Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes Part 13

Voici la maison que Pierre a batie, Il sortait un rat de sa raterie, Qui fit rentrer la mouch' dans sa moucherie: Rat a mouche, Belle, belle mouche Jamais je n'ai vu si belle mouche. (D.B., p. 116.)

"This is the house that Peter built. A rat came out of a rat-hole, and made the fly go into the fly-hole. Rat to fly, lovely fly, never saw I so lovely a fly."

The other powers are dog, bear, man, maid, abbot, pope, devil.

The same tale is told in Austria (V., p. 113), and in Prussia (F., p.

197), where it is called _Das Haus vom holzernen Mann_, "the house of the wooden Man." In Prussia it is recited as a game of forfeits. The sequence of the powers in the one version is house, door, lock, band, mouse, cat, dog, stick, fire, water, ox, butcher, devil; and in the other, house, door, lock, band, mouse, cat, huntsman.

Jack in Germany is called Jockel, Joggeli, Jokele. _The Master who sent out Jockel_ is mentioned already in the Gargantua of Fischart, which was published in 1575 (Chap. XXV.). The name Jack among ourselves is applied to a person or an object of peculiar serviceableness, as in Jack-of-all-trades, or boot-jack. But in Germany the expression "to send Jockel on an errand" implies that this will never get done.

In Vogtland the current nursery version of this piece begins:--

Es schickt der Herr den G?kel 'naus, Er soll den Haber schneiden. (Du., p. 35.)

"The master sent out Gokel to cut oats."

As he failed to come back, dog, fire, water, ox, butcher, hangman, devil, were sent after him.

In Swabia Jokele (Br., p. 44), and in Switzerland Joggeli, was sent to knock off pears on which a spell had fallen. The chant in Zurich has been traced back to the year 1769, and it begins:--

Es ist ein Baum im Gartle hinne, d' Birren wand nud fallen.

Do schuckt de Bur de Joggeli usen Er soll di Birren schutteln. (R., p. 155.)

"There is a tree in the garden, its pears will not drop. The peasant sent out Joggeli to knock them off."

But the pears refused to be knocked off, and the usual sequence of powers was sent to secure them.

The tale of Jack was current in Munster in Westphalia also, where it was taken over by the Church, and annually recited at the religious procession which took place on the eve of the feast of St. Lambert, 17 September. This was done as late as the year 1810 (R., p. 155). The recitation was followed or accompanied by a dance, the purpose of which is not recorded. Perhaps the procession stood in relation to the actual garnering of pears, and the tale was recited in order to secure a good harvest. In this case not Jack, but _der Jager_, "the huntsman," was dispatched to knock the pears off, and the sequence of powers included dog, stick, fire, water, calf, butcher, hangman, devil.

This adoption by the Church of the sequence of powers shows that we have to do with the remains of a heathen ritual, which found its way into a Christian celebration, as the tale of the kid found its way into the Easter celebration of the Jewish Church. In both instances the sequence of relative powers is preserved, and in both it is question of making an object secure for the use of man.

The same sequence of powers is preserved also in the traditional game that is known as _Dump_ among ourselves (1894, I, 117; II, 419), and as _Club Fist_ in America (N., p. 134). In this game it is also a question of building a house, and of knocking off pears. The action of the players, however, stands in no obvious relation to the words that are used. Sometimes three, sometimes a number of lads, crowd together and place their fists sideways one on the other, till they form a pile of clenched hands. The last boy, who has a fist free, knocks off the fists one by one, saying:--

(In Yorkshire) What's this?--(Answer) Dump.

(In America) What's that?--(Answer) A pear.

Take it off or I'll knock it off.

In Shropshire all sing together:--

I've built my house, I've built my wall; I don't care where my chimneys fall.

When all the fists are knocked down, the following dialogue ensues:--

What's there?--Cheese and bread and a mouldy half-penny.

Where's my share?--I put it on the shelf, and the cat got it.

Where's the cat?--She's run nine miles through the wood.

Where's the wood?--T' fire burnt it.

Where's the fire?--T' water sleckt it.

Where's the water?--T' ox drunk it.

Where's the ox?--T' butcher killed 'em.

Where's the butcher?--Upon the church-top cracking nuts, and you may go and eat the sh.e.l.ls; and _them as_ speak first shall have nine nips, nine scratches, and nine boxes on the ear. (1849, p. 128.)

Silence falls, all try not to laugh, and he who first allows a word to escape him, is punished by the others in the methods adopted by schoolboys. In the Scottish game the punishment is described as "nine nips, nine n.o.bs, nine double douncornes, and a good blow on the back."

In France the same game is known as _Le Pied de Buf_, "the foot of the ox," and a scramble of fists starts at the words:--

Neuf, je tiens mon pied de buf. (Mo., p. 351.)

"Nine, I hold my ox's foot";

the number nine in this case being also mentioned.

The meting out of punishments by nines goes far back in history. It was a.s.sociated with a Yule-tide sport which is still practised in Denmark and in Schleswig, and is known as _Ballerrune_ or _Balderrune_. Every member of the a.s.sembled company repeated a formula on "Balder Rune and his wife," and he who made a mistake received nine blows, as in our game. The custom was explained by the legend that the G.o.d Balder, incensed at his wife's loquacity, chastised her by giving her nine blows, and ordered that this should be repeated every year, so that women be reminded that it is their duty to be silent when their husbands speak (H., p. 44).

In the game of _Dump_ also, it is the person who speaks first that is punished, but there is nothing to suggest that this was a woman, for the game is essentially a boys' game.

The story of _The Woman and her Pig_ (_or Kid_), like that of Jack, is told over a wide geographical area. In the Scottish version the woman lived in a wee house and found two pennies and bought a kid. On coming home she saw a bush and wished to pull off its berries, and could not.

She set the kid to watch the house, and went to seek the help of dog, stick, fire, water, ox, axe, smith, rope, mouse, cat, milk, in her hope of breaking the spell that had fallen on the bush. Each animal or object refused "to do the next one harm, saying that it never did it any harm itself"; but the cat finally could not resist the temptation of lapping the milk (1870, p. 57). Thus the tale introduced a moral element which is not found elsewhere.

In Sweden the tale of _The Old Woman and her Pig_ is called _Konen och Grisen Fick_, "the woman and her pig Fick," and the pig refused to leave off eating acorns. A similar tale is called _Gossen och Geten Nappa_, "the lad and the kid Nappa," (1849, p. 6). In Elsa.s.s the pig is called _Schnirrchele_ (St., p. 93), in Transylvania it is _Mischka_ or _Bitschki_ (Sch., p. 372). And a version from the north of France tells how _Biquette_ got into a cabbage-patch from which stick, fire, water, were summoned to expel her. _Biquette_ is described as a kid (D., p.

122). In Languedoc _Biquette_ reappears as _Bouquaire-Bouquil_, who is furnished with horns and does havoc in a millet-field from which he is expelled with the help of wolf, dog, stick, fire, water, ox, rope (M.

L., p. 538). In all cases the animal is one that is provided with horns.

Millet is one of the oldest cereals that were cultivated in Europe, the displacement of which by the cultivation of corn had begun in England when Pytheas visited these sh.o.r.es in the fourth century B.C. Can the "malt" of _This is the House that Jack built_ stand for millet?

A French piece is current in Remiremont which is called _Le Conjurateur et le Loup_, "the magician and the wolf." It describes the contest between them, and shows that the making and unmaking of spells is involved:--

L'y a un loup dedans le bois, Le loup ne veut pas sortir du bois.

Ha, j' te promets, comper' Brocard, Tu sortiras de ce lieu-la. (R., p. 152.)

"There is a wolf in the wood, the wolf will not come out of the wood. Ha, I promise you, brother Brocard, you will soon come out."

And the magician summons to his a.s.sistance stick, fire, water, calf, butcher, devil, which help him to expel the wolf.

Even more primitive than this tale is one current in Languedoc, in which a spell has fallen on a root or turnip, which is finally raised by the hog. It begins: "The old woman went into the garden in order to pull out a turnip. When the old man saw that the old woman did not come back, he went into the garden and saw the old woman pulling at the turnip. The old man pulled at the old woman, the old woman pulled at the turnip, but the turnip stuck fast." They were followed by daughter-in-law, son, man, maid, and so forth, including the cat and the rat. Finally the hog came to the rescue. Instead of pulling like the others, he attacked the turnip from below, and by doing so he succeeded in raising it, otherwise the spell would continue, "and the root would still be holding fast" (M.

L., p. 541).

The comparison of these various tales or pieces shows that dog, stick, fire, water, ox, butcher, form a sequence of powers that was accepted over a wide geographical area. They were invoked wherever it was question of breaking a spell that had fallen on a coveted object, the object including pigs, pears, oats, berries, millet, and roots. These are products that were prized in Europe from a remote period in antiquity. As the products are primitive, so probably is the form of verse in which the story is told of their being made fast. For the same form of verse is used in a further cla.s.s of pieces to which we now turn, and which, by their contents, betray a pre-Christian origin.

CHAPTER XII