Hey Diddle Diddle!

A few mornings ago Heather wanted me to read the nursery rhyme, "Hey Diddle Diddle."  You know, the cat and the fiddle? The cow, jumping over the moon?  And as I read it, I thought, where in the world did this silly thing come from? I mean, who sat down with a pen and paper and thought to themselves, I am now going to write something that will be read and beloved by children for centuries to come. It will be about a dish that runs away with a spoon, among other things." And then they did, and it happened, and is their mother so proud of them?

I thought, how hard can it be to string nonsense words together, anyway?  So I tried to write my own version of "Hey Diddle Diddle."  It started out like this:

Three little girls all filled with twirls
and spins and kicks and leaps
had no place to go
and nowhere to sleep.
Come home with me
I said to those three
Come with me my dears
I'll kiss your hurts and quiet your fears,
sing you songs and dry your tears.
Yes, oh yes, cried they
and that's how we live
still happy today.

But, come on. That's no good. I mean, it makes sense.

Then I got scientific with it, and I broke the original down like a mad lib, just a series of "noun" "verb" "noun" blanks to fill in like a formula.  And I came up with:

 Hey lentil lentil
the cheese and the pencil
the rose kicked at the hair
the heavy book sang some sweet melody
and the carpet winked at the chair.

Yes! I've done it!! I've made history!  Now children will love me for centuries to come*!

Also, this little ditty popped into my head when I was trying to come up with something, and clearly it's no good for trying to be like hey diddle diddle, but my girls loved it.

Three little girls
called by names
Hallie, Hanna, and Heather
like to wander
in all kinds of weather.

Three little girls
called by names
Heather, Hanna, and Hallie
liked to play games
but never kept tally.

Three little girls
called by names
Hallie, Heather, and Hanna
were the nicest of girls
and very polite. 

*Sadly, as far as I know, no one knows who wrote hey diddle diddle, so while my words may live on, my name will drift into obscurity. As is probably best.  The wikipedia entry for it, here.

Comments

  1. AlisonJuly 1, 2013 at 12:14 AM

    I love that you can write poetry. It is something i have never been able to do. Well done. And, I will remember you for centuries to come. Or ya know...til at least im dead. (but i am sure after that too. haha)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mimi CollettJuly 2, 2013 at 8:31 AM

    My children will love you for generations to come. That's for sure! And they'll even remember your name. :)

    I love the Hallie, Hanna, and Heather poem. That would be my favorite, too.

    Jill was fiddling with iTunes yesterday, and she finally landed on a song you sang. She left it playing, and said, "Mom, this is your sister, right?" And I told her it was. Then she said, "We can listen to it, because you miss her." Aww. :) So true, so true.

    ReplyDelete

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