Scots dandling rhymes remembered in Australia
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1976.256.B1-B5
Original Tape ID
Summary
Scots dandling rhymes remembered in Australia.
Betty Smith picked up a lot of Scots sayings, songs and rhymes as a young wife and mother in a Scots home in Australia. There were rocking or dandling rhymes which her husband's aunt used to say as she dandled children on her knee:
As I went up the Brandy Hill
I met a mannie gaein ill,
He'd jewels, he'd rings,
He'd a lot o bonnie things,
He'd a cat wi seven tails,
He'd a ship wi seven sails,
He'd a many-coloured coat,
Round about the fairy boat.
Mrs Smith thinks the preceding is to do with luck and fairy rings. The Brandy Hill is the way up to the pub and the man is drunk.
The following rhyme was said when dandling a child then letting it fall between the knees while holding onto its arms:
Weigh butter, weigh cheese,
Weigh a pun o candle grease.
The following rhyme was said when playing with children in the same way as 'This little piggy went to market'; it ended with a tickle under the arm:
Broke the barnie, stealt the corn,
Ran awa, told aa,
An the little wee anie eenie hid ahin the back o the door an paid for them aa.
Auntie would tickle in the middle of a child's hand and say, "The little wee moosie lived in there, and he crawled, and he crawled, and he crawled up there."
Another rhyme was:
The corbie (crow) hole, the corbie hole, the corbie's not at home
The corbie's at the back door, pickin at a bone.
This was played with the adult's fingers spread out and the child putting its finger in and trying to withdraw it without getting caught.
Item Notes
Transcribed in School of Scottish Studies. Mrs Smith comments on a later track on the same tape (SA1976.256) that some of the rhymes came from her husband's aunt, others from Granny.
Recording Location (outside Scotland)
Australia
Language
English
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good