Mother Tongue

I was kindly told off today by the school nurse who overheard me speaking English to my daughter at the waiting room! I learned that it will be my important task as a mother to nourish the Mother Tongue while the Father´s job is to polish the German and the school will take care of the rest. So no more singing my favourite nursery rhymes aloud? One last time...


There was an old lady who swallowed a fly
I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird
How absurd, to swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die
There was an old lady who swallowed a cat
Imagine that, she swallowed a cat
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die
There was an old lady who swallowed a dog
What a hog! To swallow a dog!
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a goat.
Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow
I don't know how she swallowed a cow
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse
She's dead, of course.