Granny
Granny
Original Text
James Whitcomb Riley, Complete Works, Memorial edn. in 10 vols. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1916): IV, 1103-04. PS 2700 F16 Robarts Library.
1Granny's come to our house,
3All the childern round the place
4 Is ist a-runnin' crazy!
5Fetched a cake fer little Jake,
6 And fetched a pie fer Nanny,
7And fetched a pear fer all the pack
8 That runs to kiss their Granny!
9Lucy Ellen's in her lap,
10 And Wade and Silas Walker
11Both's a-ridin' on her foot,
12 And 'Pollos on the rocker;
13And Marthy's twins, from Aunt Marinn's,
14 And little Orphant Annie,
15All's a-eatin' gingerbread
17Tells us all the fairy tales
18 Ever thought er wundered --
19And 'bundance o' other stories --
20 Bet she knows a hunderd! --
23Hear 'em laugh and clap their hands,
24 Listenin' at Granny!
26 And "Bean-Stalk" 's another! --
28 And her old godmother; --
29That-un's best of all the rest --
30 Bestest one of any, --
31Where the mices scampers home
32 Like we runs to Granny!
33Granny's come to our house,
34 Ho! my lawzy-daisy!
35All the childern round the place
36 Is ist a-runnin' crazy!
37Fetched a cake fer little Jake,
38 And fetched a pie fer Nanny,
39And fetched a pear fer all the pack
40 That runs to kiss their Granny!
Notes
2] lawzy-daisy: "la + ye" (`law' or `la,' a term of astonishment, and `ye,' the second-person pronoun) and `dazy' (in a dazed way). Back to Line
16] giggle-un: giggling. Back to Line
21] Whittington: Richard Whittington, lord mayor of London three times from 1397 to 1420, is by legend said to have owed his trading fortune to his cat. Back to Line
22] "Golden Locks": Andrew Lang's blue book of fairy tales tells the story of Goldilocks (the golden-haired young lady) and the three bears. See The Blue Fairy Book (1889; New York: Dover, 1965). Back to Line
25] Jack the Giant-Killer destroyed giants in Arthurian times, on one occasion by digging a pit into which a giant would fall, and on another by using magic coat, shoes, and sword. The other Jack, a poor widow's son, climbed a magic beanstalk to steal, from another giant, a hen that laid golden eggs. That giant, pursuing Jack down the beanstalk, fell to his death. Back to Line
27] Cinderell: Cinderella ... a fairy tale in which a servant girl, abused by her stepmother and three stepsisters and left alone after they go to the prince's ball, receives from her fairy godmother all the gifts she needs to go too: beautiful clothes and a coach (made from a pumpkin) led by six horses (made from mice). When the clock strikes midnight, everything reverts to what it was, and the mice do scamper home. See Charles Perrault, Popular Tales, ed. Andrew Lang (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888). Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1895
Publication Notes
Indianapolis Journal (May 10, 1895)
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Rhyme