Bunny in the pit

This article covers the children's song and play song. For the 1968 feature film, see Bunny in the Pit (film) , for the episode of the TV series Tatort, see Tatort: ​​Bunny in the Pit .

Bunny in the Pit is a children's song and play song that is sung and played mainly in kindergarten education and in the early grades of elementary school .

The text comes from Friedrich Fröbel from the year 1840, after he moved from Blankenburg to Keilhau with the care, play and employment facility for small children founded in 1837 . Here in the facility, which is apostrophized as a kindergarten, the children should be stimulated and instructed on all sides according to their age by means of systematically grouped movement and mental games, sayings and songs with constant contact with nature. In 1842 the songs were passed on in kindergarten teacher courses.

The melody is modified from the folk song Who stole the goose is a thief , which in turn was repackaged by Ernst Anschütz (1824) in Fuchs, you stole the goose .

The song is known in Finland as Jänis istui maassa ( Bunny sat on the ground ).

melody

game

To play, the participating children (from around 5 to 15) form a circle and hold hands. While singing, they circle around the bunny , which is crouching on the ground in the middle of the circle. The text of the first stanza is:

Bunny in the pit sat (there) and slept, sat (there) and slept,
poor bunny, are you sick
that you can no longer jump?
Bunny hop, bunny hop, bunny hop!

At the last sung line jumps the bunny child a few times by additionally creates hands as imaginary rabbit ears. While the game of the first stanza is handled almost the same in all games, the continuations are different depending on the intention of the reference person , due to several additional poems.

Catch game

Froebel, who preferred contact with nature, continues:

Bunny, beware of the dog, beware.
Has a sharp tooth,
so my bunny grabs it.
Bunny run, bunny run, bunny run.

With him it is alluded to the fact that the rabbit previously hidden in the seat is found by a dog and is now fleeing. In the game, this is continued with a game of catch (similar to cat and mouse ) in which a predetermined child tries to catch the rabbit escaping from the circle.

Petting game

In the continuation of the game with a social component - according to the text - a doctor is brought in to make the sick rabbit well again ( little rabbit in the pit, nods and cries, doctor come over quickly and prescribe him medicine ... and ... Bunny have you cured yet? Hui, that runs and gallops! ). When the bunny is well again, everyone can fondle and stroke it.

Adaptations

• A German 11-minute short film was made under the title Bunny in the Pit and directed by Hanna Doose with the actors Christopher Reinhardt (Markus), Soraya Richter (sister), Dirk Simpson (father) and Katharina Groth (mother). This is about sexual violence in the family. This contribution received the rating “valuable”, at the Dresden Film Festival 2004 an honorable mention, at the International Women’s Film Festival in Turin 2004 it was awarded 1st place as Best Short Film ex aequo and at the Landshut Short Film Festival 2005 3rd place in the category StadtLandJugend .
• A board game for children by Manfred Ludwig, published by Parker, also bears the title Bunny in the Pit .
• The scene of the crime: Bunny in the Pit is about children who are used as guinea pigs in bogus drug studies. Quote: "You make poor bunny sick until it can no longer hop."
• In 1968, the movie was Bunny in the pit of Roger Fritz .

Web links

• Notes and audio sample at Lieder-Archiv.de
• Bunny in the pit in the song project by Carus-Verlag and SWR2

swell

1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated November 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ http://www.colibu.de/haeschen_in_der_grube.htm
3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ http://www.materialserver.filmwerk.de/arbeitshilfen/haeschenindergrube_ah.pdf .
5. ↑ Attention Berlin: Bunnies in the Pit ( Memento from June 3, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/luding/Skripte/GameData.py/DEgameid/62