When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
And down will come baby, cradle and all
It's a pleasant tune, at least. The words are a different matter entirely. Not if the bough breaks, but when it and its precious cargo come tumbling down. How is this comforting?
Why has it taken me until my third grandchild to recognize this? I attribute it to the bicultural environment in which she's being raised. Her English only, Marin County daddy and her Russian speaking, Ukrainian raised mommy bring an interesting mix to her brain. Mommy doesn't know all our rhymes and songs and stories; she has her own folklore to share.
Ring Around the Rosy is fun to sing. Just don't mention that it's about bubonic plague and its rosy rash and the posies that supposedly kept one safe.
Jack, based on tragic British royalty, still breaks his crown. Without the proper historical context, I heard it as the top of my head and to this day I still see the drops of blood he left behind him, waiting for Jill to come tumbling after.
That's all I can come up with in the moment, although I'm certain that I had a few more examples when I began thinking about this post this morning.
I just found out last week that "Alouette" is about dismembering a songbird. Gives me pause to think how the lives of my elementary-school friends and me might've been much darker if we'd only known back then.
ReplyDeleteRight! I knew there were others.
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I've known these truths about nursery rhymes and other childrens stories, but somehow I just block it out when it comes to the childhoom memories, the rhythm and rhyme.
ReplyDeleteI know... I was doing the same thing even after the horror had intruded :-)
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