Sharon wrote:
Hi,
I am hoping that someone out there remembers an old game that mothers, grandmothers, aunts and friends used to play with little ones. I think the rhyme is either Russian or Yiddish.
The baby’s hand is held palm up and the mother points her finger into the middle of the child’s hand and says, Meesala, Misala, or something like that, while making circles in the child’s palm. As the poem is repeated, the fingers march up the child’s arm and then tickle the back of the neck.
I remember the action and the feeling, but not the poem.
Help! I want to play this with my grandchildren, and my Grandmother played this with me almost 70 years ago.
Any help would be appreciated.
Best,
Sharon
If anyone knows about this rhyme, please comment below or email me.
Thanks!
-Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Finger Plays, Israel, Languages, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Readers Questions, Russia, Russian, Russian Children's Songs, USA, Yiddish, Yiddish Children's Songs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
August 22nd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
In my family we did this game while saying:
meezhele
mahzhele
cutchy-cutchy-coo (or cutch-cutch-cutch)
(the zh is my attempt at representing the sound between z and j)
I hope this is helpful!
Leslie
August 23rd, 2007 at 1:55 am
Would this “zh” sound like the “s” in “pleasure” “leisure”?
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:15 pm
My grandmother used to do this with me and my children:
Tsora kavrana ditjem kashka navarilla,
(This is said while the adult uses her/his pointer finger to tap on the palm of the child.)
Tsmudala, Tsmudala, Tsmudala, Tsmudala, Tsumdala
(While saying this, the adult folds each of the child’s fingers down one-by-one into the child’s palm.)
Meezhele, Mahzhele, Meezhele, Mahzele,
(The adult runs his/her fingers lightly up the child’s arm)
Tseep, tseep, tseep, tseep, tseep!
(The adult tickles the ribs or neck of the child.)
October 11th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
I am also looking for this rhyme- My mother always did this with the Grandchildren- She died in an unfortunate accident and I never got to ask her the exact words- i know it is meesal misala and then i remember the third word began with an L- please let me know if anyone gets any more of the words- i want to continue my mom’s tradition.
teri
November 29th, 2007 at 6:05 am
The Text is (try to express in Latin letters):
Kurochka Ryaba detyam kashu navarila
Meshala, meshala, meshala, meshala
Etomu dala, etomu dala, etomu dala, etomu dala,
A etomu nye dala
Tseep, tseep, tseep, tseep…
November 30th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
I’m looking for a Yiddish game my Great Grandmother used to sing to us. You hold your hand out, and the adult points to each finger as the song is sung. When the song stops, which ever finger she points to, that finger is ‘out’ / eliminated.
sounds like…
Ant litcky pant litcky
Chair vana stall litcky
Yed nasha chair vala
Adrew ga pumps
anyone know the real text?
December 3rd, 2007 at 7:12 am
Hello,
Another words for this are:
Soroka-Khozyaika kashu varila,
dyetok kormila,
Meshala, meshala, meshala, meshala,
Etomu dala, etomu dala, etomu dala, etomu dala,
A etomu nye dala,
Tseep, tseep, tseep, tseep…
The Russian words are:
Сорока-Хоз?йка кашу варила,
деток кормила,
Мешала, мешала, мешала, мешала,
Этому дала, ?тому дала, ?тому дала, ?тому дала,
? ?тому не дала,
Цып, цып, цып, цып…
December 4th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
You can find a version of this game on Mama Lisa’s World http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=1042&c=157
January 1st, 2008 at 10:50 am
Hey guys you are mixing something up. Kurochka Ryaba (Little Speckled Hen) NEVER cooked porrige (kasha). She is a character from an old Russian tale about a Golden Egg but not a Nursery Rhyme. Kasha in Nursery Rhymes is always cooked by the Magpie-the Crow (Soroka-Vorona), and this is her copyright! The old original version of this very Rhyme is
Soroka-Vorona
Kashu varila
Na porog stanovila
Detok kormila.
Etomu dala, Etomu dala, Etomu dala,
A etomu ne dala:
Ty drov ne rubil,
Ty pech’ ne topil,
Ty vodu ne nosil – Kysh za vodoi!
(and he started to run for water:)
Tut pen’, tut koloda,
Tut moh, tut boloto,
A tut kluchiki-kluchiki, teplaya vodichka
(here you may tickle ander the kid’s arm)
THE END
And no tseep-Tseep, tseep, tseep, never!
(и никаких цып-цып-цып в ?ороке вороне никогда не было, ? какого дуба вы упали, так цыпл?т зовут, а не ворон?т или ?орочат, их вообще никак не зовут, они дикие)
By the way does “mezhele” mean the word “meshala” ((she)was stirring) ?
PS: If anybody knows where one may get the originals of Scotch Nursery Rhymes (except Wee Willie Wincky) please mail me a link!!!
March 23rd, 2008 at 10:46 pm
SERENKA VERINKA
Children’s finger game (Russian/Yiddish?)
This came from Jennie Perlmutter, our grandmother, who lived in Zitomer, Beylarus and also in the Ukraine.
First you take the youngster’s open hand and pretend you are spitting in it by moving the palm close to your face and making a P-P-P- P sound.
Then, holding the hand by the wrist, palm up, lightly poke the center of the palm with your index finger as you chant:
Serenka verinka
Ditum-kahsh naver-reela
Then, starting with the pinky, take each finger one at a time, and lightly fold it into the child’s palm — eventually, closing the hand. Repeat this word with each finger:
Tah-mood-eh-lah
Tah-mood-eh-lah
Tah-mood-eh-lah
Tah-mood-eh-lah
Tah – mood – eh – lah !!
Now that the hand is closed, you hold on to the child’s wrist and begin to do a” finger walk” slowly up the inner arm — toward the armpit, building anticipation as you go, chanting:
Meazelah-meyezilla,
Meazelah-meyezilla,
Meazelah-meyezilla,
Meazelah-meyezilla,
and finally, tickling the child:
Kitz – Kizt – Kitz – Kitz
June 8th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
My mom told me a verse that meant something about a little mouse that ran around in a house & ate a little bit of rice, then ran up the child’s arm:
Meazelah meyezilla (little mouse)
Gayah round en houszalah (go around in the house
nemin shickel risala (eat a bit of rice)
Kitzi – Kitzi – Coo
You took the baby’s hand and used your finger to go in a circle in the palm while reciting the verse, then ran up his arm to tickle him.
August 21st, 2008 at 6:46 pm
There is a word in Yiddish maysele. The ay is pronouced like an “i” sound. Maysele means story. I am sorry but, I am not familiar with the song or story you are referring to.
March 5th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Tu Tu Tu
Ba Ba Shu
Esa mesala
___ ___ ___
March 5th, 2009 at 8:25 am
This is what I recall—a hand or foot tickling game that Buba did.
Temadala temadala temadala temadala temadala (while touching each of my toes in succession)
tu tu tu (tapping on the foot sole)
ba ba shu (tapping some more)
esala mesala
___ ___ ___ ! (some words said in a high voice, while tickeling)
April 11th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
For Noreen’s song: Meazelah meyezilla (little mouse)
Gayah round en houszalah (go around in the house
nemin shickel risala (eat a bit of rice)
Kitzi – Kitzi – Coo — it sounds like the words must have been:
meyzele mayzele
gey arum in hayzele
nem a shtikl rayzele
(ay is pronounced like the word I. So all the rhyme sounds are pron. high-eh-leh with the accent on the first syllable.), meaning little mouse (2x), run around in the house, take a bit of rice. The poem sounds like it is addressed to the little mouse (the child?) and the verbs are all imperatives (telling the mouse to run and to eat rice). Unless the words were geyt and nemt which would mean it is talking about the mouse not to it.
June 14th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
This post reminded me of my grandmother who was from the Ukraine. She used to do the same actions as described here – but the rhyme was in English! It went like this:
Round and round the garden like a teddy bear
Hop, 2, 3, 4, tickely under there.
She did a circling action in the palm of my hand with the fist line and on the second crept up my arm with her fingers and tickled my armpit – always made me laugh! I used to do this with my sons and they absolutely loved it as well.
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:04 pm
My Mom-Mom, also from Ukraine, sung this to my sister and I.
She used to pretend to spit in my palm, then sang
Baba Kashka
Nava Reala
Napri Pretchka Posklavelia
Shishgim Geekkem Nava Reala
Tema-Dolla
Tema-Dolla
Tema-Dolla
And then tickled us.
She told me that this was a old nursery tale about a grandmother who was feeding her grandkids pourage, cooking the pourage, tema-dolla means “and for you, and for you”
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:34 am
My Russian great-grandfather also used to do a nursery rhyme where he pretended to spit in our palm and then circled his finger in the palm. It ended with meezalah maazala and ticking up the arm to the child’s chin, but it started with words something like “Sulka wahna.” any ideas?
December 20th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
My grandmother used to play this, and I remember it going something like this:
(pretend to spit in open palm)
Circle palm with finger, saying:
“Kasha, varilla napripichik starvilla”
Touch each finger, saying:
“Tut pan, tut kalutka”
Run fingers up arm & over head, saying.
“Tut, tut, tut, tut . . . .
December 31st, 2010 at 4:59 pm
How about one that has the translation of a big table, eating something with fish, then drinking a glass of wine?
January 12th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
My Slovak Grandmother would do this version, circling the child’s palm with her index finger, then holding the child’s thumb and each finger, then tickling up the arm to the neck. I don’t remember her spitting in the palm to start. I always kiss the palm of the child when I begin this game. Vareela sounds like “Vadilla.” My spelling is phonetic.
“Vareela, Vareela, Mama kashichku. “(She cooked, Mama,
pudding (Kasha).
“Tomto dala na lozichku.” (To this one she gave on a spoon.)
“Tomto dala na mistichku.” (To this one she gave on a little dish.)
“Tomto dala na ryenichku.” (To this one she gave on a little pan.)
“Tomto dala.” (To this one she gave.)
“Tomto nedala.” (To this one she gave not.)
“A tomto keeekala keekala keekala!” (And to this one tickle,
tickle, tickle!)
June 5th, 2011 at 3:41 am
(“Ahem” as throat clears)
As many posters before me must have felt, I too was moved to be able to recall my Baba Betty’s game of finger counting when I was four. I can still remember the whole poem and experience with remarkable clarity. That was 61 years ago, when I was a child in another city/country (Winnipeg, Canada), and during another century (20th). (Oh God, really!). Well, it came to me this morning in the shower for no apparent reason and I thought, “I’ll bet the internet will help me recall it and those memories … those precious memories. (fade-out softly,…and pause)
(Moments pass and then … pulls self back to the present and says)
… I would like to thank you all who have already put down their version as best recalled. But here let me insert a small qualification regarding the precise accuracy of my version. I think I remember my Baba saying that what she sang might have been her “mis-remembering” the original rhyme. It was thus perhaps two rhymes. She often began with this apology.
Anyways, here goes ….
[First, … the all important, ceremonial spit into the center of my palm. I never knew why, nor asked …doh! Probably an act of purification unique to Odessa, Russia. But of course!!]
Tsoroka varana deet-em kashka navarilla,
[This is said while my Baba used her pointer finger to tap on my palm.]
In a pripichik ….. stun-a-villa……….
[big, long pause with her eyes going from my palm to my neck and back again …. starting my “first stage” squirm and giggle ….]
[Note: The pause here was crucial and drawn out each time … longer and longer as I grew older and I knew (obviously) what was coming. She would build the tension up to that “dreaded” exciting moment of the race up to my ticklish neck by her quick fingers.]
Tamudala, Tamudala, Tamudala, Tamudala, Ta-mu-neeee-da-lah !!!
[This was serious business. While saying this with clear dramatic deliberation, she folded each of my fingers down one-by-one into my palm, and then lastly, pressed my baby finger, with great deliberation and a noteworthy sigh of great satisfaction. I totally believed this marked a really important accomplishment. And that would usually “do it”. I was mesmerized, under her spell, and unable to escape.]
[I especially remember that last word (different from Cathy K’s text) which to me sounded like “Tamuneeeeedalah”. The emphasis here was on the “neeeeeee” sound in the middle of this, the last word. ]
[The moment I never forgot …to this day.]
Meezelah, Mahzhelah, Meezelah, Mahzhelah, Meezelah, Mahzhela, etc…
[repeated in a vocal crescendo, along with the charge and tickle up to my neck.]
OK. Back to the present! For any of you who would like to hear me perform a live version, … the charge will be you reciting me yours – first. [Giggles and tears guaranteed!]
Tsoroka verana deet-em kashka navarilla,
In a pripichik ….. stun-a-villa ……….
Tamudala, Tamudala, Tamudala, Tamudala, Ta-mu-neeee-da-lah !!!
Meezelah, Mahzhelah, Meezelah, Mahzhelah, Meezelah, Mahzhela, etc…
June 5th, 2011 at 11:27 pm
Thanks for sharing Paul! If you’d like to recite it for us… we have a way you can call a number and record it. Just let me know if you’re interested. Cheers! Mama Lisa
June 6th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
I’ve never gone public before …. and with my voice, my kids tell me, maybe I shouldn’t. Besides, I’m not sure I could do it without tearing up. I tried to sing it to my wife yesterday and, well, I’m still working on getting through the first line. OK, OK you say. Enough with the excuses. (You all know the inflection of this last line). Thank you for this wonderful website. As they say, Lisa ..”let’s talk”. (grin)
June 6th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
OK! However you feel most comfortable!
June 6th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Paul, maybe you could help us with the translation to Looly-looly-loolenki lullaby? Would you be able to lend us a hand? Thanks!
July 24th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
My Bubba used to do a version which my Mum and Aunties always did with the kids in Manchester where we lived. It sounded like this (apologies for the phonetics!). It seems to fit with Chelley’s version above:
Tee Ronnie, Vee Rockie
Titticashki, navarilli,
Tee Muzzelly, etc.
I also recall the mock spitting into the palm of the hand and the P, P, P (which had something to do with a “warding off the evil eye” superstition).
November 21st, 2011 at 9:03 am
my Mother’s version goes: chichi chichi saruka, tut-pin tut-hara [long pause] tut-holniyavoda
February 18th, 2012 at 3:21 am
Hi Lisa, I sent you an email about 10 minutes ago(and told you I had not come to your site since I came out of hospital)…..and then came to this page………and read the above….and read PAUL REMIS MD says…..and thought that is a familiar name(but could not place it) and continued reading…and find he comes from my hometown of Winnipeg,Manitoba…….is there an email address for him(or is that private?)I think the Remis family was related to my Aunt Rose Desser (husband Mark Desser…my Mom’s brother)Is it because our roots are the same that we are both remembering Keezela Mazella? I am very new to the computer world; and am finding this all so amazing.
June 8th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
this was very helpful, I was trying to remember this verse with my grandson and could only remember the end. Reading all of the messages brought back so many good memories of my mother in law playing this with my babies, now she is gone but I will try to carry on the tradition.
July 25th, 2012 at 7:53 am
Thank you for this information. My Polish/Russian Grandfather used to do this to us when we were small and we would all line up for him to do it. I remember laughing in line waiting for my turn. Thank you Thank you Thank you.
October 28th, 2012 at 8:20 am
I came across this thread while looking for the game my grandpa used to play with us, seemingly another variant. You’d pinch the back of his hand, and he’d pinch yours so your hands were stacked, then move gem up and down. The words sounded like:
Tseep tsop emerol
Kimitzmir and kemerol
A vilde epis visen
A schissele mit eisen
(now slower) Meesele mahsele
Ai ai ai ai ai (tickle you up to your neck)
Pardon my horrid transliteration! Anyway, my toddler loves this, so the tradition carries on.
October 28th, 2012 at 11:29 pm
My grandma played this with us too! I remember the words slightly differently, though, but that doesn’t mean they’re any more correct…
This would be tapped in the palm of the my hand:
Saraka, varana, gichem, kachka, a priptiz kosta gilla
Then, slowly and one at a time, each finger would be folded toward the thumb, from pinkie to thumb:
Eta muteleh, eta muteleh, eta muteleh, eta muteleh
And then when she got to the thumb she’d wiggle it and say:
Tis chimehlee
And then she’d run her fingers up my arm and tickle me:
Shukeeeeee!!!!
I remember my mom saying that it was about a housewife doing her chores and a little bird comes and asks her for bread. She tells her all the chores she has to do first (that’s the “etemuteleh” part) and then tells her to fly away (“shukee”). I have no idea if this is true…
November 7th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
My father sang a version of these counting songs. He came from Lwow and I’m wondering if anyone can help? I’m typing his “memoirs” and would like to include it.
“Kra, kra worona, dzieciom kaczkym parzyla – can’t remember the next part – te mu dala, temu dala, …. a z tym frrr….. i poleczala”
November 7th, 2012 at 5:42 pm
That sounds like the rhymes here.
December 12th, 2012 at 6:39 am
As I contemplate empty nesthood and my older siblings become grandparents, I was suddenly thinking about the simple connection my grandmother had with my oldest daughter. She used to play a similar rhyme with her, done in Yiddish.
I am sure I have the words messed up, but here goes nothing:
(make 2 circles in the palm of the child’s hand with your forefinger while holding the palm up with the other hand and then tap three times ) say “keezelah maizelah pick pick pick
(repeat the above motion) say (shteta hunt afun brick)
(repeat 2 circles again, and then tickle up the arm) und sun shrei K’rick K”rick K”rick.
I know the last part is about some animal crying out “Karick karick karick”
Hope someone else has a similar memory!
December 25th, 2012 at 3:04 pm
My 94 tr old mother-in-law (with Russian/Yiddish background) is looking for the origins of what sounds like:
“mala mala meesa
vou vlo fleesa
Inna cana vininda
vou vlo vaselov
in inda in inda in inda”.
I am sure this is a derivative of a long ago rhyme but… perhaps someone knows.
Thank you.
May 29th, 2013 at 9:13 am
I am looking for the words of a rhyme, something like:
“enger menger las mir leben…”
My dad taught me this about 60 years ago. He was from Lithuania.
I have unfortunately forgotten the words.
Thank you
June 18th, 2013 at 3:07 pm
My mother probably learned this from her mother, who came to America from Russia or Poland in the early 1900s. Spelling is phonetic.
Mom would run her pointer finger slowly in a circle around my open palm, repeating softly, “Meezelah, myezelah,” any number of times. Then she’d exclaim, “Shishee poo poo!” as she ran her hand with tickling fingers up my arm to my arm pit or the back of my neck.
Just as I did, my daughter always collapses in happy giggles when I carry on the tradition!
September 15th, 2013 at 9:38 pm
I’m also looking for a Yiddish rhyme, but a different one. I remember it started like this:
Mitzen zeigele, zeig, zeig, zeig (sawing movement with the hands)
Mitzen hammeral, klop, klop, klop (hammering movement with the hands)
That’s all I remember.
Thanks!
November 12th, 2013 at 5:42 pm
I remember my bubbe singing something like
Tu Tu Tu yagala
Mama’s kvagala
temedala temadala
there was more but it escapes my memory now
Sound familiar to anyone?
January 11th, 2014 at 10:55 pm
I wrote one of the early posts and love reading all the others. Jessica brings up another rhyme. I remember it as she wrot but with a couple more lined…vilder epis visen, as chisel e mit eisen, vilder epis geiben, as chisel e mit greiben, blobishkes blobishkes, blobishkes.
January 30th, 2014 at 8:58 pm
My daughter and i were just playing a similar game with rhyme that my aunt used to do. I speak almost every Slavic language, so i know it’s not Russian, Polish, etc. I always assumed it was Yiddish. It is very similar to this one described so many times, but the words are very different. I wonder if the words simply got mangled through the generations (my aunt would be 75-ish today, and was i think 2nd or 3rg generation American, with German ancestry).
Hers went:
(holding the child’s hand palm up, trying to sound, according to her, like a “Gypsy”
She would stroke the hand once, tickling, for each word….’Mala, tala, ilshkin, spilshkin…..tick a tick a tick” (up the arm to the elbow or neck, tickling)
Did she totally just make up the words to fit the game, or does anyone recognize anything like this?
Thanks!
April 11th, 2014 at 6:27 pm
Wow,, it seems every Grandma had their own version of the same song. My Ukranian mother -played a game with my children while she sang. It was about children cooking kasha along the roadside, and when done gave some to this child and then to this child, but after the last child got some it pulled off its head and turned out to be a bird who flew high high up in the air. She would wiggle your fingers as each child got kasha, and when the bird flew away she grabbed your wrist and waved back and forth. Does this sound familar to anyone?
June 22nd, 2014 at 9:21 pm
My Yiddish-speaking father, from Zakilikow, Poland -near the Ukraine border – did this finger-play with me when I was very little (more than 65 years ago):
(Drawing a circle in my palm with his index finger:)
Tchu-tchu, tchu-tchu, Sorechka,
Kashi, milch, voretchka.
(Touching each finger in turn:)
Tem-a-dollar, tem-a-dollar, tem-a-dollar, tem-a-dollar,
(Holding the pinky:)
Grrrr…..(running finger up the arm)…. Etchka! (Tickling under the arm – always accompanied by raucous giggling on my part!)
July 8th, 2014 at 1:13 pm
Abbe had the rhyme my grandmother did…..keezelah meezelah…chic chic chic….also including the “temedala, temedala…” My grandparents came from Lancut, near Lwow
February 1st, 2015 at 1:03 am
I am wondering about a little song my mother sang with my children when they were little and I am now singing with my grandson…but I don’t know what it means and I don’t know if it is Russian or Yiddish. The hand is held up,,horizontally, and then turned back and forth while singing “Kosinki, Kosinki”. My grandson loves it and he will start turning his hand around when I start singing it! Is anyone familiar with it?
Thanks!!!
February 5th, 2015 at 8:26 pm
Maya wrote from Russia:
“I had a look at the comment above. I can’t figure out what it is from the way it’s written (sometimes, it’s hard to guess when it’s written with the Latin alphabet!). Maybe it’s the plural of “little goats” but it also looks like the plural of “headscarf”. Anyway, it doesn’t ring any bells, sorry!
When reading the comments, I realized Russian and Yiddish oral traditions may have intertwined during the cultural transmission within the migrants’ families. I understood that many people who write on the blog are Americans of Russian or Jewish background, so they have some memories from their childhood, some rhymes, sound and actions-wise but not linguistically. But it can be felt that they have this nostalgia about their ancestors, hence the reason why they try to rediscover those rhymes.”
March 10th, 2015 at 9:43 pm
I found this website because I am trying to find out about the nursery rhyme below. This is just my transliteration of what I though a relative was saying. To me, the second line sounds like its referring to a cat or cats eating something up.
A dus da legen na stickle a fly
Came die ketzen und all die fretzen
Kiesel la mazel kiezel la mazel
Kitz, kitz, kitz.
Any thoughts will be appreciated. My relatives are not sure what the original language was (Polish, Yiddish, German?), but both remembered parents or grandparents reciting something like this. The relatives, however, are not in agreement about the exact sounds involved. They agree that the game concluded with the adult kissing the child’s arm.
April 14th, 2015 at 7:49 pm
@olga, @mamalisa,
This sounds familiar to me. My grandpa is Ukrainian and used to do a similar story on my hand about a mother bird feeding her 5 babies. It begins with pretend spit in my palm, then a circular motion in my palm, then taking a pinch from my palm to all my fingers until we got to my pinky finger and it was a bad little bird and got its head twisted off. It sounded like this.
caw-caw wvoodena, teeshem cashem woodena, deek deek puda shka, dama kasha puden shka. temedala, temedala, temedala, temedala, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ theblank is the part when the last babybird or my pinky finger gets its “head taken off” for not eating and misbehaving. I’d always laugh really hard in anticipation for this part so i dont remember how it sounded at the end.