A History of Nursery Rhymes Part 9

Sports, games, and amus.e.m.e.nts were unknown until a late day in Jewish history. Within the walls of Jerusalem, or indeed throughout the whole length of Palestine, no theatre, circus, hippodrome, nor even gallery was to be found, until Jason, the Greek-Jew of the Maccabees dynasty, became ruler, and built a place of exercise under the very tower of the Temple itself. (2 Macc. iv. 10-14.) Herod subsequently completed what Jason had begun, and erected a hippodrome within the Holy City to the delight of the younger Hebrews, later building another at Caesarea.

Even the festivals were not of Mosaic appointment, and it is not difficult to understand how certain gloomy censors and theologians condemn merriment. To serve the Lord with gladness was quite an after-thought of the Israelitish leaders and teachers. But when the great fairs or wakes of the whole nation were held, pastimes and diversions crept in similar to the merry meetings of our own times, and religion, commerce, and amus.e.m.e.nt became the cardinal features of the great Jewish fairs.

The Guy Fawkes Festival of Judaism, the Purim Feast, appointed by Esther and Mordecai, commemorating deliverance from ma.s.sacre which Hamar had determined by lot against them, gave occasion for relaxation. Even the most austere and gloomy rejoiced, while the younger people abandoned themselves to dissolute mirth, opposite s.e.xes dressing up in the clothes of each other; a habit at present in favour amongst the coster fraternity of East London on Bank Holidays. The Jews were a peculiar people. No old-time imagery of the older nations enchanted them; they were carefully taught to live for themselves and by themselves, but to make their profit out of others whenever possible to do so. The spoiling of the Egyptians took place more than once in their history. Whatever nation they colonised amongst had to enforce strict laws and rigid punishments in defence of their own less shrewd people.

Even their nursery rhymes are distinctive, full of religious and national sentiment, and may be counted on the fingers of one hand. They necessarily know the ones in common use belonging to the country of their adoption, but so important are the two Hebrew rhymes considered to be that every pious Jew teaches his child their significance. A translation of the princ.i.p.al one, found in the Sepher Haggadah, a Hebrew hymn in the Chaldee language, runs thus:--

_Recitative._

"A kid, a kid, my father bought For two pieces of money--A kid! a kid!

Then came the cat and ate the kid That my father bought for two pieces of money.

Then came the dog and bit the cat that ate the kid that my father bought for two pieces of money.

Then came the staff and beat the dog that bit the cat, etc.

Then came the fire that burned the staff, that beat the dog, that bit the cat, that ate the kid, etc.

Then came the water and quenched the fire, that burned the staff, that beat the dog, that bit the cat, that ate the kid, etc.

Then came the ox and drank the water, etc.

Then came the butcher and slew the ox, that drank the water, etc.

Then came the Angel of Death and killed the butcher, etc.

Then came the Holy One, Blessed be He! and slew the Angel of Death, that killed the butcher, that slew the ox, that drank the water, that quenched the fire, that burned the staff, that beat the dog, that bit the cat, that ate the kid, that my father bought for two pieces of money--A kid! a kid!"

Now for the interpretation--for it is a historical and a prophetic nursery rhyme. The kid which Jehovah the father purchased denotes the select Hebrew race; the two pieces of money represent Moses and Aaron; the cat signifies the a.s.syrians, by whom the ten tribes were taken into captivity; the dog is representative of the Babylonians; the staff typifies the Persians; the fire is Alexander the Great at the head of the Grecian Empire; the water the Roman domination over the Jews; the ox the Saracens who subdued the Holy Land and brought it under the Caliph; the butcher is a symbol of the Crusaders' slaughter; the Angel of Death the Turkish power; the last stanza is to show that G.o.d will take vengeance on the Turks when Israel will again become a fixed nation and occupy Palestine. The Edomites (the Europeans) will combine and drive out the Turks.

Everyone, big and little, will recognise the source of the nursery fable of "The house that Jack built."

"This is the house that Jack built.

This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house, etc.

This is the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt, etc.

This is the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat, etc.

This is the cow with a crumpled horn that tossed the little dog over the barn, that worried the cat that killed the rat, etc.

This is the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with a crumpled horn, that tossed the little dog over the barn, etc.

This is the man all tatters and torn, that kissed the maiden all forlorn, that milked the cow with a crumpled horn, etc.

This is the priest all shaven and shorn, that married the man all tatters and torn to the maiden all forlorn, etc.

This is the c.o.c.k that crowed in the morn, that wakened the priest all shaven and shorn, that married the man, etc.

This is the farmer sowing his corn, that fed the c.o.c.k that crowed in the morn, that wakened the priest all shaven and shorn, that married the man all tatters and torn unto the maiden all forlorn, that milked the cow with a crumpled horn, that tossed the little dog over the barn, that worried the cat, that killed the rat, that ate the malt, that lay in the house that Jack built."

A Scotch and North of England nursery tale, two centuries old, is cast in the same mould, or rather built on the hymn of the Hebrews found in the Sepher Haggadah. It is given below.

"There was an old woman swept her house and found a silver penny, And she went to market and bought a kid; But when she came to drive it home kid would not go.

She went a little further and met a stick, and said to it, 'Stick, stick, beat kid, kid won't go, 'tis a'most midnight, and hame I must go.'

But the stick would not.

She went a little further and met a fire.

'Fire, fire, burn stick, stick won't beat kid, kid won't go, 'tis a'most midnight, and hame I must go.'

But the fire would not.

She went a little further and met with water.

'Water, water, quench fire, fire won't burn stick,' etc.

But the water would not.

She went a little further and met an ox.

'Ox, ox, drink water,' etc.

She went a little further and met a butcher, etc.

She went a little further and met a rope, etc.

She went a little further and met some grease, etc.

'Grease, grease, grease rope.'

She went a little further and met a rat.

'Rat, rat, eat grease,' etc.

She went a little further and met a cat.

'Cat, cat, kill rat,' etc.

The cat began to bite the rat, the rat began to eat the grease, the grease began to grease the rope, the rope to hang the butcher, the butcher to kill the ox, the ox to drink the water, the water to quench the fire, the fire to burn the stick, the stick to beat the kid, and so the kid went home."

In other accounts of the same tale the kid is a pig, the silver penny a crooked sixpence; the pig would not go over the stile, and the old woman could not get her old man's supper ready.

The several prefigurations are not difficult to make out. Very many of the babblings put into the mouths of English children are of foreign origin; the story of "The Kid" was known in Leipsic and sung by German children in 1731, very possibly coming in this way from the Jewish colony.

In Denmark it is also a favourite with the school children.

The other Jewish rhyme, kept in remembrance by modern Jews, is printed at the end of their Pa.s.sover Service in English and in Hebrew.

ONE is known as the Chad Gadya. It is an arithmetical poem, and begins--

"Who knoweth One?"

"I know One, One is G.o.d, who is over heaven and earth!"

"Who knoweth two?"

"I know two, two tables of the Covenant, but One is G.o.d, who reigneth over heaven and earth!"

When the Latin of our churches was on the lips of everyone in the Middle Ages, an adaptation of this childish creed was taught to little Christians, beginning--

"Unus est Deus,"

but with a Christian theme.

CHAPTER IV.

AN ANCIENT ENGLISH RHYME

From which came the well-known nursery tale of--

"A frog, who would a-wooing go.

Hey, oh! says Rowly.