Grandmother and Grandson | By the window in the sunlight

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by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)

Translation © by Ronald Combs

Бабушка и внучек

Language: Russian (Русский) after the Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Под окном чулок старушка
Вяжет в комнате уютной,
И в очкй свои большие
Смотрит в угол поминутно.

А в углу кудрявый мальчик
Молча к стенке прислонился.
На лице его забота,
Взгляд на что-то устремился.

Что сидишь всё дома, внучек?
Шёл бы в сад, копал бы грядки
Или кликнул бы сестренку,
Поиграл бы с ней в лошадки.

Подошёл к стапушке внучек
И головкою курчавой к ней припал.
Он молчит, глаза большие
На неё глядят лукаво...

Знать, гостинцу захотелось?
Говорит ему старушка,	
Винных ягод, винограду,
Иль тебе нужна игрушка?

Нет, гостинцев мне не надо!
У меня игрушек много.
Сумку ты купи да в школу
Покажи-ка мне дорогу.

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) [an adaptation] [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Aleksey Nikolayevich Pleshcheyev (1825 - 1893), "Бабушка и внучек", first published 1878
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893), "Бабушка и внучек", op. 54 (Шестнадцать песен для детей = Shestnadcat' pesen dlja detej (Sixteen songs for children)) no. 1, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Hans Schmidt (1854 - 1923) ; composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English [singable] (Ronald Combs) , "Grandmother and Grandson", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La grand-mère et le petit-fils", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Mary Freeman

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 105

Grandmother and Grandson

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

By the window in the sunlight
sits grand-ma-ma with her knitting,
and above her gold-rimmed glasses
watches grandson where he's sitting.

There he sits with thoughtful glances,
on his face no happy beaming.
Worry fills his youthful visage,
and his eyes are filled with dreaming.

"All day long you sit here grandson,"
The old woman started saying,
"You should find your little sister
and be in the garden playing."

Then the little fellow came to
grandma's knee and shyly leaned his curly head.
He is silent but his eyes are
big and bright with what he's thinking...

"Would you like a piece of candy?"
Grandma says as he grows bolder,
"or some figs, or grapes or apples,
or a ball or wooden soldier?"

"No, I don't want any candy!
It's not toys for which I'm yearning.
I'm a big boy now;
it's time I went to school and started learning."

Note: The English and Russian syllables in this song match up note for note. Words made of a single letter - for example "v" - have no note value and are appended to either the syllable before or after them.

Text Authorship:

Singable translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © by Ronald Combs, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Ronald Combs. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) [an adaptation]
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Aleksey Nikolayevich Pleshcheyev (1825 - 1893), "Бабушка и внучек", first published 1878
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 150