Värttinä Lyrics
"Mataleena"

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.