Or else I'll beat you as black as a coal."
It is pleasant to find that this charm is not peculiar to English children, but prevails in places as remote from each other as Naples and Silesia.
The Silesian rhyme is:
"Schnecke, schnecke, schnürre!
Zeig mir dein viere,
Wenn mir dein viere nicht zeigst,
Schmeisz ich dich in den Graben,
Fressen dich die Raben;"
which may be thus paraphrased:
"Snail, snail, slug-slow,