Bo Peeper,
Nose dreeper,
Chin chopper,
White lopper,
Red rag,
And little gap.
These lines are said to a very young child, touching successively for
each line the eye, nose, chin, tooth, tongue, and mouth. Sometimes the
following version is used:
Brow brinky,
Eye winky,
Chin choppy,
Nose noppy,
Cheek cherry,
Mouth merry.
The most pleasing amusement of this kind is the game of "face-tapping,"
the nurse tapping each feature as she sings these lines,—
Here sits the lord mayor (_forehead_),
Here sit his two men (_eyes_);
Here sits the cock (_right cheek_),
Here sits the hen (_left cheek_).
Here sit the little chickens (_tip of nose_),
Here they run in (_mouth_);
Chinchopper, chinchopper,
Chinchopper, chin (_chucking the chin_)!
Similar songs are common in the North of Europe. A Danish one is given
by Thiele, iii. 130:
Pandebeen,
Oisteen,
Næsebeen,
Mundelip,
Hagetip,
Dikke, dikke, dik.
Brow-bone,
Eye-stone,
Nose-bone,
Mouth-lip,
Chin-tip,
Dikke, dikke, dik!
The nurse, while repeating the last line, tickles the child under the
chin. A German version, now common at Berlin, is printed by M. Kuhn, in
his article on Kinderlieder, p. 237:
Kinnewippchen,
Rothlippchen,
Nasendrippchen,
Augenthränechen,
Ziep ziep Maränechen.
The following lines are repeated by the nurse when sliding her hand down
the child's face:
My mother and your mother
Went over the way;
Said my mother to your mother,
It's chop-a-nose day!