CUSTOM RHYMES
The comparison of our short nursery rhymes with those current in other
countries, next engages our attention. Halliwell has remarked that some
of our rhymes are chanted by the children of Germany and Scandinavia,
which to him strikingly exhibited the great antiquity and remote origin
of these rhymes. The observation which he made with regard to the
countries of Northern Europe, applies to the countries of Central and
Southern Europe also. Scholarly collections of rhymes have been
published during recent years in Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy,
Spain, and referring to special parts of these countries, which give us
a fair insight into their nursery lore. (Cf., p. 212). The comparison of
these collections with ours yields surprising results. Often the same
thought is expressed in the same form of verse. Frequently the same
proper name reappears in the same connection. In many cases rhymes, that
seem senseless taken by themselves, acquire a definite meaning when
taken in conjunction with their foreign parallels. Judging from what we
know of nursery rhymes and their appearance in print, the thought of a
direct translation of rhymes in the bulk cannot be entertained. We are
therefore left to infer, either that rhymes were carried from one
country to another at a time when they were still meaningful, or else
that they originated in different countries as the outcome of the same
stratum of thought.
The sorting of nursery rhymes according to the number of their foreign
parallels, yields an additional criterion as to the relative antiquity
of certain rhymes. For those rhymes that embody the more primitive
conceptions are those that are spread over the wider geographical area.
The above inquiry has shown that pieces such as _Mother Hubbard_ and
_Three Blind Mice_ are relatively new, and that all the rhymes formed on
the model of _Little Miss Muffet_ go back to the _Cushion Dance_ and to
the game of _Sally Waters_. Rhymes of this kind are entirely without
foreign parallels. On the other hand, calls, such as those addressed to
the ladybird and the snail, and riddle-rhymes, such as that on _Humpty
Dumpty_, have numerous and close parallels half across Europe.
The ladybird is the representative among ourselves of a large class of
insects which were associated with the movement of the sun from the
earliest times. The association goes back to the _kheper_ or chafer of
ancient Egypt, which has the habit of rolling along the ball that
contains its eggs. This ball was identified as the orb of the sun, and
the _kheper_ was esteemed as the beneficent power that helped to keep it
moving.
A like importance attached to the chafers that had the power of flying,
especially to the ladybird (_Coccinella septem punctata_). In India the
insect was called _Indragopas_, that is "protected by Indra." The story
is told how this insect flew too near the sun, singed its wings, and
fell back to the earth.[43]
[43] De Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, 1872, II, p. 209.
In Greece the same idea was embodied in the myth of Ikaros, the son of
Dædalus, who flew too near the sun with the wings he had made for
himself, and, falling into the sea, was drowned. Already the ancient
Greeks were puzzled by this myth, which found its reasonable explanation
in describing Ikaros as the inventor of sails. He was the first to
attach sails to a boat, and sailing westwards, he was borne out to sea
and perished.
Among ourselves the ladybird is always addressed in connection with its
power of flight. It is mostly told to return to its house or home, which
is in danger of being destroyed by fire, and warned of the ruin
threatening its children if it fails to fly. But some rhymes address it
on matters of divination, and one urges it to bring down blessings from
heaven.
The rhyme addressed to the ladybird first appears in the nursery
collection of 1744, where it stands as follows:--
1. Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home,
Your house is on fire, your children will burn.
Many variations of the rhyme are current in different parts of the
country, which may be tabulated as follows:--
2. Lady cow, lady cow, fly away home,
Your house is on fire, your children all roam. (1892, p. 326.)
3. Ladycow, Ladycow, fly and be gone,
Your house is on fire, and your children at home.
(Hallamshire, 1892, p. 326.)
4. Gowdenbug, gowdenbug, fly away home,
Yahr house is bahnt dun, and your children all gone.
(Suffolk, _N. & Q._, IV., 55.)
5. Ladybird, ladybird, eigh thy way home,
Thy house is on fire, thy children all roam,
Except little Nan, who sits in her pan
Weaving gold laces as fast as she can.
(Lancashire, 1892, p. 326.)
6. Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home,
Your house is on fire, your children at home.
They're all burnt but one, and that's little Ann,
And she has crept under the warming pan. (Rusher's Series.)
7. Ladycow, ladycow, fly thy way home,
Thy house is on fire, thy children all gone;
All but one, that ligs under a stone,
Ply thee home, ladycow, ere it be gone. (1842, p. 204.)
8. Ladycow, Ladycow, fly away home,
Thy house is on fire, thy children all gone;
All but one, and he is Tum,
And he lies under the grindelstone.
(Shropshire, 1892, p. 327.)
9. Dowdy cow, dowdy cow, ride away hame,
Thy house is burnt, and thy bairns are ta'en;
And if thou means to save thy bairns,
Take thy wings and fly away.
(N. Riding, Yorks., 1892, p. 327.)
10. Lady, lady landers, fly away to Flanders.
(Chambers, 1842, p. 43.)
11. Fly, ladybird, fly!
North, south, east, or west,
Fly to the pretty girl that I love best. (1849, p. 5.)
12. King, king Golloway, up your wings and fly away,
Over land and over sea; tell me where my love can be.
(Kincardineshire, 1870, p. 201.)
13. Ladycow, ladycow, fly from my hand,
Tell me where my true love stands,
Up hill and down hill and by the sea-sand. (1892, p. 119.)
14. Bishop, Bishop, Barnabee, tell me when my wedding will be.
If it be to-morrow day,
Ope your wings and fly away. (Sussex, 1892, p. 119.)
15. Bishop, bishop, barnabee, tell me when my wedding will be.
Fly to the east, fly to the west,
Fly to them that I love best. (_N. & Q._, I., p. 132.)
16. Burnie bee, burnie bee, say when will your wedding be.
If it be to-morrow day,
Take your wings and fly away. (Norfolk, 1849, p. 3.)
17. Bless you, bless you, bonnie bee, say when will your wedding be.
If it be to-morrow day,
Take your wings and fly away. (M., p. 253, foot-note.)
18. God A'mighty's colly cow, fly up to heaven;
Carry up ten pound, and bring down eleven.
(Hampshire, 1892, p. 327.)
19. This ladyfly I take from the grass,
Whose spotted back might scarlet red surpass.
Fly ladybird, north, south, or east or west,
Fly where the man is found that I love best.
(M., p. 417, citing Brand.)
The comparison of these rhymes with their foreign parallels, of which a
number were collected by Mannhardt, shows that a rhyme current in Saxony
is very close to ours:--
Himmelsküchlein, flieg aus!
Dein Haus brennt,
Deine kinder weinen alle miteinander. (M., p. 349.)
"Heaven's little chicken, fly away; thy house is on fire, thy
children are all crying."
Mannhardt was of opinion that the ladybird rhyme originated as a charm
intended to speed the sun across the dangers of sunset, that is, the
"house on fire" or welkin of the West, which is set aglow at sundown.
Throughout the East a prayer is still uttered to the setting sun in
order to ensure its safe return on the morrow.
The ladybird is known by a variety of names both in England and abroad.
Among ourselves it is identified as a cow, a bird, or a bee, while the
_lady_ of our rhymes reappears as Mary in the German expression
_Marienkäfer_. In Sweden the ladybird is addressed as _Jungfru Marias
Nyckelpiga_, "the Lady Mary's keybearer," and this expression is
explained by the story that the Virgin lost the keys of heaven, and that
all the animals helped her to look for them. They were found by the
ladybird, to whose care they are now entrusted. The keys of heaven have
been interpreted as the lightning which opened the floodgates of heaven.
For the mother divinities were credited with making the weather, with
giving rain, and with washing. This latter association lingers in the
Scottish ladybird rhyme, in which the ladybird is addressed as landers,
i.e. laundress (M., p. 250, foot-note).
In Potsdam they sing:--
Marienwörmken flïg furt,
Flïg furt nach Engelland!
Engelland ist zugeschlossen,
Schlüssel davon abgebrochen. (M., p. 347.)
"Insect of Mary, fly away, fly away to Engelland. Engelland is
locked, its key is broken."
The rhyme thus combines the idea of the keys of heaven with _Engelland_,
the home of the unborn spirits, and with Mary, to whom the insect is
dedicated.
Many of our ladybird rhymes refer to the danger that is threatening,
probably from sunset or the direction of the West, but one person is
safe. It is little Nan, who sits weaving gold laces. Spinning gold or
silk was a prerogative of the mother divinities who sat in heaven (Gr.,
223, M., 705). Another rhyme calls her Ann. Nan or Ann reappears in the
corresponding ladybird rhymes of Switzerland and Swabia. In Aargau they
sing:--
Goldchäber, flüg uf, uf dine hoche Tanne,
Zue diner Muetter Anne.
Si git dir Chäs und Brod,
's isch besser as der bitter Tod. (R., p. 464.)
"Gold-chafer, up and away, up to thy high story, to thy Mother Anne,
who gives thee bread and cheese. 'Tis better than bitter death."
In Swabia they sing:--
Sonnevögele flieg aus,
Flieg in meiner Ahne Haus,
Bring mir Aepfel und Bire;
Komm bald wieder. (Me., p. 24.)
"Sunbird, fly away, fly to my ancestress' house; bring me apples and
pears; come back soon."
This request to the ladybird to bring down gifts from heaven has a
parallel in our rhyme which entreats it to "carry up ten pounds, and
bring down eleven."
According to another of our rhymes the one who is safe at home is Tom,
who lies under the grindelstone, that is the grindstone. The analysis of
the stories that are told of Tom shows that he is related to the
northern god Thor, and that the grindstone corresponds to Thor's hammer.
Moreover, in Scandinavian folk-lore there is a house-sprite called
Tommelgubbe, literally Tom-boy, who took offence if work was done on a
Thursday, the day sanctified to the god Thor. The hammer of Thor was
called _Mjölnir_, that is pounder, and with it the god was busy in
summertime in heaven, pounding ice into snow.
In an old story-book called _Tom Hickathrift_, otherwise
_Hickifric_,[44] traits are preserved in connection with Tom, which
recall the peculiarities of the god Thor. Tom dwelt with his mother, who
slept on straw; there was no father. Thor had no father; his mother was
designated as Godmor. Tom ate hugely, Thor did the same. Tom flung his
hammer into the river, Thor measured distance by throwing his hammer.
Tom carted beer--a trait that recalls Thor's fits of drunkenness. On one
occasion Tom made himself a weapon by sticking an axle-tree into a
waggon-wheel, which suggests that Thor's hammer was a flat stone mace.
Likewise Tom, having broken his club, "seized upon a lusty raw-boned
miller," and used him as a weapon. Can we hesitate from accepting that
this "miller" in a confused manner recalls the _Mjölnir_--that is the
hammer--of the northern god Thor?
[44] Reprinted Halliwell, 1849, p. 81 ff.
The analysis of the ladybird rhymes takes us even farther afield. In
Saxony they sing:--
Flieg, Käfer, flieg, dein Vater ist im Krieg,
Deine Mutter ist in den Stiefel gekroche,
Hat das linke Bein gebroche. (M., p. 347.)
"Fly, chafer, fly, father has gone to war, mother has crept into the
shoe, she has broken her left leg."
The mother with the broken leg of this rhyme recalls the limping mother
of the Babyland game, and the person in _Drop Handkerchief_, who was
bitten. The expression of "creeping into a shoe" yields a clue to the
nature of the woman of one of our rhymes who lived in a shoe, and was
oppressed by the number of her children. In one form this rhyme, cited
above in connection with the tale of Mother Hubbard, describes how the
children were to all appearance dead, but were quickened into life. This
conception is allied to the quickening into life of the babes in the
Babyland game. In its earliest printed form the rhyme stands as
follows:--
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn't know what to do;
She gave them some broth without any bread,
She whipped all their bums and sent them to bed.
(_c._ 1783, p. 52.)
Those of our ladybird rhymes which call on the insect in matters of love
divination have their closest parallels in Scandinavia. In Sweden they
sing:--
Jungfru Marias Nyckelpiga,
Flyg öster, flyg vester,
Flyg dit der bor din älskede. (1849, p. 5.)
"Fly, Our Lady's keybearer! fly east, fly west, fly where thy lover
dwells."
Of the rhymes of this class, one introduces the term Golloway. This may
be intended for Yellow Way, the course of the sun in daytime, as
distinct from the Milky Way, the course of the stars at night.
Another rhyme begins with the call Bishop, bishop, which has puzzled
various commentators. I venture to suggest that the word be read
Beeship, and that it indicates the boat that sailed across heaven
bearing the souls of the dead, who were figured as bees. For the spirits
of those who passed away, viewed under one aspect, were bees, and the
ship that conveyed the dead in Norsk saga was actually designated as the
_Bŷskip_. Mannhardt, in illustration, cites a line which the skald Egil
Skallagrimssonr, whose date is between 902 and 980, sang on his son that
had been drowned:--
Byrr es bŷskips i boe kominn kvanar son.
"In the beeship there has gone the son of my wife."
Our commentators inaccurately translate the expression as "City of the
Hive" (C. P., I, 546).
According to a fancy of the Welsh bards, Britain was peopled with bees
before the arrival of man, and this was held to account for its name,
the "Isle of Honey."
A Prussian ladybird rhyme also mentions the boat that sailed across
heaven. In Dantzig they sing:--
Herrgotspferdchen, fliege weg,
Dein Häuschen brennt, dein Kähnchen schwimmt,
Deine Kinder schreien nach Butterbrod;
Herrgotspferdchen, fliege weg. (M., 349.)
"God Almighty's little horse, fly away, thy house is on fire, thy
boat is afloat, thy children cry for bread and butter."
From an early period the sun was supposed to be conveyed in a boat, and
boats were associated with divinities half the world over. Tacitus was
acquainted with the boat of the goddess Isis that was conveyed about in
Alexandria, and he described the boat that was taken about in procession
by the heathen Germans in their cult of Hertha, as the boat of Isis
(Gr., p. 214). The sun-boat of Ra in Egypt conveyed the dead to heaven.
So did the golden ship of Odin in Scandinavia, which conveyed the bodies
of the fallen warriors to Valhalla. The remembrance of this sun-boat
probably gave rise to the story how Ikaros invented sails. It may linger
still in the "beeship" of our rhymes, and in the "Kähnchen" of the
corresponding German ladybird rhyme.