Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes

How lang have you been here?
I've been bird about this bush,
This mair than twenty year!

Chorus: Teetle ell ell, teetle ell ell.
Tee, tee, tee, tee, tee, tee, tee,
Tee, tee, tee, teetle eldie.

But now I am the sickest bird
That ever sat on brier;
And I wad make my testament,
Guidman, if ye wad hear.

"Gar tak this bonnie neb o' mine,
That picks upon the corn,
And gie 't to the Duke o' Hamilton
To be a hunting horn.

"Gar tak these bonnie feathers o' mine,
The feathers o' my neb,
And gie to the Lady o' Hamilton
To fill a feather-bed.

"Gar tak this guid right leg o' mine
And mend the brig o' Tay;
It will be a post and pillar guid,
It will neither ban nor gae.

"And tak this other leg o' mine
And mend the brig o'er Weir;
It will be a post and pillar guid,
It'll neither ban nor steer.

(Herd only)

"Gar tak these bonnie feathers o' mine
The feathers o' my tail,
And gie to the Lady o' Hamilton
To be a barn-flail.

"Gar tak these bonnie feathers o' mine
The feathers o' my breast,
And gie to ony bonnie lad
That'll bring me to a priest."

Now in there came my Lady Wren
With mony a sigh and groan;
"O what care I for a' the lads
If my wee lad be gone?"

Then robin turned him round about
E'en like a little king,
"Go, pack ye out at my chamber door,
Ye little cutty quean."

(Chambers only)

Robin made his testament
Upon a coll of hay
And by came a greedy gled
And snapt him a' away.

    (1870, p. 40.)
The Robin's Testament should be compared with the French piece called Le Testament de l'Ane, "the testament of the ass," of which a number of variations have been collected. The "testament of the ass" was recited outside the church on the so-called Fête de l'Ane, "the feast of the ass," which was kept in many cities of France till a comparatively recent date. In Douai it was celebrated as late as the year 1668. On this occasion an ass was brought into church, and an office was recited in Latin, which enlarged on the ass that carried the Holy Family into Egypt, the ass which bore Christ into Jerusalem, the ass of Balaam, and so forth. Its chorus consisted of braying, in which the assembled canons joined. This service in church was preceded by a recitation outside the holy edifice, which was in the vernacular, and which, in dialogue form, enlarged on the several parts of the ass.[70 - Clémént, Madame, Histoire des fêtes civiles et religieuses du Nord, 1834, p. 184. Also, Du Cange, Glossarium, Festum Asinorum.]

One of these dialogue pieces, current in Franche-Comté, describes how the she-ass, conscious of the approach of death, bequeathed her feet and ears to her son, her skin to the drummer, her tail to the priest to make an aspergill, and her hole to the notary to make an inkpot (B., p. 61).

Another version, at greater length, is in the form of instruction which is given by the priest to the child, whose answers are set in cumulative form.

"The feast of the ass," in the words of Bujeaud, "must have been very popular, since I have often heard the children of Angoumais and Poitou recite the following piece ": —

Le prêtre: Que signifient les deux oreilles de l'âne?

L'enfant: Les deux oreilles de l'âne signifient les deux grands saints, patrons de notre ville.

Le prêtre: Que signifie la tête de l'âne?

L'enfant: La tête de l'âne signifie la grosse cloche et la langue fait le battant de cette grosse cloche qui est dans le clocher de la cathédrale des saints patrons de notre ville.

    (B. I., p. 65.)

"The priest: What do the ears of the ass stand for? – The child: The ears of the ass stand for the two great patron saints of our city. – The priest: What does the head stand for? – The head stands for the great bell, and the tongue for the clapper of the great bell which is in the belfry of the cathedral of the holy saints, the patrons of our city."

We then read of the throat which stands for the entrance to the cathedral – the body for the cathedral itself – the four legs, its pillars – the heart and liver, its great lamps – the belly, its alms-box – the tail which stands for the aspergill – the hide which stands for the cope of the priest – and the hole which stands for the holy-water stoup.

This chant on the parts of the ass is among the most curious survivals. At first one feels inclined to look upon it as intended to convey ridicule, but this idea is precluded by the existence of The Robin's Testament, and by the numerous pieces which enumerate the several parts of the bird in connection with the bird sacrifice. Again in this case we are led to look upon the piece as a garbled survival of some heathen form of ritual. The ass, however, was not known in Western Europe till a comparatively late period in history. It has no common Aryan name, and the question therefore arises how it can have come to be associated with what is obviously a heathen form of ritual.

Mannhardt, with regard to German folk-lore, pointed out that the ass was substituted in many places for the hare, which was tabu, and with which it shared the peculiarity of having long ears. This substitution was favoured by their likeness of name: heselîn, heselken. (M., p. 412.)

We are led to inquire if the ass in Western Europe can have taken the place of another animal also, and we find ourselves confronted with the following facts: —

Dicky among ourselves is applied to a bird, especially to a caged (? perhaps a sacrificial) bird; the word Dicky is also widely applied to an ass, properly to a he-ass.[71 - Murray's Dictionary: Dicky, cuddy, ass, Jackass.] The ass is often called by nicknames exactly like the small wild birds: Jack-ass, Betty-ass, Jenny-ass, in form closely correspond to Jack-daw, Magpie, and Jenny Wren of the feathered tribe. The word Jack-ass moreover is applied both to the four-footed beast and to a member of the feathered tribe. Nicknames probably originated in the desire to conceal a creature's true identity.

In Scotland the word cuddy again stands both for an ass and for some kinds of bird, including the hedge-sparrow and the moor-hen.[71] (#cn_70) The word cuddy is said to be short for Cuthbert, but it seems to be related also to cutty, an adjective applied to the wren (cf. above, p. 176, 193), the derivation and meaning of which are uncertain.

The same overlapping of terms exists in France, where the ass is popularly called Martin (Ro., IV, 206, 223, 233), while the feathered martins include the martin pêcheur, kingfisher, the martin rose, goatsucker, and the martinets (Ro., II, p. 70). In Germany also, where no bird-chants are recorded, as far as I am aware, the expression Martinsvogel is applied to a bird of augury of uncertain identity, sometimes to the redbreast (Gr., p. 946). And a current proverb has it, Es ist mehr als ein Esel der Martin heisst, "he is more than an ass who is called Martin." (Ro., IV, 233.) In Barmen boys parade the streets on the eve of St. Martin's Day, asking for contributions, and, if they receive nothing, they sing: —

Mäten ist ein Esel, der zieht die Kuh am Besel.

    (B., p. 363.)