Nursery Rhymes | Mama Lisa's World Blog

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Cool Cuban Kids Song – Tiene Pinochito – Little Pinocchio

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

Jeanette wrote to us looking for the lyrics to a Cuban lullaby and I think we can help with this one! Here’s her letter, followed by the song she’s looking for…

Lisa,

There is a nursery rhyme or song that my grandmother used to sing to me (she has been dead about 8 years now) that I can only remember a few lines to… it could be a Cuban nursery song, I’m not really sure… I am dying to find the lyrics to the entire song, I now sing the parts that I can remember to my daughter and wish i could remember it.

It goes something like this…

Quien es me morena que habre su boca, en ella le caben dos mil calabasas un saco de higo y otro de pasas.

I hope you can help me locate this

Thank you so much!!

Jeanette Duque

Here’s a similar version we found in Spanish, with an English translation by Monique Palomares of Mamá Lisa’s World en español…

Original Spanish Lyrics

Tiene Pinochito

Tiene Pinochito
tan pequeña boca
que en ella le caben
cien platos de sopa
trescientos pepinos
y mil calabazas
un saco de higos
y otro de pasas
a la pobre niña
le entró la viruela
calentura mala
y dolor de muelas
el médico le receta
sardinas a la parrilla
a ver si le engordan
esas pantorrillas.

Which means in English:

Little Pinocchio has
such a little mouth
that into it fits
a hundred plates of soup,
three hundreds cucumbers
and a thousand pumpkins,
a bag full of figs
and another one of raisins.
He caught the smallpox,
a bad fever
and his back tooth aches.
The doctor prescribes him
grilled sardines
to see if his calves
get bigger.

This is a jump rope song.

Monique said regarding the original question, “Jeanette’s grandma’s version must have been : ‘¿Quién es mi morena que habre su boca, en ella le caben dos mil calabazas un saco de higos y otro de pasas…?.’ The ‘quién es mi morena que…’ means ‘who is my little brown girl who opens her mouth, into it fits, etc.’ It could have been a version created by her grandma to fit the situation. Perhaps she could sing it to us to help us figure it out…”

Thanks to Monique for providing the English translation and for helping with this song!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Cuba, Cuban Children's Songs, Cuban Lullabies, English, Jump Rope Rhymes, Languages, Lullabies, Mama Lisa, Questions, Spanish, Spanish Kids Songs | 1 Comment »

Can Someone Help with a German Lap Rhyme?

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Gloria wrote to me:

Hi, my grandma (born in Eisleben in 1875, emigrating to the Midwest in 1902, married her second husband (my grandfather) in St. Paul, lived most of her life in Wisconsin with her third husband), recited a rhyme when dandling a baby on her extended foot, either with legs crossed at the hips (or just straight out, but the dad’s were best at that). The rest of the family did it for every baby/little child, including myself. We never saw it in print, and we only have the phonetic sound from listening to it. Phonetically, it went something like what follows. I would dearly love to know exactly what it meant, although it is obvious based on what happened to the child:

Grandma (and all the rest of us who had children) would cross her legs at her hips, sit the baby on her upper ankle, hold the baby’s two hands in hers, and bounce the baby lightly up and down, until the end of the rhyme, when she would let the child fall back, laughing, and then lift the child back up, and begin again!

Scheckle, scheckle, reiderlein,
Ven die kinder kleinerschein
Reiden zie auf steckerlein,

Ven zie greis auf verten
Reiden zie auferten
Zen zie verten,
Klip, Klop, Klip Klop
Reiden zi (then something like a scary word or sounds)

“Boom stehl leckta!” really loud!

The adult lets the child fall back, usually grinning happily. (Sometimes a baby didn’t like it but others wanted you to pull them up onto your ankle and do it again! Some kids got a little dizzy if you did this action too fast! But mostly they loved it. I don’t remember their doing it with me, but I am certain they did, that’s where the phonetic sound and rhythm of the lines as I remember them come in, as well as my mother’s saying it to me when I was older and wanted her to tell me what it was, but it would always have been a phonetic memory, since she never really learned much German except what was common… the words you aren’t supposed to say!) This was done several times, until either one’s leg was tired, or the child needed a rest. I just used the phonetic version when I treated my kids as babies to the fun game, but for some reason I never asked my grandma. I was told that it meant something like, “When a child is little it rides on a stick horse, but when it tries to ride a real horse, he will go faster and fall off.” Have you ever heard this? I possibly have some of the phonetics wrongly remembered, but the rhythm and sounds and actions are still in my brain.

Thanks for any help you can give. I do like your website, I found it by way of BING. I think it is very interesting as to the German, lots of Germans settled in America. My father’s ancestors may have come from Austria, as well as Germany, but came to Wisconsin in the 1840’s, met and married, learned English, so they never spoke German at all when we knew them. A grandson, age 12, who has been learning German, took to it immediately, and loves it, as well as Norwegian, so there must be an inherited acclimation to the sound of a language.

Sincerely,

Gloria Koeser Laundrie

Thanks for sharing your song with us Gloria! If anyone can help with the German version and/or an English translation, please let us know in the comments below.

Cheers!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in 1512, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, German, German Children's Songs, German Nursery Rhymes, Germany, Horse Trotting Rhymes, Languages, Lap Rhymes, Lap Rhymes, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Readers Questions, Rhymes by Theme | 8 Comments »

Pennsylvania Dutch Version of Dies Ist der Daumen – This Is the Thumb

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

I’ve been asked several times for the Pennsylvania Dutch Version of the German rhyme Dies Ist der Daumen – This Is the Thumb. Today I received the version below thanks to Luke and Mary Martin. Here’s what Luke wrote…

My wife and I are also familiar with many of the German songs. This morning while looking for them, I found the finger rhyme, and your question about the Pennsylvania German variation. This is the song my father used to sing to us – seven children. Pennsylvania German has many varieties of spelling, and perhaps you can sharpen up the spelling. (My wife, Mary, and I worked at the pronunciation and spelling of the Pennsylvania German Finger Song. Mary grew up speaking Pennsylvania German.) Here it goes…

Des ist die Daume

Des ist die Daume
Der schittelt die Plaume
Der laest sie ouf
Der traught sie Haem
Und des glae Bopplemaul
Bopplet alles mit’n ahnna da Haem.

This is the thumb.
This [one] shakes the plums,
This [one] picks them up,
This [one] brings them home,
And this little tattletale tells everyone at home.

It was always spoken, not sung.

Thanks for your work in collecting old songs.

Luke Martin
(Pennsylvania)

If anyone would like to give other variations of the spelling, feel free to in the comments below. Many thanks to Luke Martin for sending this version of the rhyme to us!

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Countries & Cultures, Des ist die Daume, Dies Ist der Daumen, Finger Plays, German, German Nursery Rhymes, Germany, Languages, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Dutch, Pennsylvania Dutch, Pennsylvania Dutch Nursery Rhymes, Questions, USA, USA | No Comments »

Does Anyone Know an Old Serbian Rhyme that Sounds Like, “Studda Bubba rumpa tee”?

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Connie wrote:

I was hoping you could help me with an old Serbian rhyme. My mother-in-law grew up in a Serbian neighborhood. She always remembered one old rhyme. Now that she has Alzheimer’s that poem is the only thing she connects too. Problem being we only know the beginning of it, don’t know how to spell the words correctly and don’t know what it means.

It goes something like this… (forgive the spelling)

Studda Bubba rumpa tee
Polenta cookin poperdy
Hoy hoy mommy say…

That is all she can remember anymore, but it makes her smile and when we say it to her she joins in. I wish we could know how to finish it and what it means. If you have ever heard it and can help I would really appreciate it so much. Thanks for any help you could give me.

Connie

If anyone can help Connie, please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Countries & Cultures, Languages, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Readers Questions, Serbia, Serbian, Serbian Nursery Rhymes | No Comments »

Birthday Chant and Jump Rope Rhyme – Apples, Peaches, Pears and Plums

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

My daughter and her friend Marisa taught me this birthday rhyme in the car the other day. They chant this in class to talk about birthdays and months of the year.

Apples, Peaches, Pears and Plums

Apples, Peaches, Pears and Plums,
Tell me when your birthday comes?

January, February, March, April,
May, June, July, August, September,
October, November, December?

Some people only chant the first 2 lines and then another person will answer with their birthday.

This is also a jump rope rhyme. Two kids hold a long jump rope and swing it around in a circle. They chant the rhyme. You jump in on your birthday month. Then the girls start counting 1, 2, 3, etc. until they reach the number of the day you were born on. Then you jump out.

The other way to play the jump rope game is to skip the numbers. You still jump “in” when your birthday month is called. The other kids then repeat the rhyme and you jump “out” when you hear your birthday month the second time around.

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in American Nursery Rhymes, Countries & Cultures, England, English, Games, Jump Rope, Jump Rope Rhymes, Languages, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, USA | No Comments »

Can Anyone Help with a Czech Rhyme that Sounds Like “Hou-py, hou-py, hou-py”?

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Anna wrote:

Do you know the nursery rhyme that begins:

Hou-py, hou-py, hou-py,
Ko-cka sue-dla krou-py
Do-cour hruch

I’ll try my best to write this poem-rhyme out for you. Of course, I will not be able to add the correct accent marks, punctuations marks, etc. The writing I have to copy is very small, so I hope my letters are accurate! Here goes!

Hou-pa-cka

hou-py, hou-py, hou-py!
ko-cka sue-dla krou-py,
ko-cour hrac
na ka-mnach;
ko-la-la se hue-va-ly,
ze jim ta-ky ne-da-ly.
hou-py, hou-py, hou-py!
by-ly vsec-ky hlou-py.

A friend of mine gave me a beautiful framed gift of this rhyme… he says his grandfather would sing it to him. But he doesn’t know what it means.

My mother is Czech, Vlasta, but she no longer can help me with this.

Your help would be very nice.

Thank you, Anna Vdolek Bratney

If anyone knows the correct spelling of the rhyme and/or if you can provide an English translation, please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks in advance!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Czech, Czech Nursery Rhymes, Czech Republic, Flower Arranging, Languages, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Poetry, Questions, Readers Questions | 3 Comments »

Chanda Mama – “Moon” Video by Playing for Change

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Chanda Mama is a song from India about the moon. Different versions exist in the various languages of India. This one is in the Telugu language, a language mainly spoken in southern India.

Playing for Change made the Chanda Mama video with musicians around the world. Playing for Change creates music all over the world to make money to build music and art schools in communities that are in need of inspiration and hope. Music and art can have meaning across cultures and be appreciated by people of all economic classes and educational backgrounds. What better way to improve the world!

The lyrics to the Playing for Change version of Chanda Mama (in the video) are something like this…

Chanda maama chanda maama raavayyaa
nannu yettukoni muddulaadu kovayyaa

maaraalu nenenni cesinaa gaaraalu nive cupinaa
maaraalu nenenni cesinaa gaaraalu nive cupinaa

Chanda maama chanda maama raavayyaa
nannu yettukoni muddulaadu kovayyaa

If anyone can help with the meaning of these lyrics (and/or if you can verify or correct the original lyrics), please let us know in the comments below.

We have another version of Chanda Mama which is a Telugu children’s rhyme, with an mp3. You can click the link to hear it and to read the lyrics in Telugu with an English translation.

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Chanda Mama, Chandamaama, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Folk Songs, India, Indian Folk Songs, Indian Nursery Rhymes, Languages, Mama Lisa, Music, Nursery Rhymes, Playing for Change, Telugu, Traditional Music, YouTube | No Comments »

Let’s see if any of you know this rhyme…

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Which one do you say? First is the worst, Second is the best, Third is the one with the… a) wedding dress, b) hairy chest or, c) treasure chest ?

My kids and their friends were debating this one. They disagreed over which answer is the most popular… a, b, or c. Google seems to know b the most. Anyone out there know this rhyme? If so, which ending do you say?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Mama Lisa

PS I asked my friends this question on Facebook and no one answered! Which makes me think it’s a new rhyme that this current generation says. I had never heard it before my kids taught it to me either.

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Posted in Countries & Cultures, English, English Nursery Rhymes, First Is the Worst, Second is the Best, Languages, Mama Lisa, Questions, Schoolyard Chants, USA | 4 Comments »

Japanese Hand Clapping Playground Game

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Here’s a Japanese hand clapping game about making rice cakes. Cool motions!

If anyone would like to send me the Japanese lyrics and/or an English translation, I’d love to add them here. You can add a transliteration or translation in the comments below or email me the Japanese text at lisa@mamalisa.com .

Meanwhile, you can enjoy watching and listening… they repeat it so you can try to learn it by ear.

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Hand Clapping Rhymes, Japan, Japanese, Japanese Kids Songs, Languages, Nursery Rhymes, YouTube | No Comments »

Jane Taylor’s Poem about a Pussy-cat is about How Kids Should Treat Pets

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Illustration of Kids playing with a Cat

The poem below by Jane Taylor (1783-1824) is about a child telling how gently she will handle her little pussy-cat. The 1st two verses can be found in many collections of nursery rhymes. If you read the whole poem, you can see how it could be a good one to read to children with pets… talking about how to treat them nicely.

Little Pussy
By Jane Taylor

I love little Pussy,
Her coat is so warm;
And if I don’t hurt her
She’ll do me no harm.

So I’ll not pull her tail,
Nor drive her away,
But Pussy and I
Very gently will play.

She shall sit by my side,
And I’ll give her some food;
And she’ll love me because
I am gentle and good.

I’ll pat little Pussy,
And then she will purr,
And thus show her thanks
For my kindness to her.

I’ll not pinch her ears,
Nor tread on her paw,
Lest I should provoke her
To use her sharp claw.

I never will vex her,
Nor make her displeased,
For Puss doesn’t like
To be worried or teased.

MP3 of Little Pussy-cat

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Posted in Countries & Cultures, England, English, English Nursery Rhymes, Jane Taylor, Languages, Little Pussy-cat, Nursery Rhymes, Poetry, Poets, USA | 2 Comments »

Did You Sing the Rhyme “Rubber Dolly”?

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

Ann Marie wrote me looking for information about the “Rubber Dolly” rhyme…

Hi Lisa:

Are you familiar with the rhyme entitled “Rubber Dolly?” It starts out:

My mother told me
If I were goodie
That she would buy me
A rubber dolly . . .

These lyrics pop up in an essay I am working on. Specifically, I need to know if this is an American Clapping Song, a Rhyme, a Jump Rope Song, or . . . something else!

Thank for your time.

Best,

Ann Marie
Cleveland, Ohio

I found information that “Rubber Dolly” was a jump rope rhyme that was popular in the 1950’s.

Here’s a longer version:

My mother told me
If I were goodie
That she would buy me
A rubber dolly.

My auntie* told her,
I kissed a soldier,
Now she won’t buy me
A rubber dolly.

*Or sister

Some kids also did hand clapping games to “Rubber Dolly”. (I think jump rope rhymes and hand clapping rhymes are often interchangeable.) There’s also a fiddle tune based on the melody of the rhyme. Ella Fitzgerald sang a jazz song based on “My Mother Told Me” too.

If anyone grew up with the rhyme, please share your version if it’s different, also let us know if you played any specific game with it.

Thanks in advance!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in American Kids Songs, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, English, Holidays Around the World, Jump Rope Rhymes, Languages, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Rubber Dolly, USA | 7 Comments »

Old Mother Goose Cartoon

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

Here’s a cartoon from 1950 called Little Audry: Goofy Goofy Gander. It’s a strange mixture of Mother Goose, comic books, jazz and Hollywood, with the goose that lays the golden eggs thrown in…

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Posted in Animation, Cartoons, Countries & Cultures, England, English, Languages, Mama Lisa, Mother Goose, Movies & TV, Nursery Rhymes, USA, Video | No Comments »

Can Someone Help with the Lap Rhyme, “Run run horsey with your long hair”?

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Karla wrote:

Hi, My name is Karla Wass.

Recently my grandmother has passed, and as a child she would place us (15 grandkids + 10 great grandkids) on her knee and sing to us. Unfortunately, none of us could remember the name and she left so suddenly we were unable to ask her it. I would love to have the lyrics to the song or even some help finding how to sing, well just to know the words that she was saying would be great. She did sing it to us in English, and what i remember is “run run horsey with your long hair, the faster the horsey runs the short goes his hair”. She always said they would sing this while they were sewing.

If you are not able to help i understand, after searching the web and talking with some family members no one can properly sing this song, Her service is next Tuesday and she will be laid to rest with our grand father the following Saturday.

I appreciate and assistance thank you for your time.

If anyone can help Karla, please let us know in the comments below. (Even if it’s after the date of the service, I’m sure Karla will be glad to find the song any time.)

We appreciate it.

Mama Lisa

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Posted in American Nursery Rhymes, Australia, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, England, English, English Nursery Rhymes, Great Britain, Languages, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Readers Questions, USA | 3 Comments »

A Collection of Nursery Rhymes

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

I’ve embedded this lovely book of nursery rhymes for you to enjoy! It’s A Collection of Nursery Rhymes… Nurse Lovechild’s Legacy (1916). Many of the illustrations are from the 18th and early 19th century Chapbooks. The book has been embellished by one of my favorite nursery rhyme illustrators: C. Lovat Fraser (1890 – 1921). You can click the arrow below to turn the pages or scroll with the other arrows on the side.

If you prefer to have it on your own computer, you can download A Collection of Nursery Rhymes from Internet Archive ! Just go to the link and choose “PDF” to download it.

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa

PS You can also come visit Mama Lisa’s House for a HUGE collection of Nursery Rhymes… many including illustrations, mp3s, midis and scores!

A Collection of Nursery Rhymes

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Posted in A Collection of Nursery Rhymes, Arts and Crafts, Australia, Books, Countries & Cultures, England, English, English Nursery Rhymes, Great Britain, Illustrations, Languages, Mama Lisa, Mother Goose, Nursery Rhyme Illustrations, Nursery Rhymes, USA | No Comments »

Can Anyone Help with a Norwegian Rhyme with the Line, “Kan du gleme gammel Norge”?

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

David Russett wrote:

I’m trying to find the words to a Norwegian rhyme or song. The only part I know goes something like:

Kan du gleme gammel Norge?
O vey! Ya, ya, gleme kan!

Or it may be:

Kan du huske gammel Norge?
Ove! Ya, Ya, huske kan!

Does anyone know the rest of this little rhyme? Some of the old Norwegians when I was a kid knew this and would recite it. I know there is much more to it that those two lines.

If anyone can help David with the Norwegian words and/or an English translation to this song, please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Languages, Norway, Norwegian, Norwegian Children's Songs, Norwegian Nursery Rhymes, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Readers Questions | 2 Comments »

Can Anyone Help with a Rhyme Sounding Like, “Oddly boddlee finga hoof”? It’s Most Likely German!

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

David Stewart wrote:

Lisa, maybe you can help me with a poem my mother (now 78) learned from her grandmother when she was a child. I believe it is German and she has no idea what it means but has asked many people the meaning and has never found out. Your help would be greatly appreciated. It goes something like this (of course the spelling is off):

Oddly boddlee finga hoof
Steck ta bow wow
Also goot
Katch s-mouse
Bow wow schnauz

If anyone can help David with the original words to this rhyme and/or a translation, please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Countries & Cultures, English, German, German Nursery Rhymes, Germany, Languages, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Readers Questions, USA | No Comments »

Lyrics to Anna Banana and Hannah Banana with an MP3

Friday, June 5th, 2009

A third grader named Marisa taught me a hand clapping rhyme called “Hannah Banana”. It comes from a jump rope rhyme called “Anna Banana”. The lyrics to “Anna Banana” are:

Anna Banana
Plays the piana.
All she can play
Is the Star Spangled Banner.
Anna Banana split.

“Hannah Banana”, on the other hand, is a hand clapping rhyme. What’s interesting to me is that “Anna” switched to “Hannah”. We have two theories about why this might have happened. The first is simply is that “Hannah” is now a more popular name in the US than “Anna”. Children on the playground may have heard “Anna” as “Hannah” since the names sound so similar, and switched it. Our other theory is that “Hannah Banana” is somewhat close to “Hannah Montana”, the popular character from the children’s TV show. Children may have switched the rhyme to “Hannah Banana” based on that similarity. We may never know for sure why there’s now a version of “Anna Banana” called “Hannah Banana”, but it’s interesting to speculate.

Here’s the new rhyme “Hannah Banana”, with instructions for playing it and an mp3 of Marisa chanting it…

MP3 of Hannah Banana

Hannah Banana
Plays the piana
All she could play
Is split she’s an idiot.
(Repeat)

Istructions for Hand Clapping Game:

1st 3 lines of Rhyme:

1. Clap your own hands
2. Clap your partner’s hand diagonally
3. Clap your own hands
4. Clap your partner’s other hand diagonally
5. Repeat 1 – 4

Last line of Rhyme: Move feet out (like a little split).

Keep repeating the rhyme – each time moving feet out more on the last line – whoever falls over first loses.

Many thanks to Marisa for teaching me this rhyme and for chanting it for us!

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa Banana

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Posted in American Kids Songs, Anna Banana, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, English, Games, Great Britain, Hand Clapping Rhymes, Hannah Banana, Holidays Around the World, Jump Rope, Jump Rope Rhymes, Languages, MP3 Recordings, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Recordings of Nursery Rhymes, USA | 4 Comments »

Are There “Correct” Versions of Traditional Nursery Rhymes and Songs?

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

People often write to us looking for the correct version of a song or rhyme. Monique Palomares, who I work with on the songs and rhymes that are posted on Mama Lisa’s World wrote the following about this topic…

Until mass media devices were available, songs were mostly passed down through generations by oral transmission. Some of them are known to have authors because we can track them back to a written document mentioning the authors’ names and how they wrote them. But most traditional songs are anonymous. Therefore, there were no set versions. People would adapt the songs to their own surroundings or would forget a word and sing another, swap verses or lines or add a new one. This is why there isn’t such a thing as “THE TRUE version” or “THE CORRECT lyrics”… when talking about anonymous traditional songs.

What seems to be for each of us “the true, genuine, correct…lyrics ” is the version we learned, generally when we were a child. So it’s “always” been that way for us in our heads.

Unless a song has an author who left a copy of his work, when a song/rhyme has variants, there is only a” MOST KNOWN/SPREAD version”. Some songs have tens of versions… so imagine all the nursery rhymes or finger plays that every mom sings to her baby, multiplied by all the mothers out there, multiplied by all the times they may sing them differently according to their sense of humor, the babies’ sense of humor…! (Check out the many versions of Ride Ride Ranke and you’ll see what I mean!)

Monique Palomares has translated most of Mama Lisa’s World into French and Spanish. You can see her translations on Mama Lisa’s World en français and Mama Lisa’s World en español.

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Posted in Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Folk Songs, History of Nursery Rhymes, History of Nursery Rhymes, Languages, Lullabies, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Variations of Nursery Rhymes | No Comments »

Can Someone Help with 2 Danish or Swedish Nursery Rhymes? We Have a Recording of Them!

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Lori wrote:

Dear Mama Lisa,

I am so excited to find this website because I have been searching for many years to find out about two Danish or Swedish nursery rhymes (you can listen to them by clicking the link). My mother’s beloved grandfather, Lars Christensen, used to bounce her on his knee and recite these rhymes. She then passed them on to me…and neither one of us know what they mean. Lars’ parents were both from Denmark: His father from the Brenderup, Odense, area and his mother from Lynge, Juteland area. So we think the rhymes may be Danish and probably date from the early 1800’s. However, Lars’ wife’s parents were from Sweden: Her father from Vallby, Kirkedinge area and her mother from Sallerup, Malmohus area. So there is a possibility that they are Swedish.

They might be so distorted coming from the mouth of an old Danish man through the memory of a small American girl and passed on to another generation, but I am hopeful that someone may recognize them.

My dear mother’s 80th birthday is coming up and I would love to surprise her with a written version or reading of the original, an English interpretation, or any information about any one of these two nursery rhymes. No matter how silly, they are very important to us because they are a link to our sacred, and loved ancestral roots.

Thank you so much,

Lori

If anyone can help out Lori, please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

PS We know the first rhyme is a version of Ride ride ranke, and Lori checked the versions posted on the blog in the past, but couldn’t find it there.

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Posted in Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Danish, Danish Children's Songs, Danish Nursery Rhymes, Denmark, Languages, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Rhea Rhea Runkin, Sweden, Swedish, Swedish Children's Songs, Swedish Nursery Rhymes, USA | 1 Comment »

Does Anyone Know a Short Poem or Rhyme about Spring?

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Rebeca Garcia Mendoza wrote

Hi! I’m a Spanish girl who is preparing resources to teach English to Spanish children. I’m looking for rhymes about seasons and I have a problem. I cannot find a short one of Spring.

If anybody knows one, please, tell me!
Thanks.

If anyone can help out Rebeca, please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

PS FYI I did find this nursery rhyme riddle about all the seasons:

In Spring I look gay,
Decked in comely array,
In Summer more clothing I wear;
When colder it grows,
I fling off my clothes,
And in Winter quite naked appear.

Scroll down for the answer..
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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A tree!

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Posted in Countries & Cultures, English, English Nursery Rhymes, Fall, Languages, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Nursery Rhymes about Spring, Nursery Rhymes about the Winter, Questions, Readers Questions, Rhymes about Spring, Rhymes about Summer, Riddles, Seasonal, Spring, Summer, Winter | 4 Comments »

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Cool Cuban Kids Song – Tiene Pinochito – Little Pinocchio

Can Someone Help with a German Lap Rhyme?

Pennsylvania Dutch Version of Dies Ist der Daumen – This Is the Thumb

Does Anyone Know an Old Serbian Rhyme that Sounds Like, “Studda Bubba rumpa tee”?

Birthday Chant and Jump Rope Rhyme – Apples, Peaches, Pears and Plums

Can Anyone Help with a Czech Rhyme that Sounds Like “Hou-py, hou-py, hou-py”?

Chanda Mama – “Moon” Video by Playing for Change

Let’s see if any of you know this rhyme…

Japanese Hand Clapping Playground Game

Jane Taylor’s Poem about a Pussy-cat is about How Kids Should Treat Pets

Did You Sing the Rhyme “Rubber Dolly”?

Old Mother Goose Cartoon

Can Someone Help with the Lap Rhyme, “Run run horsey with your long hair”?

A Collection of Nursery Rhymes

Can Anyone Help with a Norwegian Rhyme with the Line, “Kan du gleme gammel Norge”?

Can Anyone Help with a Rhyme Sounding Like, “Oddly boddlee finga hoof”? It’s Most Likely German!

Lyrics to Anna Banana and Hannah Banana with an MP3

Are There “Correct” Versions of Traditional Nursery Rhymes and Songs?

Can Someone Help with 2 Danish or Swedish Nursery Rhymes? We Have a Recording of Them!

Does Anyone Know a Short Poem or Rhyme about Spring?