Friars, tigers, artichokes
In our family, we have four languages between us: English, Mandarin Chinese, French, and Russian. When N. was born, I wanted to sing lullabies to her in all four.
Brother John, a classic of the genre, has served us well.
The English version is well known:
Are you sleeping,
Brother John?
Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing,
Morning bells are ringing.
Ding ding dong,
Ding ding dong
It’s basically an almost word-for-word adaptation of the French version, which is the original:
Frère Jacques
Dormez-vous?
Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines,
Sonnez les matines!
Ding ding dong,
Ding ding dong
Brother Jack,
Are you sleeping?
Are you sleeping?
Ring the matins bells,
Ring the matins bells!
Ding ding dong,
Ding ding dong
The Russian version I use, suggested by my dad, is not the canonical translation (one does exist), but rather a cheeky reworking by Soviet music students, which cracks me up each time I really think about it:
Артишоки,
И миндаль!
И миндаль!
Не растут на попе,
Не растут на попе.
Очень жаль.
Очень жаль.
Artichokes,
And almonds!
And almonds!
Don't grow on one's butt,
Don't grow on one's butt.
A great pity.
A great pity.
And the Chinese version is really fun too – an adaptation of the melody with a completely different story, well known to kids growing up in Taiwan in the 90s:
兩隻老虎，
跑得快，
跑得快！
一隻沒有眼睛！
一隻沒有尾巴！
真奇怪！
真奇怪！
Liǎng zhī lǎo hǔ,
Pǎo dé kuài,
Pǎo dé kuài!
Yī zhī méi yǒu yǎn jīng!
Yī zhī méi yǒu wěi bā!
Zhēn qí guài!
Zhēn qí guài!
Two tigers,
Running fast,
Running fast!
One doesn't have eyes!
One doesn't have a tail!
How strange!
How strange!
N. loved the Chinese version especially when she was smaller, and now E. is enjoying the songs as well.