Reading Notes: Nursery Rhymes, Part B

In the "Jingles" section of the Nursery Rhymes unit, there are several well-known tales. The first is "Hey Diddle Diddle."

HEY! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laugh'd
To see the sport,
While the dish ran after the spoon.

The next is "Tweedledum and Tweedledee."

TWEEDLE-DUM and Tweedle-dee
Resolved to have a battle
For Tweedle-dum said Tweedle-dee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

Just then flew by a monstrous crow
As big as a tar-barrel,
Which frightened both the heroes so
They quite forgot their quarrel.

Another is "Rub-a-dub-dub."

RUB a dub dub,
Three men in a tub:
And who do you think they be?
The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick-maker;
Turn 'em out, knaves all three!

As I said in the other reading post about the Nursery Rhymes unit, I think it would be difficult to write my own jingles inspired by these. They are all fairly short and follow a similar rhyme scheme. These jingles, unlike most of the riddles, tell a story, however. I could write my own story inspired by one of these well-known tales. I think it would be most fun to write one inspired by "Hey Diddle Diddle," as I could write a story about the cat, fiddle, cow, dog, dish, and spoon.

Hey Diddle Diddle by Randolph Caldecott

Story source: The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897)

Comments

Week 11 Story: How Flower Stole Sunlight

Long ago, when only plants lived on earth, Redwoods were the only ones who had sunlight. All the other plants wanted sunlight too, but Redwoods were taller than everyone else. They stole the sunlight before it could reached any of the other plants. The other plants lived in darkness and fear but Redwoods refused to share sunlight with anyone else. The other plants decided to hold a council to discuss the growing worry they had about living in darkness. Meanwhile, Redwoods held their own council in the light. They set up guards to protect themselves from having other plants try to come take sunlight from them. But Flower had taken root near where the Redwoods were having their meeting before the guards set up. While the Redwoods had their meeting, a small bit of sunlight crept towards Flower. Flower hid a little bit of sunlight in its petals and slowly started moving back towards the other plants' meeting. Before Flower could escape, however, the Redwoods no...

Reading Notes: Adam and Eve, Part B

The stories "They Die a First Time" and "Suicide and the Salvation" take place after Adam and Eve have eaten the fruit in the garden and have been punished by God. Both stories are written from a third person perspective. In my story, I could write from one the character's perspectives. In the stories, it is difficult to understand what Adam and Eve are thinking when it comes to their actions; telling a story from their perspective would be give some insight into why they do what they do. Telling the story from God's perspective would also be interesting. Like the reader, God watches Adam and Eve, but telling the story from his point of view might make the audience feel closer to the story. There are many recurring themes throughout these two stories. The first that stood out to me was death. There are several instances in which Adam and Eve die, come close to dying, look like they are dying, or think they are dying. The fear of dying is also very preva...

Shea's Myth-Folk Blog

Search This Blog