[_MorgenStern_]

Английская детская лирика издавна выделялась своей кровавостью.
Скажем, вот:

Сейчас это какая-то готическая песнь, но изначально это был стишок для детей, из лучшей в мире книжки Mother Goose’s Rhymes.

There was a lady all skin and bone,
Sure such a lady was never known:
It happened upon a certain day,
This lady went to church to pray.

When she came to the church stile,
There she did rest a little while;
When she came to the church yard,
There the bells so loud she heard.

When she came to the church door,
She stopped to rest a little more;
When she came the church within,
The parson prayed 'gainst pride and sin.

On looking up, on looking down,
She saw a dead man on the ground;
And from his nose unto his chin,
The worms crawled out, the worms crawled in.

Then she unto the parson said,
Shall I be so when I am dead?
O yes! O yes, the parson said,
You will be so when you are dead.

_Here the lady screams._>>

А еще мне нравится:

There was a men in Thessaly,
And he was wondrous wise.
He jumped into a bramble bush
And scratched out both his eyes.
And when he saw his eyes were out,
With all his might and main,
He jumped into another bush
And scratched them in again.

Лимерики:

There was a Young Person of Smyrna,
Whose Grandmother threatened to burn her;
But she seized on the cat,
And said, 'Granny, burn that!
You incongruous Old Woman of Smyrna!'

There was a Young Lady of Norway,
Who casually sat on a doorway;
When the door squeezed her flat,
She exclaimed, 'What of that?'
This courageous Young Lady of Norway.

There was an Old Person of Cadiz,
Who was always polite to all ladies;
But in handing his daughter,
He fell into the water,
Which drowned that Old Person of Cadiz.
Это просто примеры, на самом деле таких стишков большинство. А потом еще удивляются,отчего дети вырастают такими нервными. Зря мы, наверное, так стремимся к Европе. Недобрые там люди.

@темы: стихи, английский язык, Ох уж эти сказочки...