug a pit in the woods for the third

Laid him to sleep in a grove

His cradle is birch-trees, swaying

They watch over his everlasting sleep

That’s what she did with her three baby boys

The three she’d given birth to

Maiden is a young girl

Maiden young and miserable

Sill’on is gloomy in the heart

The land of evil went

When I had three boys

Three children put

Three rolls in a ball

Adopted

Maiden is a young girl

Maiden young and miserable

Sill’on is gloomy in the heart

The memory of a bad thing

One blinked into the fire

White as white

Came there

White complains

Maiden is a young girl.

Another threw in the water

Alle aallon Alenti

The waves burn the child

The sea takes black

Dig a third canvas

Put in the grove to rest

Birch cradle swings

Oversees the upheaval

When I had three boys

Three children in class

Mataleena maiden young…

English translation

Mataleena, that young maid

That bitter and twisted young maid -

Her heart is Darkness

A land where nothing came to good

She'd had three baby boys

Three she’d given birth to:

Three swaddled bairns

She’d had for her own

Mataleena, that young maid

Bitter and twisted young maid -

Her heart is Darkness

The memory of old Evil

One of them she set fire to

He became a bright-glowing coal

It was a fire that lulled him to sleep

Flames that made moan for him

The second she threw in the water

Held him under the waves

It was the sea-swell that rocked him

Dark ocean that took him

She dug a pit in the Woods for the third

Laid him to sleep in a grove

His Cradle is birch-trees, swaying

They watch over his Everlasting sleep

That’s what she did with her three baby boys

The three she’d given birth to