55. Hey Diddle Diddle


Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed to see such fun
And the dish ran away with the spoon!

This is a fantasy rhyme aiming at delighting the children with wild and impossible concepts. That is what is being done by most of the cartoon channels now- especially The Walt Disney Cartoons!

The terms “Hey diddle diddle” can be found in many of Shakespeare’s works. It corresponds in its mood and in its vein to the “hey nonny no” found in many Traditional English Folk ballads.

With their imagination running riot, the children burst out laughing in glee, as they picture the bulky cow jumping over the moon in the sky and the dish running away holding the hands of the spoon!

Visalakshi Ramani

2 Responses to 55. Hey Diddle Diddle

  1. Pingback: The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon » Diary of a SAHM

    • visalakshiramani says:
      March 20, 2012 at 3:38 PM

      May be you missed reading the introduction given by me to this section. You may please read on now!

      Rhymes are simple melodious songs and nursery rhymes are what children listen to and learn from their mothers, at a very tender age.

      Many of the words and lyrics found in the popular nursery rhymes have been used as a parody of the royal events and political happenings of that time.

      A direct comment or reference to those events would end up in arousing the wrath of the authorities and getting beheaded in public!

      So the names and identities have been hidden and those bitter truths have been saved and spread in the form of nursery rhymes-appearing really harmless and sounding sweetly innocent!

      Reply

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