I asked Jana if there is a song in Slovak to the tune of "Frère Jacques". Here's what she wrote: "You asked me about 'Frere Jacques'. Yes I knew this one from England, the British version, 'Brother John'. We don't have a nursery song with same tune in Slovakia, or at least I don't know about such... but there is one with a similar 'wakey wakey' topic, 'Vstávaj kubo hore'. It is about a man who works as a miner and finds it difficult to wake up in the morning... here it is (the translation to this is a bit complicated for me because it has very old expressions we don't use nowadays.)…"

Notes

*"Hutmanska palica" = STICK (or rod). We think it's a tool for miners or a tool that is typical for the miner profession (we think it might be a spud bar).

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Jana Olejnikova for contributing and translating this rhyme. Translation edited by Lisa Yannucci.