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| In this section nursery rhymes and nonsense rhymes
deal with a wide variety of subjects: people, places etc. |
| Their origin was folk imagination and, as they were passed
on from person to person, they underwent changes reflecting
direct interpersonal relations and daily life. |
| The Italian translation doesn’t always do justice
to the dialect of the original, in which words could have
indefinite meaning and there could be wordplay based on onomatopoeia—the
aim was, of course, that of amusement. |
| . |
| N.B. This section omits rhymes already listed under the
“Calitrian games”. |
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| The following nursery rhyme was recited to a child
seated on a person’s knees, which one moved up and down to
simulate a horse trotting. The rhyme that comes after this one was
recited while holding the child’s hand. |
'Ndov'
eia sciut' zi' preut'? A la f'ndana nova. |
Che
eia sciut' a fan'? A coglij' li curnal'. |
A
chi r'adda rà? A li puorc' e da li can'.
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La
gagghijna zoppa. Chi l'av' azz'ppata? |
La
'ndina r' la porta. |
La
porta 'ndov' eia? L'a' garsa r' fuock'. |
'R
fuock' 'ndov' eia? L'av' st'tàt' l'acqua. |
L'acqua
'ndov' eia? S' l'a' vepp'ta la vacca. |
La
vacca 'ndov' eia? Eia 'ngimma a quigghiu mont'. |
E
ggiam'la racconghij''! E cupp' cupp' cupp'.
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Where did “Father”
Joe go? To the new fountain. |
What did he go there for? To pick acorns. |
Who is going to give them to? To pigs
and dogs. |
The poor hen is lame. Who broke its
leg? |
The house door. |
Where is the door? The fire burned it. |
Where is the fire? The water put it
out. |
Where is the water? The cow drank it. |
Where is the cow? She is on that hill. |
So
let’s go get her back! And hop hop hop hop.
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calitri
tradizioni |
Mmiezz'
qua ng'eia 'na f'ndanella, |
ng'
vaij' a bbev' 'na paparella |
quist'
la v'rì, quist' la 'ngappà |
quist'
la cuc'nà, quist' s' la mangià |
e
a stù pover' p'p'r'niell' nn' u' rez'r' manck' nu'
sciangh'ttiell'. |
|
calitri
tradizioni |
(pointing to the palm of
the child’s hand)
Here in the middle is a fountain.
|
A little duck goes there to drink. |
This one (thumb) saw it, this one (index
finger) caught it |
this one (middle finger) cooked it,
this one (ring finger) ate it |
And this poor little one (pinky) didn’t
get any, not even a part of a leg. |
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