Grasshopper a Settin' on a Sweet Tater Vine
This comes from a collection of African-American folk rhymes collected nearly a century ago. It's in a dialect.
A rhyme about karma...
Grasshopper a Settin' on a Sweet Tater Vine
Grasshopper a-Sittin' on a Sweet Potato Vine
Nursery Rhyme
Nursery Rhyme
(Historical Black American English)
(English)
Grasshopper a settin'
on a sweet tater vine,
'Long come a Blackbird
an' nab him up behind.
Blackbird a-settin'
in a sour apple tree ;
Hawk grab him up behind;
he "Chee! Chee! Chee!"
Big hawk a-settin'
in de top of dat oak,
Start to eat dat Blackbird
an' he git choke.
Grasshopper a-sittin'
on a sweet potato vine,
Along come a Blackbird
and nab him up behind.
Blackbird a-sittin'
in a sour apple tree;
Hawk grab him up behind;
he "Chee! Chee! Chee!"
Big hawk a-sittin'
in the top of that oak,
Start to eat that Blackbird
and he choke.
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.
Illustration by Monique Palomares.
