Thursday, December 16, 2010

Under my hat



If you stand on a hill at night and hold up a silver spoon then bats will circle around your hand, I am told.
When I was young one of my favorite nursery rhymes was:

Bat, bat, fly under my hat
And I'll give you a slice of bacon.
And when I bake, I'll bake you a cake,
If I'm not mistaken.
Between the lines it spoke of wildness, of the dark, of wishes.

The next one I hope to work on is:

Gray goose and gander,
Waft your wings together,
And carry the good king's daughter
Over the one strand river. 

If you stop and take the time to say the words out loud they taste really good in your ears as well as in your mouth. 

8 comments:

  1. Today I ordered 2 of your lovely books for my grandchildren in the United States.
    Gaby

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  2. Jackie you are a genius. That is stunning.

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  3. Love these rhymes Jackie, will take my silver spoon out tonight & stand on our upstairs balcony to see if the grey headed flying foxes (aka fruit bats) who are eating the lemon scented gum tree flowers every night will circle my hand!

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  4. so glad these things inspire you
    to breath life into art like this exquisitely magical piece!

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  5. A dear friend works in a very special shop -- we've been friends for 20+ years -- him and the shop. (http://www.calmjourney.com/) He had mentioned that the lady and her daughter who own the shop wanted to expand their selection of books for children, so I took two of your books by, the dragon one and the snow leopard one -- (I've ordered another seal children one because I'd given away the one I had, but it hasn't come yet). They got so excited when they saw them. When I left to get on with my shopping, they were discussing which ones and how many for their first order. I also sent some to my cousin's granddaughter. Merry Christmas!

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  6. many thanks for that. Hope they do well with them.

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  7. Love the painting and the rhyme. I hadn't heard that before.

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  8. I love the bat rhyme except I know it as,

    bat, bat come under my hat
    and I'll give you a piece of bacon
    and when we get home,
    I'll give you a bone
    If I am not mistaken.

    I once caught a bat under one of my hats. It had gotten into the house and was flying madly to try and get out. I whispered this poem while luring it under my hat and then set it free outside at twilight. Bats are awesome.

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