WEEK 08 兒童文學筆記

1. Information 

a. London Bridge is falling down

"London Bridge Is Falling Down" (also known as "My Fair Lady" or "London Bridge") is a traditional English nursery rhyme and singing game, which is found in different versions all over the world. It deals with the depredations of London Bridge and attempts, realistic or fanciful, to repair it. It may date back to bridge rhymes and games of the Late Middle Ages, but the earliest records of the rhyme in English are from the seventeenth century. The lyrics were first printed in close to their modern form in the mid-eighteenth century and became popular, particularly in Britain and the United States in the nineteenth century.

London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.

b. Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Tweedledum and Tweedledee are fictional characters in an English nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll' s Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Their names may have originally come from an epigram written by poet John Byrom. The nursery rhyme has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19800. The names have since become synonymous in western popular culture slang for any two people who look and act in identical ways, generally in a derogatory context.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

    Agreed to have a battle;

For Tweedledum said Tweedledee

    Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

Just then flew down a monstrous crow,

    As black as a tar-barrel;

Which frightened both the heroes so,

    They quite forgot their quarrel.

c. Sing a Song of Sixpence

"Sing a Song of Sixpence" is a well-known English nursery rhyme, perhaps originating in the 18th century. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as number 13191. There are references to this rhyme in the song THE BALL OF KERRIEMUIR (BALLYNORE) in the version recorded by Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) which suggests that its origins are older than the 18th century

Sing a song of sixpence,

A pocket full of rye.

Four and twenty blackbirds,

Baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened

The birds began to sing;

Wasn't that a dainty dish,

To set before the king

The king was in his counting house,

Counting out his money;

The queen was in the parlour,

Eating bread and honey.

The maid was in the garden,

Hanging out the clothes,

When down came a blackbird

And pecked off her nose.

d. Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater

"Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13497.

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,

Had a wife but couldn't keep her;

He put her in a pumpkin shell

And there he kept her very well.

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,

Had another and didn't love her;

Peter learned to read and spell,

And then he loved her very well.

(中世紀的女人沒有甚麼尊嚴)

e. Jack and Jill

"Jack and Jill" is a traditional English nursery rhyme. 

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water .

Jack fell down and broke his crown,

And Jill came tumbling after

Up Jack got and home did trot,

As fast as he could caper;

And went to bed and bound his head

With vinegar and brown paper.

f. There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

"There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" is a popular English language nursery rhyme

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;
Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

 ( 中世紀窮苦婦人的形象 )

g.  Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described so.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men

(馬在當時比人還值錢，所以先寫馬)
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

h. Little Boy Blue

"Little Boy Blue" is a popular English-language nursery rhyme, often used in popular culture.

Little Boy Blue,

Little Boy Blue,Come blow your horn,

The sheep's in the meadow, The cow's in the corn;

But where is the boy Who looks after the sheep?

He's under a haystack, He's fast asleep.

Will you wake him? No, not I,

For if I do, He's sure to cry.

 

2. extra information

a. Teddy Bear

A teddy bear is a soft toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymaker Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff in Germany in the early years of the 20th century, and named after President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, the teddy bear became an iconic children' s toy, celebrated in story, song, and film. Since the creation of the first teddy bears which sought to imitate the form of real bear cubs, "teddies" have greatly varied in form, style and material. They have become collector's items, with older and rarer "teddies" appearing at public auctions. Teddy bears are among the most popular gifts for children and are often given to adults to signify love, congratulations, or sympathy.


b.  Sesame street : Kermit News About Jack Jumping

The rhyme is first recorded in a manuscript of around 1815 and was collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the mid-nineteenth century. Jumping candlesticks was a form of fortune telling and a sport. Good luck was said to be signaled by clearing a candle without extinguishing the flame.

Jack be nimble,

Jack be quick,

Jack jump over 

The candlestick. 

c. Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Steve Koren and Adam Sandler, and starring Sandler, Katie Holmes, and Al Pacino. The film was released on November 11, 2011 by Columbia Pictures.

d. Humpty Dumpty and Alice

Humpty Dumpty appears in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1872), where he discusses semantics and pragmatics with Alice.

e. Horn meaning in Shakespeare

In Shakespeare's day, horns and antlers were a common symbol of a "cuckolded" husband, a.k.a. a man whose wife has cheated on him. So, whenever horns come up in a play, we know there's a 99% chance that someone is worried about starring in an upcoming episode of Cheaters. 

For example, 

Take thou no scorn to wear the horn.
It was a crest ere thou wast born.
Thy father's father wore it,
And thy father bore it.
The horn, the horn, the lusty horn
Is not a thing to laugh to scorn.   

"Wearing the horn" is a reference to being cuckolded. According to this little tune, it's a common, age-old problem that's plagued generations of men. In other words, the song suggests that every single married man is bound to become a cuckold. According to Touchstone, age and social status don't even matter because all women are cheaters.