A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes. Baring-Gould Sabine

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СКАЧАТЬ a victim for sacrifice. As I have noticed in the notes, Jack and Jill in the nursery rhyme are reminiscences of Hjuki and Bil the two children in the moon, according to Scandinavian mythology.

      Some nursery rhymes have a definite object aimed at,—that of practising a child's memory, or of teaching it the letters of the alphabet, or the numbers of a clock face, or the ordinary numerals. In Jewish books of prayer for the Paschal Festival, two nursery rhymes are almost always inserted, wherewith the tedium of the service may be lightened to the children. One of these is very similar to our English, 'Sing a song of One, O!' It begins thus:—

      Who is one, and who can declare it?I will teach you it;One is God in Heaven and on earth.What is two, and who can declare it?I will teach you it;Two are the tables of the Covenant,One is God in Heaven, etc.What is three, and who can declare it?I will teach you it;Three are the Patriarchs,Two are the tables, etc.,One is God, etc.

      and so on to twelve.

      The other nursery song is like our 'Stick, stick, beat dog.' It begins:—

      There was a lamb, a little lamb,And daddy he did buy it.There came a nasty pussy catAnd ate the little lambkin.A dog that was enragedBecause of guiltless blood,Came hastening swift as arrow,And tore to death the cat.A stick stood by the doggieHad long been used in threat,The stick it beat the doggie,And doggie fell down dead.Upon the hearth the fire,To avenge the stick it came,The stick was next consumedAll in the ardent flame.There bubbled up a fountain,The water out did well,It washed o'er the fireAnd quenched it as well.A thirst ox came thither,And drew towards the spring,He drank and drank, and drinkingHe drained the well away.A butcher drew up slylyAnd in his hand a knife,He fell upon the oxen,And took its precious life.

      Then ensues a moral. God avenges all violence. Death butchers the butcher, and the butcher butchers the ox, and the ox sucks up the water, and the water quenches the fire, and the fire burns the stick, and the stick beats the dog, and the dog tears the cat, and the cat eats the little lamb that belonged to my daddy, and for which he paid—so much.

      I. THE TASK

       Table of Contents

      For other versions of this work, see The Elfin Knight.

      Will you buy me, my lady, a cambric shirt?

       Whilst every grove rings with a merry antine (antienne);

       And stitch it without any needle-work?

       O and then you shall be a true lover of mine.

       O and you must wash it in yonder well,

       Whilst every grove, etc.

       Where never a drop of water in fell.

       O and then, etc.

       O and you must hang it upon a white thorn,

       Whilst every grove, etc.

       That never has blossomed since Adam was born.

       O and then, etc.

       O and when that these tasks are finished and done,

       Whilst every grove, etc.

       I will take thee and marry thee under the sun.

       O and then, etc.

       Or that ever I do these two and three,

       Whilst every grove, etc.

       I will set of tasks as many to three,

       O and then, etc.

       You must buy for me an acre of land,

       Whilst every grove, etc.

       Between the salt sea and the yellow sand,

       O and then, etc.

       You must plough it o'er with a horse's horn,

       Whilst every grove, etc.

       And sow it all over with one pepper-corn,

       O and then, etc.

       You must reap it, too, with a piece of leather,

       Whilst every grove, etc.

       And bind it all up with a peacock's feather,

       O and then, etc.

       You must take it up in a bottomless sack,

       Whilst every grove, etc.

       And bear it to the mill on a butterfly's back,

       O and then, etc.

       And when that these tasks are finished and done,

       Whilst every grove, etc.

       O then will I marry thee under the sun,

       And then thou shalt be a true lover of mine.

      II. A LYING TALE

       Table of Contents

      O when I was an infant young,

       To London I did go,

       Among the French and Spaniards there

       My gallantry to show.

       And when I came to the Eastern shore,

       I let my head hang down,

       I tripped along o'er banks and hills

       But never touched the ground.

       Fal-de-liddle-li-do

       Fal-de-liddle-iddle-dee.

       So when I reached the Eastern shore,

       I met a giant high,

       His little feet filled up the street,

       His head it touched the sky.

       He looked down, and with a frown

       He bid me pass his way.

       He looked up, and bid me sup

       A posset made of whey.

       He challenged me to dance and sing,

       To whistle or to pipe.

       I played every instrument

       And whipped the giant quite.

       He challenged me to jump a brook,

       He challenged me to run;

       I beat the pride out of his hide,

       And killed СКАЧАТЬ