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These are from a collection of Serbian women's poems gathered in the early 19th century by the Serbian linguist, translator, and ethnographer Vuk Stefanovic Karadzhic and not published in Serbia until the 1970s. I take the originals, and a little help on the translations, from Red Knight: Serbian Women’s Songs, translated by Daniel Weissbort and Tomislav Longinovic (London: Menard, 1992). More help came, in fact, from Lipa Tosheski, to whom I sent both literal renditions and rhymed and metered translations, and who sent me both detailed commentary and suggestions in return.
Translations from Serbian
Devojka se drugarici klela:
“Zhiv mi bratac, udati se necu
Ako l’ kako silom naterashe,
Zhiv mi bratac, venchati se necu;
Ako l’ kako silom naterashe,
Zhiv mi bratac, leci shnjime necu
Ako l’ kako silom naterashe,
Zhiv mi bratac, metati mu ne dam
Ako l’ kako silom naterashe,
Zhiv mi bratac, vaditi mu ne dam!”
The maiden to her girlfriend:
“Man alive, I won’t be wived!”
“Girl what if they make you?”
“Man alive, I won’t be swived!”
“Girl what if they make you?”
“Then I’ll never let him start!”
“Girl what if they make you?”
“Then I’ll never let him stop!”
Ajde selo da selimo! –
Gdi cemo ga naseliti? –
Med’ obrve devojachke. –
Tu ne mozhe selo biti:
Nema shume, nema vode,
Nema zemlje za oranje!
Ajde selo da selimo! –
Gdi cemo ga naseliti? –
Medu dojke devojachke. –
Tu ne mozhe selo biti:
Nema shume, nema vode,
Nema zemlje za oranje!
Ajde selo da selimo! –
Gdi cemo ga naseliti? –
Medu noge devojachke. –
Ta tu mozhe selo biti:
Ima shume, ima vode,
Ima zemlje za oranje!
Okay, let us move the village! –
Where’ll we move the village to? –
Right between a maiden’s brows. –
You can’t move the village there:
There’s no forest, there’s no water,
There’s no soil for us to plow.
Okay, let us move the village! –
Where’ll we move the village to? –
Right between a maiden’s breasts. –
You can’t move the village there:
There’s no forest, there’s no water,
There’s no soil for us to plow.
Okay, let us move the village! –
Where’ll we move the village to? –
Right between a maiden’s thighs. –
You can move the village there:
There’s a forest, there is water,
There’s rich soil for us to plow.
Oj devojko, srce moje,
Kad ti vidim sise tvoje,
Dreshe mi se gace moje.
Girl you are a part of me:
When your bouncing breasts I see,
My trousers melt right off of me.
My love for you so snugly sits
That when I see your snow-white tits
My trousers give me endless fits.
Girl I crawled up from the ooze
Just to see your moonlit boobs.
Then I shat upon my shoes.
I walk and walk her in my Dockers
Till I gaze upon her knockers
And become her midnight stalker.
Window peeping, naked hugs,
Could those be my lady’s jugs?
Ouch! Bare ass bit by angry bugs!
Sinoc majka ozhenila Ranka,
Ljuto kune udata devojka:
“Teshko svakoj bednoj onoj majci
Koja daje jaku za nejaka –
Zora bela, a ja joshte cela!
Iz’o govno ko te ozhenio!
Dizhi noge, otpale ti ruke,
Vrane ti se na kurc osrale!”
Ranko’s sweet mama has bought him
a bride,
Now curses the bride the sweet mama’s hide:
“Demons from hell take a mother who’ll
Tie an itchy-cunt girl to a limp-dick fool.
Dawn is a-breaking and my hymen’s unbroken!
You marry me, you fuck me, or you can eat shit!
Lift up my legs or your arms will fall off,
And crows will squirt on your dick!”
Podaj, Bozhe, da mi dika mozhe!
Grant me, God, may my honey be hard!
Haj, huj, ne tuguj,
S tudjom ljubom ne druguj:
Tudja ljuba golem vrag,
Slomice ti kurcu vrat!
Hey there, Jay, whaddya say?
Never play with another man’s lay!
Chuck her, Buck, and fuck a duck:
Feller’ll break your pecker’s neck.
Ja se chudim, ja se krstim,
Kako pica vodu drzhi:
Ni obrucha, ni daneta
Ni chestita zapushacha;
Ja bi tamo pinter bio
Pa bi rupu zapushio.
It’s a wonder, back to front:
Water won’t leak from a cunt.
Bottom, hoops, it’s got not one,
To plug its hole with, nary a bung.
Were I cooper, ‘pon my soul,
I would want to bung that hole.
Translations by Doug Robinson
