21 november 2009

~ Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes!

Mother Goose by Jane Daniell 
.
Although many of these verses relate to specific
Chinese subjects, others are reminiscent of rhymes
from our own oral tradition.
Listen to “Lady Bug”:
.
Lady-bug, lady-bug,
Fly away, do,
Fly to the mountain,
And feed upon dew,
Feed upon dew
And sleep on a rug,
And then run away
Like a good little bug.
.
In the the west we have “five little piggies,”
but in the east they apparently have “five little cows”:
This little cow eats grass,
This little cow eats hay,
the little cow drinks water
This little cow runs away,
The little cow does nothing
But just lie down all day;
We'll whip her.
.
Oh, and if you missed the little toe going
“whee-whee-whee all the way home,”
here is a Chinese rhyme called “Five Little Fingers”:
A great big brother,
And a little brother, so,
A big bell tower,
And a temple and a show,
And little baby wee wee,
Always wants to go.
.
And for those who wonder about the gratuitous
violence that sometimes pops up in our western
children’s rhymes, here are a couple eastern
rhymes that prove it’s a global phenomenon:
Cruel Little Glutton
He eat too much,
That second brother,
And when he had eaten,
He beat his mother.
Pat-A-Cake
Pat a cake, pat a cake,
Little girl fair,
.
There's a priest in the temple
Without any hair.
You take a tile,
And I'll take a brick,
And we'll hit the priest
In the back of the neck.
.
from the book
Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes  by Isaac Taylor Headland
.
Mother Goose

.
http://www.mothergooseetc.com/MotherGooseBooks.htm

2 opmerkingen:

Madelief zei

Hoi Anna,

Wat een bijzonder gedichtje/verhaaltje! Fijn weeken!

Lieve groet, Madelief

Hermes zei

Isn't that good. What a find. Have a great weekend.