Does Anyone Know an Italian Nursery Rhyme about Sheep or Lambs Playing around a Well?
Grace wrote to me asking for help with a childhood rhyme…
Hi Lisa,
My name is Grace, and when I was little, my Nana used to recite me a nursery rhyme in Italian. I think it was about sheep or lambs that were playing around a well.
When she would recite it to me, she would circle my palm with her finger and then wiggle my fingers one by one. I have been searching the internet for what seems like forever and I can’t find anything about this, and it’s leading me to believe that perhaps she had made it up just for me. However, she has Alzheimer’s so she hasn’t been able to help me, and members of my family remember her doing this but they don’t remember the words, only what it was about. Thank you so much for your time, and I hope that perhaps you’ll be able to provide me with an answer.
Again, thank you!
Grace
If anyone can help Grace with any info about this rhyme, please let us know in the comments below.
Thanks in advance…
Mama Lisa
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Sakura Sakura
(Japanese Transliteration)
Sakura sakura
Noyama mo sato mo
Miwatasu kagiri
Kasumi ka kumo ka
Asahi ni niou
Sakura sakura
Hana zakari
Sakura sakura
Yayoi no sora wa
Miwatasu kagiri
Kasumi ka kumo ka
Nioi zo izuru
Izaya izaya
Mini yu kan
Cherry Blossoms, Cherry Blossoms
(English Translation)
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Blanketing the countryside,
As far as you can see.
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the morning sun.
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Flowers in full bloom.
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Across the Spring sky,
As far as you can see.
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the air.
Come now, come,
Let’s look, at last!
March 16th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I think I can help you. My mother-in-law did that little nursery rhyme with all her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Is it the one that ends…”baa, baa, baa”? Starts with Questo bella. If so, I think I can help you.
March 29th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Yes! My grandmother used to sing that to me as well. I came to the website looking for the lyrics. All I remember is that it started something like “Come esta la fontanella…..” and then she would draw my fingers in one by one, and then wiggle the pinkie toe and sing “…bida la bida la bate mia.” I think it was actually about little pigs, but not sure.
April 26th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Ok, so my grandmother used to sing one to me, I know the words, but I have nooo idea how to spell them, nor do I speak Italian… So here goes nothing, hope this helps you, I’d really like to know what it means if you can help me with that part!
Fund a nella Fund a nella quat cha bebe le peek a chava, quish la chava, quish la gee, quish la maya, quish la gucchi, quish la vee a vee a vee
She’d circle my hand until the “peek a chava” part, and then each of my fingers would be one of the next lines, my thumb being the last part about “quish la vee a vee a avee” hope this helped! My great grandmother was 96 years old when I learned she was dying, so I tried to learn the words and that was 10 years ago. She immigrated over in 1912 and never learned to speak english too well.
May 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 pm
I came to the website looking for the words to an italian nursery rhyme my mother-in-law does with my son. I thought it begins with something like “sorte carbonella (no idea of the spelling), but maybe as Cathy stated above it begins with “Questo bella?”….where she strokes his hand, then goes up his arm while saying “ba, ba, ba, ba” – until she gets to his chin and then tickles him. She’s not sure of the translation as HER grandmother did it to her…but she knows it something about sheep.
Cathy, can you help me? Thanks!
July 9th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Hello everyone. I found this site while searching for, I believe, the same nursery rhyme. I recall my mother singing to my something like “sotto fontanelle via beva bucarelle” (the soft spot on your head, then something about drinking from the hole). Yes, she would draw circles in my son’s open palm and then pull on each finger (as Nicole noted) until the end, when she’d reach up and tickle him under the arm. Oh, it delighted him! I do wish I knew all the words. My mother was Neapolitan and perhaps her rhyme was in dialect. It’s been almost 30 years since I’ve heard the rhyme, and she’s been gone twenty years. I want this memory of her to be more complete, so if anyone else can add to the rhyme, I will enthusiastically appreciate it!
October 11th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Hi! I was just at my grandmother’s this weekend. She just did this for my 3 year old son. It is about pigs, it’s sort of like doing this little piggy rhyme on your toes. I video taped her singing it to him. I will try to type up the lyrics in the coming days. I don’t speak italian, but will call her to see if she can help me write it out.
I actually came to the site to see if anyone new some of the lyrics to another finger play game… i have no idea how to begin to spell it, but it sounds like…. deenza deenza gatta ga deenza nubastocka beeta badeenza…. ok, that’s just how it sounds, i’m sure not how it’s spelled. I keep asking my grandmother to slow down but she just says it quickly and i can’t figure out the actual words. Anyone know???
Thanks and good luck to anyone!
October 11th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
If you can send a recording of your grandmother saying it – I can post it and add it. OR if you post a youtube video of her saying it, I can post that. Thanks! Mama Lisa