A 1940 Yiddish theater (ייִדיש טעאַטער) song — ’s lyric, ’s tune — about a calf bound for slaughter and a swallow that is free. sing it here in Yiddish; the English folk-revival life, “Donna, Donna,” has its own page.
wrote the lyric and the tune for Zeitlin’s play Esterke (1940–41), first titled “Dana Dana” and also known as “Dos kelbl (דאָס קעלבל)” (“the calf”). This page holds the Yiddish words and plays live. The English translation made famous is a separate catalog page, and the tune’s wider travels are told on the Cousins page.