Ukrainian Folk Song
Sung by: Kateryna Artemenko, artist of the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater
Why didn’t you come
when the moon had risen?
I waited for you so long.
Did you have no horse,
did you lose the way,
or did your mother keep you home?
Did you have no horse,
did you lose the way,
or did your mother keep you home?
I had a horse,
I knew the road,
and mother let me go.
But my younger sister —
may she never have grown —
she hid my saddle away.
But my younger sister —
may she never have grown —
she hid my saddle away.
Then my elder sister
found the saddle,
and saddled up my horse.
“Ride, brother, ride
to the girl
who waits for you tonight.
Ride, brother, ride
to the girl
who waits for you tonight.”
A little river flows,
so narrow and clear —
if I wish, I’ll leap across.
Oh mother, please,
let me marry
the one my heart has chosen.
Oh mother, please,
let me marry
the one my heart has chosen.
