“Können Kaiser Karls’ Köch
Kalbsköpf und Kabisköpf kochen?”
“Round the rugged riven rock the ragged rascal rapid ran.”
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
“Didon dina, dit-on, du dos d’un dodu dindon.”
As an example of original production, take this composition of Willie F——’s, which he liked to recite as he pushed his wagon about the room:
“Wein, wein, wein, wein, wein, wein, wam,
Wein, wein, wein, wein, wein, wein, wam,” etc.
The verse of Ennius, “O Tyte, tuti Tati, tibi tanta, tyranne tulisti,” shows that adults, too, enjoy such alliteration, not only as a promoter of poetic beauty, but also for the mere play of sound.
Rhyme is often mere reduplication,[79] its agreeableness being due to the actual musical quality to which identity and variety contribute, to repetition as such, and to its unifying effect on the two words or lines concerned. Children show enjoyment of rhyme at a very early age, and as soon as they can talk often amuse themselves with such combinations as Emma-bemma, Mutter-Butter, Wagon-Pagon, Hester-pester, and the like.[80] And there are many counting out rhymes where the original meaning of the words is lost, and only the jingle remains, as: