Päivänsäde (ja menninkäinen)
I'm soon releasing a new sock pattern called Päivänsäde. This design didn't have a name for a long time. When I caught my self crooning the song called Päivänsäde ja Menninkäinen while making these socks, I then knew exactly what to call them.
"päivänsäde (fin)- sunbeam, sunrain, sunshine (eng)"
I did quite a bit of searching on how to translate the song lyrics to you. Luckily I found this website that provided just what I was looking for. According to the site:
"'Päivänsäde ja Menninkäinen' is a classic Finnish children's song. The lyrics were written by Reino Helismaa sometime in the 1940s. 'Päivänsäde ja Menninkäinen' seems to best translate as 'The Sunbeam and the Goblin'. The song tells about this fleeting and transient encounter between a Sunbeam and a Goblin - the last ray of daylight before the darkness falls."
The blog also had an English translation of the lyrics:
It happened as the Sun set down
That a sunbeam, for a moment
Of its sisters left behind.
The dusk it crept in already
And the beam, with her golden wings
Was about to fly from underfoot
When she detected this littlest goblin approaching
That had only just emerged from its den.
For goblins cannot roam the earth until after sunset
They do not live in daylight, no.
Peeping there at one another
The goblin, in chest felt rather
Strange kind of flame and ardor
Said he: "Burn my eyes, this you do
But never in my life have I
Seen anything as wonderful!
It matters not that your shine will blind my eyes forever -
In darkness I trudge with ease wherever.
Stay with me, please, and I'll show you the way to the home den -
Keep you as my precious own then!"
The beam answered: "Gremlin, darling,
Darkness would be my undoing
And I have no wish for death.
Away I must now forthwith fly
If I'm not back in daylight soon
Then I will live not a moment more."
Thus left the sunbeam that beautiful
But to this day still
As the goblin plods alone in the dark
He wonders why one of us here a child of light should be
And the other, he loves the night.
I found several translations of the song, but this is the one I liked the most. If you would like to hear what the song sound likes, here's a Youtube link to the song performed by Tapio Rautavaara.
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