Сорока-ворона

Out of my 150+ blog posts, this has been by far the most popular one, with nearly 300 1 million hits.  I suppose there are a lot of people out there trying to find the words to popular Russian nursery rhymes.  This made me want to include Violet's current favorite nursery rhyme/song: Сорока-ворона.

Russian

Сорока – сорока,

Кашу варила,
Деток кормила.

Это му дала,

Это му дала,

Это му дала,
Это му дала,

A этому не дала-

Ты воды не носил,
Дров не рубил,

Тебе нет ничего!

English
Magpie - Magpie,
Cooked the porridge,
Fed it to the little children.

She gave to this one,

She gave to this one,
She gave to this one,
She gave to this one,

But she did not give to this one -

You have not brought water,

You have not chopped fire-wood.

There is nothing for you!

The adult runs her finger over the baby's palm, like her finger is a ladle and says the first verse. Then the adult bends each of the baby's fingers (except the pinky) while saying the second.  The pinky finger is held and shaken during the third verse. 

 I guess Russians want to instill good work ethic from infancy.  How does this sound?  Violet, you didn't help me optimize my search campaign today, therefore you did not contribute to this family's income, so tonight you will not be eating dinner.   If you think that's harsh, you should see the Ukrainian version of this rhyme.  Here is the translation only:

The Magpie-Crow

Was sitting on the stovetop,

Cooking porridge for the children

I gave to this one,

I gave to this one,

I gave to this one,

I gave to this one,

And I won't give to this one.

'Cause this one 

Didn't chop the wood,

Didn't make the dough,

Didn't go for water,

Didn't look after the children,

Didn't do anything.

And the one who doesn't work,

Doesn't eat!

The full rhyme can be found here.  So while the Russian child had to chop the wood and bring the water, the Ukrainian child also had to make the dough and look after the children.  And if that wasn't enough, s/he was blatantly told that those who don't work, don't eat.  Poor Ukrainian children, they just can't get a break.