The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #170449 Message #4188504
Posted By: Felipa
26-Aug-23 - 07:10 PM
Thread Name: Child Ballads - Yiddish versions
Subject: Lyr Add: DU MEYDELE, DU FAYNS
Du meydele, du fayns follows a typical pattern for riddle songs
https://yiddishsongs.org/du-meydele-du-fayns/ "A variant of the text of this riddle song appeared in the S. Ginzburg-P. Marek collection of 1901; text and melody were published in Ost und West, 1905. This song type of the contest between a maiden and young man is a popular international ballad theme – the oldest type mentioned in the Child Collection of Anglo-Scottish Balladry (Child I). A few of the Yiddish riddles were compared to the English type by compiler in her paper “International Motifs in the Yiddish Ballad” (1964). The German parallels were cited by Alfred Landau in 1903. The Yiddish song contains a Jewish motif in two replies, which is absent from other European parallels–that the 'Torah is deeper than the spring' and 'Mikve-vaser (the water of the ritual bath house) is without a fish.' One version (Mir zingen, Paris, 1948) combines the riddles of this song with those of the popular song 'Tum-balalayke.' In The Jewish Songster, 1929, the song is translated into Hebrew as 'Yaldoh yaldosi.' "
DU MEYDELE, DU FAYNS
Du meydele, du fayns, Du meydele, du sheyns, Kh’vel dikh epes fregn A retenish a kleyns: Vos iz hekher fun a hoyz? Vos iz flinker fun a moyz?
Du narisher bokher, Du narisher trop, Du host nit keyn seykhl In dayn kop; Der roykh iz hekher fun a hoyz, Di kats iz flinker fun a moyz.
Du meydele, du fayns, Du meydele, du sheyns, Kh’vel dikh epes fregn A retenish a kleyns: Vos flit on fligl? Un vos iz gemoyert on tsigl?
Du narisher bokher, Du narisher trop, Du host nit keyn seykhl In dayn kop; Shney flit dokh on fligl, Der frost iz gemoyert on tsigl.
??Du meydele, du fayns, Du maydele, du sheyns, Kh’vel dikh epes fregn A retenish a kleyns: Vos iz royter fun a flam? Un vos iz getrayer fun a man?
Du, narisher bokher, Du, narisher trop, Du host nit keyn seykhl In dayn kop; Di fan iz royter fun a flam, Un a tate iz getrayer fun a man.
TRANSLATION — You fine girl, you pretty girl, I’ll ask you a question, a little riddle: What is higher than a house? What is quicker than a mouse?
— You foolish young man, you silly fool, you have no sense in your head. Chimney smoke is higher than a house. A cat is quicker than a mouse.
— You fine girl, you pretty girl, I’ll ask you a question, a little riddle: What flies without wings? And what makes walls without bricks?
— You foolish young man, you silly fool – you have no sense in your head. Snow can fly without wings, and frost makes walls without bricks.
— You fine girl, you pretty girl, I’ll ask you a question, a little riddle: What is redder than a fire, and what is more faithful than a husband?
some recordings on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8qUco9PVhk "a performance of the Nashville Early Music Ensemble at the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, TN on Sunday, February 10, 2008"