Mataleena neito nuori
Neito nuori ja nurja
Sill'on synkkää syämessä
Pahan mennehen maa

Kun ol kolme poikalasta
Kolme lasta laitettu
Kolme kääröä kerällä
Omaksi annettu

Mataleena neito nuori
Neito nuori ja nurja
Sill'on synkkää syämessä
Pahan mennehen muisto

Yhen tuikkasi tulehen
Kekäleeksi valkeaan
Tuli siinä tuuittaapi
Valkea valittaa

Mataleena neito nuori..

Toisen viskasi vetehen
Alle aallon alenti
Laineet lasta liekuttaapi
Meri musta vie
Kaivoi kolmannen kankaalle
Laittoi lehtoon lepäämään
Koivut kehtoo keinuttaapi
Valvoo ikiunta

Kun ol kolme poikalasta
Kolme lasta laaittunna

Mataleena neito nuori…

English translation

Mataleena, that young maid
That bitter and twisted young maid -
Her heart is darkness
A land where nothing came to good

She'd had three baby boys
Three she'd given birth to:
Three swaddled bairns
She'd had for her own

Mataleena, that young maid
Bitter and twisted young maid -
Her heart is darkness
A memory of old evil
One of them she set fire to
He became a bright-glowing coal
It was fire that lulled him to sleep
Flames that made moan for him

The second she threw in the water
Held him under the waves
It was the sea-swell that rocked him
Dark ocean that took him

She dug a pit in the woods for the third
Laid him to sleep in a grove
His cradle is birch-trees, swaying
They watch over his everlasting sleep

That's what she did with her three baby boys
The three she'd given birth to