Snail, snail, put out your horn,
Or I'll kill your father and mother the morn.
2.
Snail, snail, come out of your hole,
Or else I'll beat you as black as a coal.
3.
Snail, snail, put out your horn,
Tell me what's the day t'morn:
To-day's the morn to shear the corn,
Blaw bil buck thorn.
4.
Snail, snail, shoot out your horn,
Father and mother are dead;
Brother and sister are in the back-yard
Begging for barley bread.
Scotch:
Snail, snail, shoot out your horn,
And tell us it will be a bonnie day, the morn.
German:
1.
Schneckhus, Peckhues,
Staek du din ver Horner rut,
Suest schmut ick di in'n Graven,
Da freten di de Raven.
2.
Taekeltuet,
Kruep uet dyn hues,
Dyn hues dat brennt,
Dyn Kinder de flennt:
Dyn Fru de ligt in Waeken:
Kann 'k dy nich mael spraeken?
Taekeltuet, u. s. w.
3.
Snaek, snaek, komm herduet,
Sunst tobraek ik dy dyn Hues.
4.
Slingemues,
Kruep uet dyn Hues,
Stick all dyn veer Hoeern uet,
Wullt du 's neck uetstaeken,
Wik ik dyn Hues tobraeken.
Slingemues, u. s. w.
5.
Kuckuch, kuckuck Gerderut,
Staek dine ver Horns herut.
French:
Colimacon borgne!
Montre-moi tes cornes;
Je te dirai ou ta mere est morte,
Elle est morte a Paris, a Rouen,
Ou l'on sonne les cloches.
Bi, bim, bom,
Bi, bim, bom,
Bi, bim, bom.
Tuscan:
Chiocciola, chiocciola, vien da me,
Ti daro i' pan d' i' re;
E dell'ova affrittellate
Corni secchi e brucherate.
Roumanian:
Culbecu, culbecu,
Scote corne boeresci
Si te du la Dunare
Si be apa tulbure.
Russian:
Ulitka, ulitka,
Vypusti roga,
Ya tebe dam piroga.[5]
Chinese:
Snail, snail, come here to be fed,
Put out your horns and lift up your head;
Father and mother will give you to eat,
Good boiled mutton shall be your meat.
Several lines in the second German version are evidently borrowed from
the Ladybird or Maychafer rhyme which has been pronounced a relic of
Freya worship. Here the question arises, is not the snail song also
derived from some ancient myth? Count Gubernatis, in his valuable work
on _Zoological Mythology_ (vol. ii. p. 75), dismisses the matter
with the remark that "the snail of superstition is demoniacal." This,
however, is no proof that he always bore so suspicious a character,
since all the accessories to past beliefs got into bad odour on the
establishment of Christianity, unless saved by dedication to the
Virgin or other saints. I ventured to suggest, in the _Archivio per lo
studio delle tradizioni popolari_ (the Italian Folklore Journal),
that the snail who is so constantly urged to come forth from his dark
house, might in some way prefigure the dawn. Horns have been from all
antiquity associated with rays of light. But to write of "Nature Myths
in Nursery Rhymes" is to enter on such dangerous ground that I will
pursue the argument no further.