London Bridge is Falling Down

London Bridge is Falling Down is a traditional nursery rhyme from England. The main stanza is

London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, Falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.

The rhyme is often used by children as a singing game that comes in numerous forms with additional stanzas. The most common variant is for two players to form an arch with their arms while the others have to slip through. The arch is then lowered to "catch" one of the players. This is similar to the Singspiel to the Japanese children's song Tōryanse .

history

The earliest references to rhyme appear in a play from 1659, first associated with children in 1720. The earliest known text appeared in about 1744 in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book . It is likely, however, that the rhyme was already widespread by that time.

The rhyme may be referring to historical events that go back centuries. In 1013 the London Bridge was burned down by the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelred II and his Norwegian ally Olav II Haraldsson in order to divide the invading forces of the Danish King Sven Gabelbart into several groups. The event was recorded in the saga of Olaf Haraldsson , part of the Heimskringla composed by Snorri Sturluson around 1225 . Snorri quotes a poem by the Norwegian skald (poet) Ottar Svarte . It contains the following lines, which bear a striking resemblance to the nursery rhyme (text in modern English):

London Bridge is broken down.
Gold is won, and bright renown.
Shields resounding,
War-horns sounding,
Hild is shouting in the din!
Arrows singing,
Mail-coats ringing
Odin makes our Olaf win!

The generally accepted variant, however, probably refers to the year 1269, when King Henry III. handed over the customs rights of the bridge to Queen Eleonore de Provence . She is the "fair lady" (beautiful lady), who demonstrably did not fulfill her duty to finance the maintenance of the bridge with the customs revenue.

Similar nursery rhymes and singing games can also be found in other European countries, such as Knippelsbro Går Op og Ned (“Knippelsbrücke goes up and down”) in Denmark, pont chus from the 16th century from France, Le porte from the 14th century from Italy or Die Magdeburger Brück from Germany, the text of which is as follows:

"I wanted to cross the Magdeburg Bridge:"
It broke.
“Who broke them?”
The goldsmith, the goldsmith
With his youngest daughter.
"Let's build it again."
With what?
"With chains and with bars."
Get everyone through, get everyone through,
we want to catch the last one.

meaning

The exact meaning of the nursery rhyme is unclear. Most obviously it is about the difficulties of crossing the Thames . Previous bridges were "washed away" before a "stone so strong" bridge was built. It is also believed that the “fair lady” who is locked up (“locked up”) refers to an ancient custom in which a deceased virgin was buried in the foundation of the bridge in order to use magic to strengthen the structure. However, it is generally accepted that the nursery rhyme refers to Queen Eleanor.

text

In the original version, the text is as follows

English original London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, My fair lady. Take a key and lock her up, Lock her up, Lock her up. Take a key and lock her up, My fair lady. How will we build it up, build it up, build it up? How will we build it up, My fair lady. Build it up with gold and silver, gold and silver, gold and silver. Build it up with gold and silver, My fair lady. Gold and silver I have none, I have none, I have none. Gold and silver I have none, My fair lady. Build it up with needles and pins, needles and pins, needles and pins. Build it up with needles and pins, My fair lady. Pins and needles bend and break, bend and break, bend and break. Pins and needles bend and break, My fair lady. Build it up with wood and clay, wood and clay, wood and clay. Build it up with wood and clay, My fair lady. Wood and clay will wash away, wash away, wash away. Wood and clay will wash away, My fair lady. Build it up with stone so strong, Stone so strong, stone so strong. Build it up with stone so strong, My fair lady. Stone so strong will last so long, Last so long, last so long. Stone so strong will last so long, My fair lady.

German translation London Bridge is collapsing, collapsing, collapsing. London Bridge is collapsing, my lovely lady. Take a key and lock it , lock it , lock it. Take a key and lock it, my beautiful lady. How are we going to build it, build it, build it? How are we going to build it up, my lovely lady. Build them up with gold and silver, gold and silver, gold and silver. Build her up with gold and silver, my beautiful lady. I don't have any gold or silver, I don't have any, I don't have any. I have no gold and silver, my beautiful lady. Build them up with needles and pins, needles and pins, needles and pins. Build it up with needles and pins, my lovely lady. Pins and needles bend and break, bend and break, bend and break. Pins and needles bend and break, my lovely lady. Build them up with wood and clay, wood and clay, wood and clay. Build it up with wood and clay, my lovely lady. Wood and clay are washed away, washed away, washed away. Wood and clay are washed away, my lovely lady. Build them up with stone so strong, stone so strong, stone so strong. Build her up so strong with stone, my beautiful lady. Stone so strong will last so long, last so long, last so long. Stone so strong will last so long, my lovely lady.

Note: 'fair' has several levels of meaning that could have been deliberately played with here - among other things, it also means 'fair', 'decent', which in view of the assumed historical background would fit the request to Queen Eleonore to perform their duties.

Alternative stanzas

English original We must build it up again, up again, up again. We must build it up again, My fair lady. Build it up with iron and steel, iron and steel, iron and steel. Build it up with iron and steel, My fair lady. Iron and steel will bend and bow, Bend and bow, bend and bow. Iron and steel will bend and bow, My fair lady. Gold and silver will be stolen, will be stolen, will be stolen. Gold and silver will be stolen, My fair lady.

German translation We have to rebuild it, rebuild, rebuild. We have to rebuild it, my lovely lady. Build them up with iron and steel, iron and steel, iron and steel. Build it up with iron and steel, my beautiful lady. Iron and steel will bend and bend, bend and bend, bend and bend. Iron and steel will bend and bend, my lovely lady. Gold and silver are stolen, are stolen, are stolen. Gold and silver are stolen, my lovely lady.

reception

See also : Operation London Bridge

See also : My Fair Lady

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Heimskringla or The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Saga of Olaf Haraldson Part I.
2. ^ I. Opie, P. Opie: The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes . 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1997, ISBN 0-19-860088-7 , pp. 270-276 .
3. ^ Karl Simrock : The German children's book. Old traditional rhymes songs stories exercises riddles and jokes for children (=  The German chapbooks . Ribbon 8 ). 2nd Edition. Heinrich Ludwig Brönner, Frankfurt am Main 1857, p. 202 ( limited preview in Google Book search).