Friday, January 13, 2006

Grasshopper Green

I found something really cool. I would buy it but can't! It's music to Grasshopper green!























And this!
Songs and Games for Little Ones By Gertrude Annie Walker, Harriet S. Jenks, Harriet Sweetser (Jenks) Greenough: "GRASSHOPPER GREEN E fr r J 1 Grasshop per Green is a com i cal chap He lives on the best of fare IX Bright lit tic jack et and trous ers and cap These are his sum mer wear Out in the mead ow he loves to go 1 lay ing a way in the sun It"


When big gray clouds loom, and bring with them gloom,
I can dream of a happier time.

A summer's day bright, is always just right.
How happy the green of the lime.

So I close my eyes, and clear up the skies
with this cute little whimsical rhyme.

My mom used to recite this to us kids. I cannot find anything like it anywhere. Does anyone out there recognise it?

Grasshopper Green is a comical chap
Who lives on the best of fares.
Bright little trousers, jacket and cap,
These are his summer’s wear.
Out in the meadow he loves to go,
Playin’ away in the sun.
It’s hopperty-skipperty, high and low.
Summer's the time for fun!


Grasshopper Green has a quaint little house,
It’s under the hedge so gay.
And Grandmother Spider, still as a mouse,
Watches him over the way.
Gladly he’s calling his children, I know,
Out in the beautiful sun.
It’s hopperty-skipperty, high and low.
Summer's the time for fun!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah thank-you. my granmother used to recite this rhyme to me as we walked in the paddocks of her farm. she is now dead and as an adult with young children around i really wanted to be able to pass it on, now i can. Thanks.

Cheri said...

Thank you for your comment! The whole point to this blog is sharing these wonderful and obscure rhymes and songs. They should never be lost!

Anonymous said...

As a young school boy an East Indian friend would recite this poem. Now he playfully will quote these lines to me...I'd never heard it before
but found it charmingly sweet!

Such delight to see Grasshopper Green in all his Glory!

Anonymous said...

thanks... my mom was wanting to teach this grasshopper poem to my daughter as she has a jigsaw puzzle with a grasshopper... my mom said she learnt it at school.....

Anonymous said...

When I was at school we had to learn this poem to recite all together as a class. I couldn't remember all the words so this brought them back ... thank you!

Barbara said...

There are more verses - if you look on the internet you will easily find it. My mother used to recite it to me when I was young as she had learnt it at school in the 1930s - all that rote-learning stayed in the mind (as does mine from the late 50s and 60s). Can't be anything wrong with that, can there? Poems and maths tables which, when recited, become like poems....

Unknown said...

I LEARNED THIS POEM IN THE 1950'S. I WAS ABOUT SIX YEARS OLD. GOOD TIMES...GREAT MEMORIES...GRASSHOPPER GREEN!

Violet said...

I learnt this as a song when I was about 9 or 10 to sing as part of a choir in a music competition - in London in the late 1970's !!! I sing it my own children now & was googling to check the words of the 2nd verse when I came across this blog. It's great to share an interest in all different types of poetry prose music & song xxxxx

Lyn.D said...

From Papua New Guinea,Grasshopper green. My dad a native missionary teacher 1960-69 was taught by Anglican (LMS)missionaries this rhyme. He used to cite it to his grandchildren, somehow in jumbled and misprounounced words. Thanks, I finally found it with correct words. I will cite it on to my grandchildren and pass it on in memory of my father.
Lynda

ElizNik. said...

There are several versions in the internet - this is the closest to the one my dad learned at school in he 1920’s - he Karen’s many poem in lower school and entertained his own kids and grandkids who have kept his memory alive through their joy in granddads love of rhyme!

ElizNik. said...

Sorry for the typos Karen really should read learned