PEKINESE BABY-SONGS
I
拉大鋸撘大棚
扯大鋸唱大戲
鋸木頭接姑娘
蓋房子請女婿
姥姥家小外甥
娶娘子你也去
NOTES
Singing these words, the mother or any elder of the family takes the baby by the hands and pushes him for and backwards as if it was really the matter of drawing a saw. 姥姥家 lao3 lao3 chia1, the family of the mother's mother. 娶娘子 ch'ü3 niang2-tzŭ, goes to fetch the bride for her son, niang2-tzŭ is the name for a wife, and here it is used instead of 新姑娘 hsin1-ku1-niang2, the real term for a bride. 撘大棚 ta1-ta4-p'eng2, they raise a large matshed. The Chinese houses have not generally large rooms, therefore in marriage, death, anniversary, and other occasions in which many guests are to be invited,
