{"id":4418,"date":"2015-09-03T17:54:32","date_gmt":"2015-09-03T17:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=4418"},"modified":"2015-09-04T16:56:18","modified_gmt":"2015-09-04T16:56:18","slug":"sleep-you-pig-scary-icelandic-lullabies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2015\/09\/03\/sleep-you-pig-scary-icelandic-lullabies\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleep, you pig – scary Icelandic lullabies."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2301786146_446c5ec357_b\"<\/a>

Let sleeping pigs lie by Peter Shanks at Flickr.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Sof\u00f0u n\u00fa sv\u00edni\u00f0 \u00feitt<\/em><\/strong>
\n svartur \u00ed augum<\/em><\/strong>
\n Far\u00f0u \u00ed f\u00falan pytt<\/em><\/strong>
\n fullan af draugum.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(= Sleep now you black-eyed pig, fall in a deep pit of ghosts.)<\/p>\n

Lately this little lullaby has been popular on quite a few social media sites, gathering people’s attention simply by being a really horrible-sounding thing to sing to the little ones. Alas, it’s not real;\u00a0it’s actually from the book Salka Valka by Halld\u00f3r Laxness. Very few people have questioned the origin of the song though, not even Icelandic people. What’s going on?<\/p>\n

Laxness was a clever satirist, and the scary poem does not in fact fall far from the style of traditional Icelandic lullabies! No one’s challenging his lullaby because it sounds so much like Icelandic lullabies in general do, probably exactly how he meant it to.\u00a0Let’s look at some real ones next!<\/p>\n

\"arb\u00e6057\"<\/a>

Photo taken at \u00c1rb\u00e6jarsafn, a museum of traditional Icelandic houses.<\/p><\/div>\n

B\u00ed, b\u00ed og blaka \u00e1lftirnar kvaka. \u00c9g l\u00e6t sem \u00e9g sofi en samt mun \u00e9g vaka.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

B\u00edum, b\u00edum, bamba, b\u00f6rnin litlu ramba fram \u00e1 fjallakamba ad leita s\u00e9r lamba.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(= Bi, bi and blaka the swans sing. I pretend to sleep but I’m still awake.<\/p>\n

Bium, bium, bamba, little children wander on the mountain cliffs in search of sheep.)<\/p>\n

Starting with a softer one we have B\u00ed, b\u00ed og blaka<\/em>. It only starts to sound a little upsetting if you think the lyrics a bit further and wonder why children would be in such a perilous situation at night hours, and why does the singer state that although they seem as if they were asleep they’re actually awake?<\/p>\n

\"397px-Barnafoss_2004\"<\/a>

Barnafoss by Ingeborg Breitfeld at Wikimedia Commons. This is where the next song was first sung at.<\/p><\/div>\n

Continuing on the theme of children in peril we have Sof\u00f0u unga \u00e1stin m\u00edn<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Sof\u00f0u, unga \u00e1stin m\u00edn,<\/em><\/strong>
\n – \u00fati regni\u00f0 gr\u00e6tur.<\/em><\/strong>
\n Mamma geymir gullin \u00fe\u00edn, <\/em><\/strong>
\n gamla leggi og v\u00f6luskr\u00edn.<\/em><\/strong>
\n Vi\u00f0 skulum ekki vaka um dimmar n\u00e6tur.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(= Sleep my little love – outside the rain is crying. Mother hides your treasures, old leg bone and box of playthings.\u00a0We shall not stay awake when night is dark.)<\/p>\n

\u00dea\u00f0 er margt sem myrkri\u00f0 veit,<\/em><\/strong>
\n – minn er hugur \u00feungur.<\/em><\/strong>
\n Oft \u00e9g svarta sandinn leit<\/em><\/strong>
\n sv\u00ed\u00f0a gr\u00e6nan engireit.<\/em><\/strong>
\n \u00cd j\u00f6klinum hlj\u00f3\u00f0a dau\u00f0adj\u00fapar sprungur.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(= There’s much that darkness knows, my thoughts are heavy. Often I watched the black sand\u00a0burning\u00a0green meadows. On the glacier cry deadly-deep ice-cracks.)<\/p>\n

Sof\u00f0u lengi, sof\u00f0u r\u00f3tt,<\/em><\/strong>
\n seint mun bezt a\u00f0 vakna.<\/em><\/strong>
\n M\u00e6\u00f0an kenna mun \u00fe\u00e9r flj\u00f3tt,<\/em><\/strong>
\n me\u00f0an hallar degi skj\u00f3tt,<\/em><\/strong>
\n a\u00f0 mennirnir elska, missa, gr\u00e1ta og sakna.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(= Sleep long, sleep peacefully, it’s best to awaken late. Hardship teaches you fast, while day turns to night, that people love, lose, cry\u00a0and mourn.)<\/p>\n

A longer one but I felt the lyrics were all crucial to the story of this song\u00a0that\u00a0was originally written for the play Fjalla-Eyvindur<\/em>. It’s a popular lullaby and very beautiful, but the unnerving part is in the backstory: in Fjalla-Eyvindur the person singing this song is his wife Halla, who lulls their child to sleep before drowning it in Barnafoss waterfall…<\/p>\n

\"arb\u00e6055\"<\/a>

\u00c1rb\u00e6jarsafn example of a traditional Icelandic barn – it’s attached to the house with a long, dark turf corridor.<\/p><\/div>\n

M\u00f3\u00f0ir m\u00edn \u00ed kv\u00ed, kv\u00ed, kv\u00eddd\u00fa ekki \u00fev\u00ed, \u00fev\u00ed<\/em><\/strong>
\n \u00c9g skal lj\u00e1 \u00fe\u00e9r duluna m\u00edna, duluna m\u00edna a\u00f0 dansa \u00ed.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(= My mother in the sheep pen, don’t fret, I shall lend you my rags, my rags to dance in.)<\/p>\n

Of course I couldn’t leave out this one when talking about creepy lullabies! M\u00f3\u00f0ir m\u00edn \u00ed kv\u00ed kv\u00ed<\/em> belongs to a folk legend of a woman who got pregnant out of wedlock and, since pregnancy out of wedlock was a crime worth death penalty, gave birth in secret, wrapped the baby in rags and abandoned it to die.<\/p>\n

Later on as she and another servant woman were milking sheep she mentioned that she had no proper clothes to wear in the oncoming dances, at which a child’s voice sang the song from under the sheep pen. The woman lost her sanity out of shock.<\/p>\n

Unlike Laxness’ lullaby, this one and the story behind it are very well-known throughout the land, but according to quite a few online discussions people still sing it to their children as a lullaby!\u00a0Still, when it comes to the strongest trauma-causing material M\u00f3\u00f0ir m\u00edn \u00ed kv\u00ed kv\u00ed<\/em> takes only silver. The unchallenged winner is B\u00edum b\u00edum bambal\u00f3<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"11354786926_473d640ae2_h\"<\/a>

Gr\u00fdla by kim&amy at Flickr.com<\/p><\/div>\n

B\u00edum b\u00edum bambal\u00f3, bambal\u00f3 og dillidillid\u00f3
\nVini m\u00ednum vagga \u00e9g \u00ed r\u00f3
\nEn \u00fati bi\u00f0ur andlit \u00e1 glugga.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(= Bium bium bambalo, bambalo and dillidillido, My friend I lull to sleep, but outside waits a face at the window.)<\/p>\n

Not very sleepy now are you? There are many theories to what the face might refer to, going from the father of the child to a friend of the person singing or even the full moon, but who cares when the song is just so scary. If we want to compare this to folk tales there’s one creature in particular that likes to lurk at windows: a troll looking for the next meal.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, Icelanders do seem to have a strange preference for unsettling lullabies! Perhaps the point is that even if they don’t help anyone to sleep, scaring the children quiet is faster and easier anyway? Or in the words of yet another one –<\/p>\n

Vi\u00f0 skulum ekki hafa h\u00e1tt <\/em><\/strong>
\nH\u00e9r er margt a\u00f0 ugga.<\/em><\/strong>
\nEg hef heyrt \u00ed alla n\u00e1tt <\/em><\/strong>
\nAndardr\u00e1tt \u00e1 glugga<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(= We should not be loud, many are sneaking around here.\u00a0All night I have heard breathing at the window.)<\/p>\n

Do you know any scary lullabies from your home country? I’d love to hear of them in the comments!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"jolasveinn042\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"hulda078\"<\/a>Hulda recommends<\/strong><\/p>\n

…all of these lullabies of course!<\/p>\n

B\u00ed, b\u00ed og blaka<\/em> (link<\/a>)
\nSof\u00f0u unga \u00e1stin m\u00edn<\/em> (link<\/a>)
\nM\u00f3\u00f0ir m\u00edn \u00ed kv\u00ed kv\u00ed<\/em> (link<\/a>)
\nB\u00edum b\u00edum bambal\u00f3<\/em> (link<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Sof\u00f0u n\u00fa sv\u00edni\u00f0 \u00feitt svartur \u00ed augum Far\u00f0u \u00ed f\u00falan pytt fullan af draugum. (= Sleep now you black-eyed pig, fall in a deep pit of ghosts.) Lately this little lullaby has been popular on quite a few social media sites, gathering people’s attention simply by being a really horrible-sounding thing to sing to the…<\/p>\n

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