Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes

Whistle daughter, whistle, whistle for a cradle.I cannot whistle, mammy, 'deed I am not able.Whistle daughter, whistle, whistle for a cow,I cannot whistle, mammy, 'deed I know not how.Whistle, daughter, whistle, whistle for a man,I cannot whistle, mammy; whew! Yes, I believe I can.(1846, p. 219.)37

If the words used in playing Sally Waters are analysed, it will be seen that the name Sally occurs in forty-four out of fifty variations, and that in twenty-four variations the name is associated with water. It is combined with water especially in the south and the south-west of England. Away from this district we have the name Sally Walker, in Shropshire, Bucks, Yorkshire, Scotland, and Ireland; the name Sally Salter in Yorkshire and Lincoln; the names Sally Sander in Penzance, Polly Sanders in Liverpool, and so forth. Obviously, Sally Waters is the oldest form of the name. This view is accepted by Mrs. Gomme, who was, however, at a loss to account for the wide use of the name Sally Waters. But, in classing the variations of words of the game according to the reasonableness of their contents, she placed foremost as most meaningful the verses that hailed from Dorsetshire, Somerset, and Devonshire, where the form Sally Waters is in use. It is to this district, therefore, that we must turn for the origin of the game of Sally Waters.

On turning to the history of the British past in these districts, we find that the Romans when they came to Bath found this spot far famed for its waters. The name by which they knew the place was Aquæ Solis, but the word Solis did not stand for the sun as a male divinity, but for Sul, the presiding female divinity of the place. For the Roman temple built at Bath was dedicated to the goddess Sulis-Minerva, and the name Sul, both with and without the name of Minerva, occurs among the noted inscriptions.38 It was a common practice with the Romans to couple the name of one of their own divinities with that of a local divinity, and Minerva, in her capacity of a healing goddess, was here associated with Sul, the female divinity of the waters. On the façade of the temple a medallion is represented. Inside it is the head of a goddess with her hair tied together over her forehead, and a crescent moon is behind her. The moon is an emblem which is not associated with Minerva elsewhere, and the head on the medallion must therefore represent Sul. Sul was the presiding divinity at Bath, and an altar was also discovered which was dedicated to the Sulevæ.

A similar altar has been discovered at Nismes, which is dedicated to Suliviæ Idennicæ Minervæ. Scarth, in his history of Roman Bath, cites Mr. Roach Smith on these Sulevæ, who "appear to have been sylphs, the tutelary divinities of rivers, fountains, hills, roads, villages and other localities against whom were especially directed in the fifth and subsequent centuries the anathemas of Christian councils, missionaries, and princes."39 Taking this evidence into consideration, is it far-fetched to suggest that Sally Waters of the traditional marriage game, which, in its most meaningful form, is still played in the districts surrounding Bath, may be related to Sul of the waters of Bath, and to her followers, or ministrants, the Sulevæ?

We know nothing further of Sul as far as our islands are concerned. But in Central France a female impersonation of the sun is still called upon as La Soule, and St. Solange, patron saint of Berry, who is represented with a light over her forehead, is looked upon as heir to her in the pantheon of Christian saints. Sulis also was a place-name in Brittany during Roman times, situated somewhere between Auray and Quimper. It seems probable that the site is identical with that of the present St. Anne d'Auray, famous for its holy waters, which are still sought in pilgrimage from far and near. The enormous stone basin into which pilgrims are dipped, remains its most curious feature.

In Scandinavian nursery lore we also come across a Fru Sole, the mother of many daughters, who sat in heaven, and across Fru Soletopp, who distributed gifts. These names may be related to Sul of the waters of Bath, or to Sally of our game, or to both. However this may be, the wide distribution of the game known as Sally Waters, and its peculiar connection with the south-west of England, induce the belief that there is some relation between Sally of the game, and Sul, the divinity of the waters.

CHAPTER VIII

THE LADY OF THE LAND

ASSOCIATIONS dating from heathen times are preserved in other traditional games, the full meaning of which becomes apparent only when we compare these with their foreign parallels. Some of these games in their cruder and more primitive forms are sports, in which dialogue takes the place of rhymed verses, and in which the characters that are introduced are frequently spoken of as animals.

Among the dancing and singing games first described by Halliwell is one called by him The Lady of the Land. In this game one side is taken by a mother and her daughters, the other by a second woman, and the game consists in the daughters changing sides. The verses that are recited are as follows: —

Here comes a woman from Babyland,With three small children in her hand.One can brew, the other can bake,The other can make a pretty round cake.One can sit in the garden and spin,Another can make a fine bed for a king.Pray m'am will you take one in?(1846, p. 121.)

One child is then pointed out and passes to the other side, and this is continued till all are selected.

Twelve further variations of the words used in playing this game were recovered from different parts of the country by Mrs. Gomme (1894, I, 313). Of these two, one from Shropshire (No. 3) and one from the Isle of Wight (No. 6), like that of Halliwell, designate the woman as "from Babyland." Others, from the Isle of Man and from Galloway (Appendix), describe her as from Babylon, while further variations mention Sandiland (No. 9), Cumberland (Berks, No. 8), and others. The word Babyland, which occurs in three out of thirteen variations of the game, is probably the original one, for it has a parallel in the corresponding German game in the name Engelland, the land of the spirits of the unborn.

The Babyland game in a more primitive form is known as Little Dog I call you, in which the players also change sides (1894, I, 330). In this game, the one side is taken by a girl who looks after a number of children, the other by a girl who is designated as Little Dog, and who stands apart. The children secretly impart their wishes to their owner or leader, who warns them against laughing, and then calls the Little Dog and tells him to pick out the child who has expressed such and such a wish. Should this child laugh by inadvertence, she at once goes over to the Little Dog. If not, the dog is left to guess who has imparted the wish, and by doing so he secures the child. If he fails to guess aright, the child goes and stands behind the leader and is altogether removed out of the reach of the Little Dog. This is continued till all belong to one side or the other, and the game concludes with a tug of war.

The games of The Lady of the Land and Little Dog have parallels in the foreign game of children changing sides, fourteen variations of which were collected from different parts of northern Europe by Mannhardt (M., p. 273). The closest parallel to The Lady of the Land is played in Belgium, in which sides are taken by two leaders, of whom the one has many daughters and the other has none. The game is called Riche et pauvre and the following verses are sung: —

Je suis pauvre, je suis pauvre, Anne Marie Jacqueline;Je suis pauvre dans ce jeu d'ici. —Je suis riche, je suis riche, Anne Marie Jacqueline;Je suis riche dans ce jeu d'ici. —Donnez-moi un de vos enfants, Anne Marie Jacqueline,Donnez-moi un de vos enfants, dans ce jeu d'ici.(M., No. 13.)

"I am poor, I am poor in this game, I am rich in this game. Give me one of your children, in this game."

This is continued as in the Babyland game till every child has had its turn. There is no sequel.

In the German game the woman who owns the children is called sometimes Mary, sometimes Witch, but usually she has the name of a heathen divinity. Thus in Mecklenburg she is Fru Goden or Fru Gol (No. 11). Gode is the name of a mother divinity, who, as Godmor, is the mother of Thor (Gr., p. 209, note). In the game as played in Prussia (No. 10), in Elsass (No. 3), in Swabia (No. 2), and in Aargau (No. 4), she is Frau Ros or Frau Rose, that is Lady Ros or Rose; while in Pommerellen she is either Ole Moder Rose or Ole Moder Taersche (No. 1), a word that signifies witch. In Holstein, on the other hand, the alternative is recorded as Fru Rosen or Mutter Marie, Mother Mary (No. 9), while in Appenzell (No. 5) and near Dunkirk (No. 6) the owner of the children is Marei Muetter Gotts, i.e. Mary the Mother of God. Mannhardt points out that Ross, sometimes Rose, is the name of a German mother divinity who occurs frequently in German folk-lore. I have come across Mother Ross in our own chapbook literature, where the name may be traditional also. Mary indicates the substitution of a Christian name in the place of the older heathen one. In Sweden the owner of many babes is Fru Sole, who is represented as sitting in heaven surrounded by her daughters, who are described as chickens (No. 14).

The game of securing children is called in Switzerland Das Englein aufziehen (No. 5), that is, "the drawing forth of an angel." The word Engel, angel, according to the information collected by Mannhardt, originally designates the spirit that awaits re-birth. For the heathen inhabitants of Northern Europe, including the Kelts, were unable to realize individual death. They held that the living spirit passed away with death, but continued in existence, and again reappeared under another shape. In the civilization that belonged to the mother age, these spirits or angels that awaited re-birth, peopled the realm which was associated with divine mothers or mother divinities. At a later period, transferred into Christian belief, they were pictured as a host of winged babes, whom we find represented in mediaeval art hovering around the Virgin Mother and Child.

The land in which the unborn spirits dwelt, is generally spoken of in German nursery and folk rhymes as Engelland, an expression which forms a direct parallel to the expression Babyland of our game. Thus the Woman of Babyland, like Frau Rose or Frau Gode of the German game, was in all probability a divine mother, who was the owner of the spirits or babes that awaited re-birth.

In the estimation of Mannhardt, the game in which children are drawn from one woman into the possession of the other, preserves the relics of a ceremonial connected with the cult of the mother divinity. It visibly set forth how the spirits of the departed were drawn back into life (M., p. 319). Perhaps we may go a step further. The study of folk-lore has taught us that to simulate a desired result is one way of working for its attainment. Women who were desirous of becoming mothers, both in England and in Germany, were wont to rock an empty cradle. They also visited particular shrines. Of the rites which they practised there we know nothing. Perhaps the Babyland game originated not as an ideal conception, but preserves the relics of a rite by which women sought to promote motherhood. This assumption is supported by various features that are incidental to the game.

Thus the game, both in England and abroad, is essentially a girls' game, and the words that are used indicate that it is played by them only. Even where the generality of the players are designated as "children," the leaders are invariably girls.

Again, in some versions of the foreign game (Nos. 8, 9) there is mention of salt. The woman who asks for a child, complains that she has lost those that were given to her; she is told that she ought to have sprinkled them with salt (No. 8). Sprinkling with salt is still observed at Christian baptism in some districts, and such sprinkling is said to make a child safe.40

Again, in the game as played abroad the child that is chosen is put to the test if it can be made to laugh (Nos. 2, 4, 5, 8). In the game of Little Dog also, the child that laughs passes into the keeping of a new owner. Laughing indicates quickening into life, and in folk-lore generally the child that refrains from laughing is reckoned uncanny. Numerous stories are told of the changeling that was made to laugh and disappeared, when the real child was found restored to its cradle.

Again, in the foreign game the player who seeks to secure a child speaks of herself as lame, and limps in order to prove herself so (Nos. 1, 2, 14). In one instance she attributes her limping to a bone in her leg. Limping, in the estimation of Mannhardt, is peculiar to the woman who has borne children (M., p. 305). For in German popular parlance the woman who is confined, is said to have been bitten by the stork who brought the child.

A reminiscence of this idea lurks in our proverb rhyme: —

The wife who expects to have a good name,Is always at home as if she were lame;And the maid that is honest, her chiefest delightIs still to be doing from morning till night.41

Again, in one version of the foreign game the children that are won over are given the names of dogs, and when their former owner attempts to get them back, they rush at her and bark (No. 1). This corresponds to our game of Little Dog, in which the child that stands apart is addressed as "Little Dog I call you." Grimm declared himself at a loss to account for the fact that a dog was associated with the Norns or Fate-maidens who assisted at childbirth (Gr., p. 339); Mannhardt cites the belief that the spirits of the dead were sometimes spoken of as dogs (M., p. 301); and in England there also exists a superstition that the winds that rush past at night are dogs, the so-called Gabriel hounds or ratchets (cf. below, p. 165).

Features preserved in other games contain similar suggestions which are worth noting.

Thus in the game known as Drop-handkerchief one girl holding a kerchief goes round the others who are arranged in a circle, saying: —

I have a little dog and it won't bite youIt won't bite you, it won't bite you [ad lib.]It will bite you.(1894, I, 109.)

The person on whom the little dog is bestowed is "bitten"; that is, she is in the same predicament as the German woman who is bitten by the stork, and the limping woman of the German Babyland game.

In playing Drop-handkerchief in Deptford the children sing: —

I had a little dog whose name was Buff,I sent him up the street for a pennyworth of snuff.He broke my box and spilt my snuffI think my story is long enough —'Taint you, 'taint you, and 'taint you, but 'tis you.(1894, I, p. 111.)

In the collection of Nursery Songs by Rusher stands the following rhyme: —

I had a little dog and they called him Buff,I sent him to a shop to buy me snuff,But he lost the bag and spilt the stuff;I sent him no more but gave him a cuff,For coming from the mart without any snuff.

"Bufe" as a word for a dog occurs as far back as 1567.42

CHAPTER IX

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

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 panWeaving 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."