A soothing, milky bath alone

The trend of publishing entertaining little snippets on the sides of milk cartons seems to be spreading fast. I know in America they often print public information, such as missing persons' announcements, but in Europe it seems we stick firmly to the literary. When I was in Iceland in summer 2005, each milk carton carried an Icelandic proverb complete with an accompanying illustration, all drawn by children under 10. These certainly make for great teaching material: needless to say, my host – who studies Icelandic – started collecting them all. Perhaps I should have started collecting these Finnish "maitorunot" (milk poems), because should I ever take leave of my senses and embark upon teaching Finnish they would undoubtedly come in very handy.

I was recently asked to translate one of the milk poems for a competition (goodness knows what kind of competition...). Complete with metre and rhyming structures, the poem chosen was a challenge to translate – not least for someone who doesn't normally touch poetry with a bargepole. Here's the translation I eventually produced and the original, so that those of you with Finnish can see how it was all done!

Vain maitokylpy rauhoittaa
herkkänahka prinsessaa.
Ammeessansa kruunupää
joka ilta unelmoi:
”Kun lempilehmä laulaa,
kun ukulele soi,
niin joku, ihan kuka vaan
minut hakee tanssimaan.
Poljen maata, pyörähdän,
kenkäni niin hävitän!”

Eppu Nuotio


A soothing, milky bath alone
can satisfy the haughty throne.
Soaking in her tub each night,
the crown princess dreams with delight:
"Whensoe'er my pet cow sings
and the ukulele rings,
then someone, given half the chance,
will come and fetch me for a dance.
I tread the boards, I spin around.
and dash my shoes into the ground!"

Trans. DH