You, silly, give me back my stone ax! Don’t hide the skins that I put on my thighs! Shut up, don’t talk, my head already cracks! You’d better add some wood - the fire dies! Your pettiness has broken my heart, It gives our life a very boring touch! The cave’s a mess and soot has filled the hearth - This matriarchy spoiled you so much! Man’s the boss and the principal, Wife is humble and cordial - You must stick to this principle Since we still are primordial! My tribesmen killed a mammoth in a pit, They must be now sharing the prey, Forever by your side I cannot sit - I need to kill somebody every day! I’m now waiting for the tribal sage, Make sure you are dressed the way you should! Aren’t you ashamed that in the Stone Age You got no stones, genuine and good! Several wives - that’s for what I long, I would put them right on their knees! But today I am not that strong - So I live in monogyny! And take your kin! My uncle could foresee! (That uncle who was eaten by a boar). “From cannibals, - he often said to me, Don’t take a wife as she will chew you raw!” Stop setting me against my own tribe, No one harassed you, drop your stupid lies... Don’t slander our youth - don’t even try! In our youth the happy future lies! Man’s the boss and the principal, Wife is humble and cordial - You must stick to this principle Since we still are primordial! Stop whimpering - so far I was polite! Where are the skins? Look, people laugh at me... Return my ax, don’t make me start the fight! I’ll strangle you, I swear! One, two, three...
© George Tokarev. Translation, 2001
Edited by Robert Titterton