Written by For our prompt of “Moon” today, I thought back to when I was a very small child and my mother read me nursery rhymes. The one that came to mind is a silly rhyme where all sorts of weird things happen. It’s appeared in many forms, but the one I remember goes something like this, “Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed, to see such a sight, and the dish ran away with the spoon.” Of all the craziness in the tale, the cow jumping over the moon was the coolest bit for me as a kid. That seems like the most magical bit of all. Cows on my grandmother’s farm would sort of leap around when food was coming and when they were happy, but I never saw one jump very high. And thanks to this little rhyme, the phrase “over the moon” was soon adopted and is now used to describe that beautiful state of feeling completely full of joy.
Of course, in my mind, I pictured a real cow taking that leap, not like the cute drawings in the book. Everyone knows a cartoon cow can do anything at all. I always did this as a child. I would turn the cute illustrated characters into the real ones that I knew in my mind. It was just more fun to imagine actual animals doing all of those funny things. A could actually see a little cat playing a fiddle, and everyone’s seen a dog that looks like it’s laughing. I’m truly not sure why a little story about animals ends with a romantic interlude involving tableware. Perhaps finding a single syllable rhyme for moon proved a bit of a challenge. Though I would have preferred it if the mouse flew away in a balloon or something like that. Not that I have anything against a romance between a dish and cutlery, of course. Everyone deserves to find their own happiness.
I think this rhyme has always stuck with me, because my mom loved it and would repeat it by heart. I had to agree with her, as the pictures in my mind that this little rhyme painted were so ridiculously fun that it always made me happy. And while some stories are filled with meaning and even hidden meaning, this was a story made up of complete and utter nonsense. A story written simply for the sole purpose of making someone smile. Yet, I believe that’s a perfectly wonderful reason to tell a story. Sometimes, always searching for meaning in the world can get in the way of actually stopping to simply enjoy it. I always have to remind myself of this. I’m constantly on the hunt to learn new things or figure things out. Yet, when I was a kid, there was often a very different goal. This was a time filled with silly things and wild dreams that didn’t have to ever happen. It was enough to imagine them. And, just the thought of something nonsensical and humorous, even today, always takes me over the moon.
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Nice one, Charlie!! ALways loved that nursery rhyme.
Thanks so much, Mary! 😃💕
Charlie I love to spout silly poetics and forget them as soon as those are uttered. It’s fun!
Hi, WRITERLEENDA! Guess what? I was wrong. It wasn’t you and Greek Mocos. It was another lady commenter who reached out to me. haha haha 😂 You see, klutzy. haha haha 😂😂😂 So sorry.
I am glad you are better. A fall is still a fall. Just over 7 years ago, my life was radically altered. I cut a varicose vein while shaving my legs. It turned life-threatening pretty quick when they discovered a DVT growing quietly in my leg. That injury then set off other brutally painful injuries and scary complications. Pain meds do NOT work on me so I endured BRUTAL pain for almost 7 years with no relief. It was bad. I faced surgery twice. I went from running 5 miles every day to barely being able to stand or walk. At the start of 2020, things finally got better. The brutal pain subsided. I was so excited and looking forward to 2020, thinking it was the year that I would get my life back. And then covid. wonk, wonk.
I am in San Antonio, Texas. My mother is from Mexico so I spoke Spanish before I spoke English. It has made understanding French much easier, but I am far away from speaking it easily. Maybe one day. 😋 If you ever come through San Antonio, let me know. We’ll do dinner on the River Walk. We’re nice people. A little chubby, but we’re nice. haha haha 😂 Thanks for chatting with me. Great talking with you. 💜 Marisela
Thanks for the note and the invitation — I am in western Canada where we don’t get the famous horrid cold and 8 months of snow like some parts of the country. It might get really cold for two weeks and that is that. That is a horrid experience you underwent albeit it exposed a deeper issue. I don’t understand how they did not give you pain management. I have a medical background from work as a care aide and what you said horrifies me. Too bad you don’t live up here. We don’t pay for medicare here in BC either. Invest in an electric shaver and stay away from the basin (water) and there I go into work mode again whereby I tell people what to do. But then I do that all the time anyway. You can come visit us! Tell your doctor you want to see someone who can give you pain management and if he says no then you hunt one up on your own.Makes me mad they never did that for you.
That sounds like a wonderful way to live life indeed! Hehe! 😃💕
Fantastic Charlie! Those nursery rhythms were silly. And then there were the brothers Grimm fairytale. Those could be scary.
Thank so much, Karen! 😃💕 Yeah, the rhymes were my favorite versus the creepy and scary stories! hehe
I always imagined this poem as being recited by an adult to amuse a very young child, and ending it with a flourish by grabbing a dish and a spoon, pretending they were running away together. All the other parts of the poem would have to be in the kid’s imagination, but seeing the dish and spoon in action would just make it all seem real.
Yeah, but I imagined a living spoon and dish, so it would have been a disappointment to see something simply real and without cute little eyes on it! lol 😉
Such a sweet painting, Charlie! 💜 You made me laugh about a dish and cutlery falling in love. When you said “complete and utter nonsense,” you should’ve said UDDER nonsense. haha haha 😂😂😂 Your night sky is so beautiful.
Wow, Charlie, snow? I imagine it’s beautiful. The last time that we got snow (enough to build a snowman ⛄), I was 16 years old and a sophomore in high school. So, about 10 years ago. haha haha haha 😂😂😂 Not quite. We will be in the mid-40’s tonight and rain tomorrow. We’ll be near 80*F by the weekend. Yay! Yeah, we’re pretty lame.
Thanks so much, Marisela! 😃💕 Hehe… yes udder nonsense indeed! The snow was fun to see falling, but it’s all so early. And it came with super cold temperatures that weren’t quite as fun. Brrrrr!! Too soon!
Brilliant doodle, Charlie. Another favourite nonsense poem is The Owl and the Pussycat.
Thanks so much, Gary! 😃💕 Oh yes! That’s a fun bit of nonsense as well! Love it!
The little dog laughed to see such a sport. That’s the only difference in the way I learned it. Funny how nursery rhymes stick with you forever yet you can’t remember why you went into the kitchen or where you set your glasses. 😂😂
Yeah, I’ve seen it with “sport,” but my mom’s version was “sight” which I liked better. Maybe she changed it for me as I never liked sports! lol 😉
Hello Charlie,
The cow looks like she’s “over the moon” to be going over the moon. 😉 This was one of my favorite nursery rhymes too because of all the things happening in it. Only I used to think of them as real. So I always watched and followed cats carefully in the hope that on finding themselves alone, one of them would make a little violin appear from the air and play it. And one of those episodes led me to blindly walking over someone’s clean laundry that had flown off the line! Speaking of impossible rhymes, there’s one in my mother tongue which loosly translates to “Mommy please get hold of the moon and turn it into a rabbit” (it of course rhymes perfectly in the original language). It’s been years since I’ve heard the rhyme.. I’ll see if I can find the words.
Love,
Mugdha
Thanks so much, Mugdha! 😃💕 Aww I love that you hoped to see a kitty playing the violin. That would have been so cool to see. And I adore the idea of a child asking to have the moon grabbed and turned into a bunny. Fun!