Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/122

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in his preface to this interesting collection of rhymes says, "There are probably more nursery rhymes in China than can be found in England and America. We have in our possession more than six hundred, collected for the most part in two out of the eighteen provinces, and we have no reason to believe that we have succeeded in getting any large proportion of what those two provinces contain." Professor Headland in this book has made no attempt at literary style in translating the rhymes. His desire has been to make a translation which is fairly true to the original, and one which will please English-speaking children. He gives in each case the Chinese original.

Many of the rhymes have features in common with our own nursery rhymes. Many might be sung to and by children of almost any nationality; in fact, were it not for the illustrations of Chinese children and adults, and Chinese versions of the rhymes, it would be difficult to determine from whence they were collected. There are some which show local colour. The Wedding Feast, the Wedding, the Pagoda must refer to Chinese customs, but the majority would appeal to all children. Some of the rhymes, judging from the illustrations, must be sung to actions, and remind us of some of our own nursery games. We recognise "Turning the Mill," "Buying a Lock," "Forcing the City Gates," as old friends; also "The Flower-seller" and "Making a Flower-pot." It would be interesting to know the directions for playing these, if they are regarded as games. "Blind-man's Buff" is here, and also a version of "This little pig went to market." The rhyme when counting a Chinese child's toes is: