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by Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Count (1817 - 1875)

Кабы знала я
Language: Russian (Русский) 
Our translations:  ENG
Кабы знала я, кабы ведала,
Не смотрела бы из окошечка
Я на молодца разудалого,
Как он ехал по нашей улице.
Набекрень заломивши мурмолку,
Как лихого коня буланого,
Звонконогого, долгогривого
Супротив окон на дыбы вздымал!

Кабы знала я, кабы ведала,
Для него бы я не рядилася,
С золотой каймой ленту алую
В косу длинную не вплетала бы,
Рано до свету не вставала бы,
За околицу не спешила бы,
В росе ноженьки не мочила бы,
На просёлок тот не глядела бы,
Не проедет ли тем просёлком он,
На руке держа пёстра сокола?

Кабы знала я, кабы ведала,
Не сидела бы поздним вечером,
Пригорюнившись на завалине,
На завалине, близ колодезя,
Поджидаючи, да гадаючи,
Не придёт ли он, ненаглядный мой!
Напоить коня студеной водой!

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

  • by Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Count (1817 - 1875) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

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), "Кабы знала я", op. 47 (Семь романсов = Sem' romansov (Seven romances)) no. 1 (1880) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "If only I'd known better", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 25
Word count: 120

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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