Bat! Bat! Come Un'er My Hat
"Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise and Otherwise" had the following note along with this rhyme: "A superstition that it is good luck to catch a bat in one's hat if he doesn't get bedbugs by so doing."
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Bat! Bat! Come Un'er My Hat
Bat! Bat! Come Under My Hat
Nursery Rhyme
Nursery Rhyme
(Historical Black American English)
(English)
Bat! Bat! Come un'er my hat,
An' I'll give you a slish o' bacon.
But don't bring none yō' ole bedbugs,
If you don't want to git fersaken.
Bat! Bat! Come under my hat,
And I'll give you a slice of bacon.
But don't bring any of your old bedbugs,
If you don't want to be forsaken*.
Notes
*Abandoned
There's an English nursery rhyme called Bat, Bat, Come Under My Hat that this is most likely based on. The traditional English version of this rhyme is:
Bat, bat,
Come under my hat,
And I'll give you a slice of bacon;
And when I bake
I'll give you a cake,
If I am not mistaken.
*****
Thanks and Acknowledgements
This rhyme can be found in Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise and Otherwise, with a Study by Thomas W. Talley of Fisk University (1922).
Standard English version by Lisa Yannucci.