Coco des moustaches, mirlo, joli,
Gentil coquiqui."
Children might dance over the bridge of Avignon to the lilt of this cruel little song.
The most popular English and Scottish rhymes are less gay, but not more merciful. If the persecuted mice save their necks, it is only because they sit starving at home.
"There was a wee bit mousikie,
That lived in Gilberaty, O;
It couldna get a bite o' cheese,
For cheety-poussie-catty, O.
"It said unto the cheesikie:
'Oh, fain wad I be at ye, O,
If it were na for the cruel paws
O' cheety-poussie-catty, O.'"
There are only three verses hallowed by Mother Goose's sanction, in which the cat does not appear as Nimrod, and which, in their way, are as pretty as the French favourites.
"Pussy sat beside the fire.
Pussy was so fair;
In came a little dog,
'Pussy, are you there?'"
" Pussy cat, mew! jumps over a coal;
And in her best petticoat burns a great hole!
Pussy cat, mew! shall have no more milk
Until her best petticoat's mended with silk."
And, best and oldest of the three;
