I.
Snail, snail, put out your horn,
Or I'll kill your father and mother the morn.
2.
Snail, snail, come out of your hole,
Or else I'll beat you as black as a coal.
3.
Snail, snail, put out your horn,
Tell me what's the day t'morn:
To-day's the morn to shear the corn,
Blaw bil buck thorn.
4.
Snail, snail, shoot out your horn,
Father and mother are dead;
Brother and sister are in the back-yard
Begging for barley bread.
Scotch:
Snail, snail, shoot out your horn,
And tell us it will be a bonnie day, the morn.
German:
1.
Schneckhûs, Peckhüs,
Stäk du dîn ver Horner rût,
Süst schmût ick dî in'n Graven,
Da freten dî de Raven.
2.
Tækeltuet,
Kruep uet dyn hues,
Dyn hues dat brennt,
Dyn Kinder de flennt:
Dyn Fru de ligt in Wäken:
Kann 'k dy nich mael spräken?
Tækeltuet, u. s. w.
3.
Snaek, snaek, komm herduet,
Sunst tobräk ik dy dyn Hues.
4.
Slingemues,
Kruep uet dyn Hues,
Stick all dyn veer Höern uet,
Wullt du 's neck uetstäken,
Wik ik dyn Hues tobräken.
Slingemues, u. s. w.
5.
Kuckuch, kuckuck Gerderut,
Stäk dîne vêr Horns herut.
French:
Colimaçon borgne!
Montre-moi tes cornes;
Je te dirai où ta mère est morte,
Elle est morte à Paris, à Rouen,
Où l'on sonne les cloches.
Bi, bim, bom,
Bi, bim, bom,
Bi, bim, bom.
Tuscan:
Chiocciola, chiocciola, vien da me,
Ti darò i' pan d' i' re;
E dell'ova affrittellate
Corni secchí e brucherate.
Roumanian:
Culbecu, culbecu,
Scóte corne boeresci
Si te du la Dunare
Si bé apa tulbure.
Russian:
Ulitka, ulitka,
Vypusti roga,
Ya tebé dam piroga.[5]
Chinese:
Snail, snail, come here to be fed,
Put out your horns and lift up your head;
Father and mother will give you to eat,
Good boiled mutton shall be your meat.
Several lines in the second German version are evidently borrowed from the Ladybird or Maychafer rhyme which has been pronounced a relic of Freya worship. Here the question arises, is not the snail song also derived from some ancient myth? Count Gubernatis, in his valuable work on Zoological Mythology (vol. ii. p. 75), dismisses the matter with the remark that "the snail of superstition is demoniacal." This, however, is no proof that he always bore so suspicious a character, since all the accessories to past beliefs got into bad odour on the establishment of Christianity, unless saved by dedication to the Virgin or other saints. I ventured to suggest, in the Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari (the Italian Folklore Journal), that the snail who is so constantly urged to come forth from his dark house, might in some way prefigure the dawn. Horns have been from all antiquity associated with rays of light. But to write of "Nature Myths in Nursery Rhymes" is to enter on such dangerous ground that I will pursue the argument no further.